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news
Near Miss of the Day 571: Driver makes very close and fast pass on cyclist descending country lane (includes swearing)
A driver making a very close pass at speed on a cyclist who is descending a country lane features in today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series.
The incident happened in February near Basingstoke, Hampshire with George, the road.cc reader who submitted the clip, reporting it online on 20 February to Hampshire Constabulary.
He said the force “refuse to provide a reference number or any information whatsoever to the cycling victims of bad drivers reported to them using video evidence, contrary to their remit and the requirements of the justice system.”
Regarding the incident itself, he said: “I didn't know the driver was there as he held back for a while before accelerating past.
“I was travelling fast downhill so I was concentrating ahead and obviously not expecting a pass on such a narrow lane.
“I have had several similar passes on narrow lanes during lockdown for some reason,” he added.
> 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
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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34 comments
This has to be worth chasing up; a single twig, a stone, a patch of mud, and the cyclist would be dead, and more than likely the driver would get off scot-free. If George doesn't get a positive response very soon, he should be contacting the police and every time he gets fobbed off by an underling, demand to be transferred to their boss until you get to the top. Also inform the local PCC.
I'm strugging to watch these now, I was rear ended a couple of weeks ago (all on camera) and they make me really anxious, i know they are not going to get hit but it still makes me feel quite sick, I hope I get over it. My incident is in the hands of the police now but its been suggested that I maybe charged with swearing (so a public order offence), I think its a perfectly natural responce to someone putting you in danger for no other reason than they cant be arsed about your safety.
That's terrible,. I can't imagine another crime where someone risks prosecution for reporting it.
A
hookerprostitute robbed you?Someone stole your cocaine?
They did the crime themselves?
Are you exclusively talking about hookers, or does this apply to any of the front row forwards?
Don't know about that, but presumably the second scenario happened at a line-out.
Oh very god sir, chapeau!
I think it's a general reference to any criminally minded rugby players...
The word hooker being used to mean prostitute has its origins in the US Civil war of the 1860s. General Hooker who headed the Union Army for a time (disastrously) was widely known for his liking for prostitutes. 'Camp followers' as they were known also stayed in large numbers as part of the entourage of the army when it was under his control.
Just thought you'd like to know.
I would suggest letting them charge you with swearing and going to crown court. What are they going to do? Nothing that's what, swearing after being hit is aa natural response. Hasn't some judge ruled on swearing no longer being offensive? 'https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15816761'
Furthermore if the police question you about it make sure you have a solicitor present. You don't know the law and can easily, innocently, implicate yourself. Let's put it this way if the police follow a car long enough a traffic offence, no matter how minor, will be committed giving an excuse to stop and then, if they want to, escalate the matter.
I suspect that they have to consider all the events in the submitted evidence, but I bet they won't do anything except maybe give you an informal warning for the swearing. As VIPcyclist suggests, there's no jury that will convict for you swearing after being put in danger like that.
No chance of that. I think there has to be some public involved for it to be a public order offence! The car had the windows up and was well past before anything was said.
I don't know the full story but on the face of it that sounds attrocious. Did you get it in writing? I think I would be contacting the PCC (especially if elections are happening in you area) and then my MP.
I don't know the exact circumstances but if you just swore as a car passed you there's pretty much no chance of that being prosecuted as a public order offence.
If a car overtook me at the speed and distance as shown in this video I'm pretty sure that the first word to come to my startled brain wouldn't be "cripes" or "cor lummy" either.
And anyone familiar with the public order would know that. I'm assuming the police are familiar with public order. Makes you wonder if they are just trying to intimidate the OP for an easy life. Which would be something, from the police.
This was my thought as well. On one occasion I was threatened with my phone being seized as evidence. Their face fell when I told them I had a memory card that they could have or I could e-mail a Dropbox link and I was only using my phone to show the incident in order for them to make a decision to chase the motorist up. Also said the card and link had longer footage. The officer then viewed the footage rather reluctantly.
I had a dangerously close pass a couple of weeks ago which resulted in me swearing "Learn to fucking drive!" and then said driver stopping and going full road rage on me (I was lucky to get away with not getting punched or worse).
Even if I had had video footage, I wouldn't have reported it for the reasons you mention. This chap had just that experience with the police.
https://twitter.com/magnatom/status/1372272401900257283?s=21
The driver has no regard for the cyclist's safety and possibly even their life. The conditions are wet, there is mud encroaching into the already narrow road and visibility is fairly poor. So with all of that taken into account the driver decides that they're prepared to leave it all to chance, just so they can get ahead. If Hamps. police do not treat this as a crime and prosecute accordingly then they are complicit in advocating such dangerous driver behaviour and the possible fatal consequences it can bring.
It is time to stop using social media as a hollow PR exercise and actually reinforce these messages with proper and just actions. Anything other than proper enforcement is dereliction of duty. Video evidence as clear as this should lead to at the very least 6 points, but considering the decision to make the dangerous manouevre in such poor conditions with so little regard for the cyclist's safety, a ban could and should be justified.
Video evidence as clear as this should lead to at the very least 6 points
I would be happy with 3 points, because what almost almost all of us 'get' almost all of the time is nothing at all- no action is taken against the driver, no points, no joke driving course, no letter, no acknowledgement except the automated online reference. All we get is the mental picture of a load of police standing around sniggering at the thought of new close passing guidance when they have no intention of enforcing any such thing, or enforcing laws forbidding vehicles passing lights at red, or illegal number plates, or handheld mobile phone use or anything at all, really. Just think of the sniggering police as you're forcibly ejected into the next world!
3 points is too light considering the potential danger of the manoeuvre. I appreciate that most video submissions to the police containing undeniable evidence result in nothing, still 3 points would not act as a proper deterrent to many offending drivers.
3 points is too light considering the potential danger of the manoeuvre
According to the OP, the very guilty driver is getting a free pass and approval by Hampshire Constabulary. This is the reality we all face every day, despite the good PR put out today by WMP in the 'live blog'. Almost all the time, the police do nothing at all about close passes. I know from my own experiences of impeccable video evidence submitted to Lancashire Constabulary they are simply ignored. The only way to rectify this is to complain until you're more than blue in the face.
Scarily close driving when the cyclist was going at speed. that could've easily been fatal.
From the Hampshire police web site : https://www.hampshire.police.uk/news/hampshire/news/appeals/2020/july/cl...
Close Pass campaign a success in Basingstoke
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News 15:35 29/07/2020
The latest ‘Give Space, Be Safe’ campaign was successful cyclists and motorists spoken to by officers.
The initiative aimed to target drivers who failed to follow the Highway Code rules on passing distances when overtaking cyclists, sometimes referred to as a near miss or close pass, which put cyclists at risk.
The Joint Operations Road Policing Unit ran the operation this morning, 28 July, in Basingstoke.
One of our officers went on the roads on a bike and those drivers caught driving too close to him when overtaking were stopped.
The campaign also saw officers encouraging cyclists to be more visible, handing out free rucksack covers, neck tubes and temporary lights.
A total of 8 drivers were stopped, all of which opted for the educational course. One driver was given a fixed penalty notice for blocking a pedestrian crossing.
Around 5 cyclists were offered advice and support on cycling safely, and handed some high-visibility freebies.
PC Paul Farquharson said: “Today’s activities were a great success. We have seen a marked improvement with drivers giving plenty of space and time when overtaking cyclists.
“We have not only been targeting poor driving behaviour, we have also been targeting cyclists and other road users whose behaviour may make them more at risk of being involved in a collision.
“Our focus has been about encouraging all road users to share the road together, abide by the law and give consideration to all when using the road.
“It’s also been a great opportunity to engage with other members of the public who came over to our check-point to see what we were doing, all of whom were very supportive of what we were doing.
“We also wanted to say thank you to Cranbourne School for allowing us to use their car-park for our educational check-point.
He added: “A close pass not only presents danger to the cyclist but it’s also intimidating.
“Drivers should be allowing other road users as much room they would a car – but many seem to not know this, or choose to ignore it. Remember that any cyclist you overtake could be our police cyclist.”
.....................................................................................................
Just had a quick look at Hampshire reorting site. The first few pages are almost identical to Gloucestershire. When you get to the end in Gloucestershire you get a reference number. At the end it says if you haven't heard anything in 6 weeks no action has been taken. If this is the case in Hampshire wait the 6 weeks and then email them quoting the reference asking them to confirm that no action has been taken. If you get this then I would contact the the PCC asking whether they are still taking part in the close pass initiative. Then send in the footage and ask what action would have been taken if one of their officers had been subjected to this pass on a close pass operation. You may have to be persistent in following stuff up to get replies but always be polite, remember the police have plenty to do.
You may find Cycling UK helpful in this as well and you could try to contact PC Paul Farquharson directly to get their opinion on this. Just a thought.
I get multiple dangerous passes each day. It's an effort just to upload the worst one each day to the police dashcam portal, which they then ignore anyway. I envy those of you with police forces which actually care about solving crime.
I just had my first success in a while with Essex police. I think it helped that they tweeted at the weekend that social distancing needs to occur on roads allowing me to leverage that.
No doubt when that wears off, it will be the usual nfa.
Unacceptable - and needs a ban!
A narrow, country road, and a descent - the cyclist deserves space to enable him to complete this. What he doesn't need is a lunatic deciding they've waited long enough - and must come past at ridiculous speed.
But we've all seen this before - it doesn't matter whether it's a dual carriageway, a quiet rural road, they have to get past, and a cyclist will just have to lump it.
Some motorists can't accept that on rural/country roads there maybe walkers, cyclists, livestock, farm machinery on the road - they'll drive exactly the same as on a main road/motorway.
Driver of WM67 ELO is guilty. The worst feature is the speed. Hampshire Constabulary is also guilty- they seem to have followed the same cyclist-hostile route as Lancashire- surely you get the online incident report reference, even if they don't give you an official incident number?
Jeff Lynne.
That car came… out of the blue.
Thank you, I'll get my coat
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