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news
Near Miss of the Day 388: Driver prosecuted for close pass
A lot of the time it isn’t easy to gauge how close an overtake really was from footage. However, this close pass, for which the driver was prosecuted, stands in sharp contrast to some of those that precede it.
The incident occurred on July 15, 2019 on Sandy Lane in Aveley, Essex.
“Apologies for the swearing but it felt warranted in this instance,” says Martin.
“The video shows both front and rear views of the incident as well as some very commendable driving examples by the lorry, vans and cars with just the one tool in the Mercedes.
“The outcome was good though as I received a phone call the other day informing me that Essex Police were successful in prosecuting the driver of the white Mercedes for "operating a mechanically propelled vehicle in contravention of the law" – this was after they had finally pleaded guilty.
“I believe they had initially been offered a driver awareness course, as this is the avenue Essex Police state they will pursue first, but cannot swear to this.”
The driver was fined £ 140 plus £90 costs and a £30 surcharge. They were also given three penalty points on their driving licence.
Martin says: “Personally I'd have preferred if they'd just followed the other drivers’ examples and given me room, but oh well.”
> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?
Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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38 comments
I'm gobsmacked to hear this morning from the Met of two successful prosecutions of red light jumpers.
https://youtu.be/XSkbiurGZac (2:05 in)
Fine £220 costs £132 and 3 penalty points
https://youtu.be/ZtqYYqOwYuc (1:50 in)
Fine: £220; Penalty Points: 3 Costs: £100, Victim Surcharge: £32
All I can say is phew - thank God it's only cyclists who fail to stop at red lights. Maybe the cabbie in the first video can give us all a laugh by reciting the 'Red .. green ... cabbies, learn the bloody difference!'
Glad you reported those.
I was located down at MoreLondon for three years, and was constantly pissed off by the amount of drivers - mostly cabbies - who treated red lights like they applied to other people, nevermind that the whole of Tooley Street is a 20mph limit that no driver at all has noticed...
Yeah, Tooley Street is where I filmed the taxi driver with a newspaper on his wheel, which the Met disregarded as I had cycled around some temporary cones.
I remember watching that. Who'd have thought cones had such a legal status.
I'm just amazed the op heard back from Essex police.
See my reservations below!
"operating a mechanically propelled vehicle in contravention of the law"
What is that all about? Why not Dangerous Driving? Something strange about that.
Exactly.
I could imagine a case where the easy option would be to call it 'careless driving' and offer a driver improvement course. But if driver declines or fails to attend, you're stuck with summonsing for due care. The file might then go to CPS. They review it and say 'this should have been dangerous driving' (ok, ok, I'm really pushing the boat out here!). However, you can't, as you've already offered a solution for incident at 'due care' level.
There is something not quite right. The best option would be that the OP misheard the telephone update and it was due care all along.
I'm pretty much certain that is what the victim liaison officer said to me when she called. As far as they're concerned the matter is now closed so I doubt I'll be getting anything in writing to clarify the charge.
Thanks cidermart, if you have a reference number you could always email them asking for confirmation of the result. I'm pleased (delighted!) that you reported it and that Essex police did something about it. I'm just not that sure what that 'something' was!?!
Sorry to be cynical amongst a wave of positive comments (is this really NMotD?) but,
'Operating a mechanically propelled vehicle in contravention of the law'
What's that all about? That's almost an offence, but not quite. Google it, I did and it's all a bit vague. Did the OP mis-hear the update? Would really like to have seen it it in writing, just to confirm.
The offer of a 'driver awareness/safety course' seems right, but then you'd think that the courts would hammer anyone who didn't accept it, who wasted their time when there was an easier and (cheaper) option.
Personally, if I was the OP I would be asking for written confirmation of the result. Some fudgery going on here.
The lorry driver! Exemplary driving. I wonder if he / she has completed their Safe Urban Driving CPD. That really was an exemplary overtake.
I would have been cycling on that nice wide pavement. To hell with the rights and wrongs of it - if I was on a busy A road and there was a wide, pedestrian free pavement, I'd be on it.
Agree on the first point and i wondered the same thing. I saw one of those courses happening when I went to a basic home mechanic course at the same place. They took them out for a road ride with it being cold and slightly snowing outside. I think one of the loaner bikes they used broke under one of the larger gentleman on the course as well.
I'm surprised no one's yet mentioned how prior to overtaking, he was coasting along behind the cyclist, at a distance where he would have no chance of stopping, if the cyclist had binned it and gone to the ground.
Perfection is an offence to god....
Kudos to the lorry driver. Well Done Bartrums (who are very local to me, and would potentially pass me regularly!)
Ive just emailed a contact at Bartrums to pass praise.
As for the prick Merc Driver. Rot in hell!
The MOT on the Mercedes expired on the 20th January 2020. The owner wouldn't be driving it on the road at the moment would they? Especially since it had two advisories for worn tyres at the last MOT in 2019.
What a great piece of driving by the waggoner. Although sadly not universal, it's not the first time I've seen that standard from LGV drivers. I was following a Stobart a while back on a more awkward stretch of road, when the driver demonstrated a superb safe overtake in much the same way. When I got to work I dropped Stobart's an email praising the driver. Got a good response too. Really put the art into artic. (I'll get me coat....)
As cyclists we should do that more often. Haulage companies usually only hear the bad stuff, not the good and really appreciate being told of the good. Helps them to know who the drivers worth keeping are.
I was behind a cement truck recently and the driver was showing great practice towards other road users including lots of cyclists who use this stretch of road in N London. I drew up alongside him and looked up at his open window and said 'excuse me, but you are a really good driver' He glared at me with that 'f**k off' look on his face as he immediately thought I was being sarky. No I mean it, I continued and explained why. And you could see he was dead chuffed and grateful. 'Tell my company' he said. So I did.
Covfefe
That is to say posted in error, and now I can't delete it. Grrr
I have contacted Bartrums and you're right they very much appreciated my comments, they also asked for permission to use the video in their future training which I more than happily gave.
That's great news, and well done Bartrums for using live examples in their training!
Glad to hear that this utter fw was prosecuted, but not quite so happy about the punishment; it should have been a ban and retest. Anyone who drives that badly is clearly putting other people's lives at risk, and a fine and a few points is simply not enough. The fine will have been loose change for someone with a car like that.
'The fine will have been loose change…'
Maybe not, easy to buy on finance and potentially expensive to run. See above comment re 2 MOT advisories on tyres. Expensive to replace.
With any luck he'll have to sell it and buy a used Skoda.
Shout out to the lorry driver, I'd happily buy him a beer any day.
The driver of the Bartrums artic deserves particular praise, slowing, beginning the manouvre when safe, indicating and using the full width of the road.
Showing everyone how it should be done.
I think that is why the following vehicles passed well too. There's a gap, and then the Ka before the white merc doesn't make much of an effort. He's inside the white line, and could easily have moved a metre or more further away.
I'd love for someone to do research into this. I'm sure it's confirmation bias but so often I get an exemplary wide pass with each subsequent driver in the queue behind giving less and less space until the driver 4th or 5th in line deals out a close pass. Without condoning the behaviour it seems obvious - less time observing the cyclist, and potentially less time to complete the pass given the frequency of oncoming traffic. Sounds like something that could be modelled/simulated ahead of on-road testing.
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