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news
Near Miss of the Day 466: Pointless ‘victimless’ punishment pass
Today’s near miss – effectively considered a ‘victimless’ crime by Avon and Somerset Police – was the second close pass by the same driver on the same stretch of road.
The incident occurred on Coronation Road in Bristol, near ASDA last month.
“This was the second pass from this driver on that stretch of road,” said Jack, who submitted the footage. “The first was just a 'regular' horribly close pass.”
When challenged about his manoeuvre, the driver’s response was: "Use the cycle lane."
The incident was reported to police, who responded: “Thank you for taking the time to upload your footage which has now been processed (a warning letter or a fixed penalty or a prosecution has been issued). Thank you for helping to keep our roads safe.
“I can confirm that as you are a witness to this offence, you will not receive any further updates.”
Most police forces accept reports by cyclists of careless or dangerous driving – often close passes captured on camera – as a complaint by a victim. They will then provide information about the investigation in compliance with the Victims Code of Conduct.
However, several forces effectively treat close passes of cyclists as a “victimless crime” by regarding those on the receiving end as merely witnesses.
Cycling UK believes that in treating a cyclist submitting evidence as only a witness, these forces are implying that their report isn’t been taken seriously.
> 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
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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20 comments
PC Racer: "Sarge, those pesky cyclists keep sending in videos and like we all agreed we never prosecute our fellow drivers but still we have to waste our valuable time responding to them and they keep complaining we haven't done anything. I've got an idea, Sarge. How about we tell them they are not victims, just witnesses to their own endangerment by us drivers?"
Sargeant Zoomer: "Brilliant, PC Racer, that means we don't have to do anything and they won't even know we haven't done anything. There could be promotion in this for you."
PC Racer "Thanks Sarge. I'm always looking for ways to piss off cyclists and subvert the course of justice for them."
Sargeant Zoomer "We don't use that sort of terminology, Racer. It is called streamlining the 'service' in the interests of efficiency due to our funding issues."
PC Racer: "Of course, Sarge."
Sarge and Racer: 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
This is an extreme example of what I call the Nobhead's Manoeuvre. It's very common.
As you are approaching the end of a queue of traffic you get an unnecessary aggressive overtake, only for the driver to pull in front of you and join the end of the queue.
You then ride past him
This example has the added ingredient of righteous punishment, because he would like you to use the cycle lane. (ie get off the road)
He has used a tiny bit of extra fuel and brake lining, upped the anti, and gained absolutely no advantage on the road. Does he sit on the end of the queue thinking "I showed that cyclist" or is he thinking "I'm a proper nobhead, I am"? Reminds me of the guy in the Simpsons who is so stupid he doesn't know he's stupid.
He has probably done you a favour, because when you meet him again further up the road you know you are dealing with an aggressive driver with low intelligence. A bad combination.
It is outrageous that Avon & Somerset describe the cyclist as a witness rather than victim of crime. He was close passED: it is an active verb, and by definition it involves a victim, and he was was it!! If I swung my fist forcibly at someone's face and stopped just short of making contact would the person on the other end be merely a 'witness'?! This should definitely be pursued with the PCC for Avon & Somerset. The police must not be allowed to get away with this abuse of power.
That was a deliberate assault with a deadly weapon; why aren't the police treating it as such? It could easily have resulted in injury or death, but the police just treat it as a minor driving offence?
I have found the Police and Crime Commissioner of A&S to be quite receptive, so I would be taking this to the complaints system, and copying it to her, and making sure the complaints system knew it was copied to her.
Open window?
His keys would have been "hedged" if I had been the cyclist.
Regardless of whether the driver thinks he is doing a public service by telling the cyclist he should be on the cyclepath which is what it sounded like to me, there's absolutely no need to consider taking the law into ones own hands.
Tldr; drive like a twat around me and I'll react like a twat too.
I may be letting the side down, but I'm not that militant on this one- because it was slow. I don't report cases where the driver has slowed down to pass- which may not be the exact case here. I am more concerned about this 'you're only a witness' dodge from the police- when they won't tell you what action they've taken, it means they haven't taken any! It is an official declaration that close passing where you don't actually total the cyclist (and when you do!- as we have seen recently) is not a 'real offence'. Highway Code 'consultations' are completely worthless when the police attitude to the Highway Code, which means taking any opportunity to not enforce it, is like this.
I believe it appears slow because he is almost matching the speed of the cyclist. It is probably more dangerous then some due to the initial space given, the squeeze and then the brake as well. And he knew what he was doing with his "cyclepath" response.
what?
the cyclist is keeping pace with the traffic in front, there is no possible overtake here. Both cyclist and driver are travelling and speed and the cyclist gets squeezed off the road, by someone who doesn't think they belong there. this is assault, there is clear intimidation and threat of violence, here, the cyclist is forced to yield, or be injured! and for what? so the driver can be too close to the car in front, and actually not make any progress whatsoever.
I can't even see a cycle lane in the video, but if the pavement IS shared use, it would not be appropriate at the speed the cyclist is travelling.
The shared use path has been mentioned here several times; it is utterly appalling and not fit for purpose; not even for pedestrians.
Isn't that the one that's locally famous for being full of tree roots, and trees, and pedestrians, and signage, to a degree where nobody could cycle on it even at walking pace...?
That's further back along Coronation Road - as in the cyclist had already gone past it. The last time this video was on NMOTD, someone pointed out that there looked like cycles painted on the pavement (just after bus-stop, I believe) but when I checked, they weren't there, so probably a temporary guerilla shared path. The actual shared path stops at the bridge.
Yep, and it looks appalling, is a bit shit (especially the conflicting signage part of the way down) but actually works OK in practice.
Re refusing to confirm what action they will take, Herts police do this. this is from the latest that I sent in
Dear Sir / Madam
Thank you for the submission of your footage, we have now reviewed the footage and will be taking the most appropriate positive action, in relation to the incident you have reported.
These options include the following:
In the past they have told me what action they would take, however this policy appears to have changed, and the above was as far as they would go. When I pressed them to confirm whether they would be taking any action at all, they obfuscated and refused to give a straight answer. IT doesn't encourage you to actually engage, which is, of course, I believe the intention.
Interestingly earlier this year when I reported someone for scraping my car and driving off without stopping to exchange, they were all over it and spent a considerable amount of time falling over themselves keeping me informed of their actions and intentions. The obvious comparison to make is "risk of injury to person on bike?....whatever....." against "slight scraping of top layer of paint /lacquer? ...right on it, won't let these ne'er do wells get away with it sir!"
Submitted footage to Northumbria Police re an incident and their response was
"I am satisfied that this can be pursued as an offence of careless/inconsiderate driving through our fixed penalty process. Due to this you will only be contacted in the event the driver elects a court hearing for the matter."
At least they are taking some action on the matter, which is a start.
Unlike the problem with WMP, they state that they will only contact if it goes to court but otherwise not even told if any action is being taken at all. Those few extra lines at least let you know it isn't a waste of time submitting them.
Yes, that would have been okay. They're being clear with what they intend to do, and also that is s direct response to you. Mine was clearly just a canned response, and it's a little demoralising.
The Transport Secretary seems to be carrying a torch for cyclists. Maybe a letter to him to highlight the failure of this police force to stay on message.
Seems the driver did it on NMotD 457 and also did it now as well.
Obviously an incorrigible criminal; lock him up.
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