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Near Miss of the Day 743: Two near misses for the price of one

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

Buy one near miss, get another one free...

road.cc reader Stu didn't choose to buy a near miss, to be fair, but was on the receiving end of two close calls in the same ride regardless.

Differentiating between the episodes as 'Muppet 1' and 'Muppet 2', Stu said the first happened as the group of four rode through Linlithgow.

> Near Miss of the Day 742: MGIF van driver left-hooks cyclist

"As you can see from the footage, the silver car pulls straight out in front of our lead rider. The shout is me... and is totally ignored by the car driver who keeps their head and eyes fixed firmly facing forwards."

Later in the ride, 'Muppet 2' struck...

"Same ride, although one of the guys has gone home, so we're now a group of three. We are cycling through Broxburn, West Lothian, and as you can see, there is a reasonable amount of traffic going the other way, held up by the lights.

"At this point, I'm in the lead and the other two are two abreast as there is insufficient space to be overtaken due to the parked cars. As we pass the last car we single up, but stay primary due to potholes.

"The guy in the Peugeot decides that this is a signal to overtake — irrespective of the oncoming traffic, and close passes the three of us. I hadn't realised just how close the pass was until I saw the video back.

"There's no point in reporting either occurrence to  Police Scotland as they tend not to do anything unless there is contact, or another motor vehicle has been seriously impeded in some way."

> 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

Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.

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4 comments

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lonpfrb | 2 years ago
1 like

I'm content that Kent Police do follow the law in working to be seen, to educate, encourage and enforce. So my report of an alarming and unnecessary close pass resulted in an invitation to attend the police station followed by a court appearance. Once that has taken its course I will report.

Since that incident I've got a Cyclic 6 rear camera and fitted a visual aid for the spatially challenged (1.5m white plastic pipe) so that poor passes are avoided.

Ride Safe.

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AidanR | 2 years ago
1 like

Drivers: "Why are you riding two abreast selfishly preventing us getting to the supermarket 1 minute sooner?"

Cyclists: "Because when we ride single file you do dangerous shit like this."

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wtjs replied to AidanR | 2 years ago
1 like

Cyclists: "Because when we ride single file you do dangerous shit like this."

Or this, by BMW YK16 GXU, at well over 50 mph AND crossing the unbroken white line

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nordog | 2 years ago
1 like

I have that sort of close pass so often I'm used to it.

 

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