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news
Near Miss of the Day 658: Close pass on country lane
In the latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series, rather than waiting for it to be safe to overtake a cyclist on a country lane – moreover, one with heavier than usual traffic due to nearby roadworks – a motorist instead makes a close pass on a cyclist.
Chris, the road.cc reader who filmed the incident, told us: "Here the VW Golf driver decides to make a close pass in a narrow section of road rather than wait until the road widens.
“This happened on a day when a major road was closed for road works resulting in heavy congestion on the remaining roads leading to motorists using small lanes as short cuts.
“I have no problem with this, but more care and lower speeds are needed, something which in this case, were sadly lacking,” 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.
Latest Comments
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Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
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12 comments
I really hate these. You're on a narrow country road, polite driver sits behind giving you plenty of space, you come to a wider bit of road so you stop pedalling and move over a bit, they pass safely but some idiot following barrels through tailgating the first driver oblivious of the narrowing road.
they arent being polite sitting behind you if the result is the first gap in the road you feel obliged to give space like that, they are sitting on your wheel crowding you, making you stressed, with them being there, and so you move and think you are helping out, but inevitably end up in a worse position.
I wouldnt have moved over there.
See I would have. I actually get more stressed if I give them the opportunity to overtake when I'm ready for it and feel it is safer and they don't take it. Then I'm worried they would get impatient and do what the Golf did. However it would also depend on how many are behind.
To be clearer on my part im not saying just keep those cars behind you, I prefer them always ahead then getting frustrated behind.
But that I wouldnt have chosen that particular point on that road to do that move and encourage a vehicle behind to pass. It's too small a gap given the speed they were still travelling at and comprises them completely when the 2nd car seized the same overtake opportunity as they always were likely going to do.
Id have waited for a better gap, preferably on the left, so you've got control of the room to move out of their way rather than hope they just use the extra space considerately.
Yep, cyclist forgot that car drivers are lemmings and follow the one in front blindly sometimes. However I still believe if we only had the one car, it was a good place on the road from the bits we can see in the video. Obviously if the clip had carried on and shown a nice wide bit of road just over the hill, then......
Dunno what you 2 are on about- perfectly serviceable escape ramp just ahead !
Bloody hell, it must be a bad pass if even Nige can't find a way to blame the cyclist (or Surrey police's twitter).
It's just his MO - when he realises that he's been particularly stupid/racist/alt-right and completely lost the room he drops in a couple of "I support cyclists honest" comments to try and regain credibility.
Especially as he is adamant that cars never do this to him as he is so courteous and he only ever has trouble from other cyclists. How many lies again. Probably can't keep track of them anymore.
One of, if not my biggest bugbear; idiots on country/ rural roads thinking they're in urban areas - and not allowing for livestock, farm machinery, or walkers, let alone cyclists in the road. They just drive the same whatever the roads, conditions, weather.....
Well, that's not too bad a pass - nice, wide and slow. What's the pr-- WOW!
Moronic driving the overtake then brake immediately.
Was there any footage of the next cyclist who seemed to be just ahead?