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Near Miss of the Day 495: A close pass of two cyclists with no thought of slowing down

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Hampshire...

Two for the price of one today as a motorist passes not just one, but two cyclists far too closely when overtaking.

The incident occurred near New Milton in Hampshire, on September 13.

“Ploughs past us like we aren’t there,” observes Gaz, who sent us the footage.

As a measure of just how close the overtake was, it’s worth pointing out that the cyclist in front was riding between the double yellow lines. Gaz was further out.

Despite the other cyclist’s kerb-hugging position, the motorist appears to have little room for manoeuvre to the left or the right as they pass due to the oncoming truck. It is not a wide lane.

Gaz says he sent the footage to police but still hasn’t heard back.

> 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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19 comments

Avatar
zero_trooper | 3 years ago
1 like

Gaz - have you heard anything back at all? Even an acknowledgment that your complaint has been received?

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CXR94Di2 | 3 years ago
3 likes

This is why I ride centrally down all roads.  

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OldRidgeback | 3 years ago
3 likes

That's really dangerous driving.

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IanMK | 3 years ago
7 likes

F@*k that's crazy. So dangerous. Please report this.

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Muddy Ford | 3 years ago
14 likes

This is fairly normal for this area unfortunately, and fuelled by hatred in the local rag whenever any news article with a hint of cyclists is mentioned. Until drivers like this are given severe penalties and police are required by law to take action nothing will change. Dangerous drivers feel a sense of privilege when they know they can even kill someone and still only get fined if its a cyclist who is killed. Cyclists are a target for people who want to identify and hate a group of people by their common identity, and people like Clarkson etc. are applauded for such attitude. So on the road, drivers have this subconscious bias against cyclists. They literally devalue someone because they are on a bike. 

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wtjs replied to Muddy Ford | 3 years ago
4 likes

 Until drivers like this are given severe penalties and police are required by law to take action nothing will change

Unfortunately, this is true. Police attitudes engender the feeling of invulnerability in these dangerous drivers, because they know the police, in Lancashire at least, will seize on any excuse to do nothing.

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eburtthebike replied to wtjs | 3 years ago
1 like

wtjs wrote:

 Until drivers like this are given severe penalties and police are required by law to take action nothing will change

Unfortunately, this is true. Police attitudes engender the feeling of invulnerability in these dangerous drivers, because they know the police, in Lancashire at least, will seize on any excuse to do nothing.

I wish it was true, but you don't get the respect of your peers by imposing penalties on them for disrespecting you.  We need them to understand that we are real people, not some disembodied cyclist apparition with no relations.  We need them to understand that we are brothers, sisters, parents, children, uncles, aunts, neices and nephews; just like them, but on a bike.

Of course this all falls down when you consider that drivers really don't give flying flamingo about anybody else at all.  So the law needs to change to get these psychopaths off the road.

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David9694 replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
2 likes

What is it about getting in a car that makes some many people forget these elementary things? Is it too many video games and action movies? is it, as Muddy Ford says, something also about the frustration and anger drivers have with their deteriorating lot, as they become more numerous and journeys get ever slower and / or more unpredictable?  This jam is not how the advert portrayed it - where is the sweeping road, the mountain track, the luminous city centre, the the four gorgeous smiling companions, or the 2.4 children and cute wife/ husband 

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Gary's bike channel replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
3 likes

the adverts make me laugh. Nobody goes up into the open mountain roads of europe in their dacia or puegeot. Even if you did, youd still be behind another car or line of them. Car driving should be played on the adverts as it is really, glum faces, sat at 0mph, not even allowed to touch your phone, staring at the back lights of the car in front, watching your belly expand ever further. Then have a line of cyclists cruise by the window looking very happy. That's british reality.

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Gary's bike channel replied to Muddy Ford | 3 years ago
4 likes

i always give cyclists as much space as possible when im riding, mainly because i am one so i know how it feels. Theres literally zero reason to hate someone on a pedal bike. Its one of the best inventions ever. Its irritating, because as much as i like cars, it isnt the best invention. Its polluting, it cant get out of car parks when too many get inside [ remember the spur road being worked on and drivers said oh god we are stuck in RBH for two hours? yet bicycles and motorbikes were not affected? The car kills hundreds of people a day, it takes up too much space being parked on the roadside making a hazard for bikers and cyclists with door zones. The bicycle meanwhile doesnt kill anyone[ bar that charlie chap and the old lady]. Doesnt get stuck in traffic, doesnt need petrol, keeps you fit, can power you places cars would never get to, minimal cost to run. Its stupid, the people thinking they are better because theyve got a car than a person on a bicycle? well, why are they better? Because its faster? not all the time. Mostly a car is slower than a bicycle in ''rush hour''.   This video was shot in 2018. When the spur road got worked on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_QrtnpWYoI         so why dont they get it? its CARS that slow them to a stop all the time, a cyclist never stops moving, meaning averagely, your journey time isnt affected anyway!

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Muddy Ford replied to Gary's bike channel | 3 years ago
4 likes

People get angry stuck in their fast cars going nowhere fast, we are an easy target for them to vent their frustration. They can do a close pass to 'scare' us with no risk to themselves other than getting caught on video doing it but knowing the police make it very difficult for the victim to report it and the perpetrator to get punished. The rules around uploading video of transgressions is intentionally designed to reduce the number of uploads. The video must be on the original storage medium and I get a dangerous close pass on most journeys but I don't have an endless supply of memory cards to retain for each one reported. They require 2 minutes before and after the reported incident for context, the irony of which is that I've likely been close passed by more than one vehicle in that time, but what is the context they are looking for? That somehow your cycling behaviour has warranted the risk to your life?  In your video I would probably have used the crap shared path on your left and risked a puncture rather than filter, because I've experienced drivers who intentionally veer to push you into the path of oncoming vehicles. Those traffic jams were an everyday occurence for a while, I don't understand the mentality of someone who knows they are going to be stuck in their car for hours yet still chooses to do so rather than find another way to travel. I bet most of those lived close enough to their destination for cycling to be a viable alternative.

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Gary's bike channel replied to Muddy Ford | 3 years ago
0 likes

i do use that path, but i was on my 125 in the video there so might have got in trouble riding it on the pavement :}  

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Muddy Ford replied to Gary's bike channel | 3 years ago
0 likes

 1 

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Gary's bike channel | 3 years ago
2 likes

thanks guys, but all i will say is the last time i took a driver on video to the police, when he punched me in the face for ignoring a shared use path at 30 mph, they actually agreed with the driver that i should have been using it. They're useless.

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eburtthebike replied to Gary's bike channel | 3 years ago
6 likes

Gary's bike channel wrote:

thanks guys, but all i will say is the last time i took a driver on video to the police, when he punched me in the face for ignoring a shared use path at 30 mph, they actually agreed with the driver that i should have been using it. They're useless.

I'm trusting that you made an official complaint and took this to the media?

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andystow replied to Gary's bike channel | 3 years ago
4 likes

Gary's bike channel wrote:

...they actually agreed with the driver that i should have been using it.

Did they agree that he got a free punch to your face?

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Secret_squirrel | 3 years ago
8 likes

Shocking that the Rozzers havent done anything with this one.  That deserved prosecution.

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lesterama | 3 years ago
8 likes

Gaz, please complain to the police. This needs following up.

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Projectcyclingf... | 3 years ago
8 likes

That was horrendously dangerous and the maniac driver guilty of callous disregard for both your lifes, and many more that may have come across this dangerous driver - who MUST be STOPPED and procecuted, without excuse by cops.
Hope you managed to obtain the other cyclist victim's details and bolster your evidence against the maniac driver.

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