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Near Miss of the Day 5: Aggressive BMW driver in South London - but Met didn't act

Eric Oliphant filmed driver's “aggressive, impatient and dangerous" behaviour...

It’s coming towards the end of the first week of our new feature on Near Miss of the Day, and it’s clear from the response we’ve had that being put at risk of bodily injury or worse is sadly an all too common occurrence.

Today’s comes from Abbeville Road in Clapham, South London, and shows some shockingly aggressive driving by a motorist at the wheel of a BMW.

But when road.cc reader Eric Oliphant, who described the driver’s actions as “aggressive, impatient and dangerous,” submitted the footage to the Metropolitan Police Service via its Roadsafe website – which you could be forgiven for thinking was tailor-made for dealing with this kind of incident – he never heard back.

We understand that the Met will be launching a close pass operation similar to that initiated by West Midlands Police last year, but as yet there is no news of a start date.

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 in to 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 Close Pass of the Day will keep rolling on.

If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it us at info [at] road.cc (subject: Near%20Miss%20of%20the%20Day)  or contact us via the road.cc Facebook page.

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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11 comments

Avatar
ktache | 6 years ago
2 likes

hawkspinster, I roared with laughter from that one.

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hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
7 likes

If you're ever feeling down, depressed and unappreciated, just remember that someone, somewhere has the job of fitting indicators to BMWs.

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Leviathan | 6 years ago
0 likes

You'll just have to imagine the Frankie Boyle style joke I was going to post about what would happen to the driver when he gets stopped by the police.

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Leeroy_Silk | 6 years ago
0 likes

Echoing previous comments I'm also wondering about the purpose of this mini-series. 

Is it a safety information advising us to be aware of anything on the road with an engine? That roads are dangerous and we should think twice about using them?

There's obviously a purpose behind the posts only I'm yet to understand the positives. It's also worth highlighting that the more you're submerged in dangerous situations, atrocities, near misses etc. the less impact they actually have. 

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Dnnnnnn replied to Leeroy_Silk | 6 years ago
0 likes

Leeroy_Silk wrote:

Echoing previous comments I'm also wondering about the purpose of this mini-series. 

Is it a safety information advising us to be aware of anything on the road with an engine? That roads are dangerous and we should think twice about using them?

They're being sponsored by the Daily Mail to scare cyclists off the road. It's much more lucrative than earning it through advertising Daily Deals.

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Bassmann13 | 6 years ago
2 likes

I'm wondering what your reasoning is for this mini-series Road.cc?  You're not telling us anything we don't already know.  You're not alerting the police to the issue, and you're not spreading awareness to other road users, because they dont tend to look at cycling pages for inspiration on how to drive.

I can only assume you're long-tern trolling?

Avatar
Butty replied to Bassmann13 | 6 years ago
1 like

Bassmann13 wrote:

I'm wondering what your reasoning is for this mini-series Road.cc?  You're not telling us anything we don't already know.  You're not alerting the police to the issue, and you're not spreading awareness to other road users, because they dont tend to look at cycling pages for inspiration on how to drive.

I can only assume you're long-tern trolling?

Searching Youtube and Cycling Weekly for filler content and old news is starting to cheese me off.

That 2014 Best Cycling Website Award is starting to look rather tarnished.

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ridein | 6 years ago
3 likes

These videos are depressing, we all know that cyclists are vulnerable road users. Couldn't you just upload these to your YouTube channel?

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Dnnnnnn | 6 years ago
1 like

Not uncommon in Sarf Laandan, usually young solo males in 'prestige' German cars.

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don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
10 likes

BMW, taking the heat off Audi drivers since 1976.

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WillRod replied to don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
2 likes

don simon wrote:

BMW, taking the heat off Audi drivers since 1976.

 

Oi... some of us BMW drivers are sensible cyclists too!

Bizarrely my BMW is more relaxing than my Ford Focus hire car that just made me grumpy.

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