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Near Miss of the Day 552: Close pass driver fined for dangerous overtake

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

A cyclist narrowly avoids getting hit by a car after a driver tries to overtake him on a busy residential street.

The incident which took place in January 2020, was recorded by road.cc reader Jonny in North Wales.

In the video Jonny is riding along a road and films a number of cars safely overtaking him before he approaches a bus stop. 

Despite the fact there are a number of oncoming cars on the other side of the road the impatient driver of a Honda decides to overtake.

Jonny reported the motorist to North Wales Police where they entered a guilty plea to careless driving.

The driver received 3 points, a fine of £130 and was ordered to pay costs of £90. 

> 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 (link is external)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

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5 comments

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EK Spinner | 3 years ago
1 like

Moving on from the idea that this bike lane is very poor (it and worse), I think we have an issue with some drivers who seem to believe that its ok for them to drive as if the cyclist is "where they should be". Let's see them try that to a middle lane hogger on the motorway

Avatar
eburtthebike | 3 years ago
6 likes

Well done for reporting this and getting a result, and kudos to the police for following it up.

That cycle lane is a death trap, and is likely the cause of the driver doing the dangerous pass; has it been reported to the council?  Otherwise it's just going to keep happening.  Maybe they could apply for some of the cycling cash the government don't seem to be able to spend and get it made cyclist-friendly.

Avatar
Seventyone | 3 years ago
9 likes

Is that a cycle lane? If so it is a good example of a very poor one which makes life more unsafe for people on a bike.

It is narrow, no solid line and poorly maintained. You can see how you wouldn't use this and how this might then annoy people in cars who think you should be in it.

All this cycle lane shows is that if you park in it other cars will still be able to squeeze through.

Avatar
Jenova20 replied to Seventyone | 3 years ago
1 like

Seventyone wrote:

Is that a cycle lane? If so it is a good example of a very poor one which makes life more unsafe for people on a bike. It is narrow, no solid line and poorly maintained. You can see how you wouldn't use this and how this might then annoy people in cars who think you should be in it. All this cycle lane shows is that if you park in it other cars will still be able to squeeze through.

There's a few parked cars in it too in the video, making it unusable. Strange that many drivers would then have a go at the cyclist for not using a blocked lane.

Avatar
VIPcyclist | 3 years ago
4 likes

It's a good job Jonny rode over the pot hole, any swerving and he'd have been hit.

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