Near Miss of the Day 9: Houston driver gets a little too close to a cycling police officer

Here's what happens when a driver makes a close pass on a cyclist who turns out to be a police officer riding a bike equipped with radar for enforcement of the passing distance law.

The C3FT device uses an ultrasonic detector on an adjustable arm. Measurements are immediately displayed on a numeric display and it also buzzes when a vehicle passes within a preset threshold.

Here it is in action.

Houston Public Media reports that the local police department has been using the device since March.

“We’ve worked out all the bugs. It’s ready to go and it’s certified for use in court,” said Police Chief Art Acevedo. The penalty is a fine of up to $500.

Here in the UK, those forces taking active steps to tackle dangerous close passes of cyclists are typically reliant on cameras to identify culprits.

They have been following the lead of West Midlands Police, which reported a 50 per cent drop in poor overtaking in just four months following the launch of their pioneering scheme.

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 contact us via the road.cc Facebook page. Please also let us know where it took place and whether or not your local police force took any action.