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news
Near Miss of the Day 912: Police forward case for prosecution after driver's "ridiculously close pass" on cyclist
A careless driver who close passed a cyclist is to either pay a fixed-penalty notice fine or attend a driving training education course — after the rider submitted the footage of the incident to the police, who forwarded it for prosecution.
The incident occurred on 4 January 2024 on Grosvenor Road in Belfast, the road.cc reader moving into the right-hand lane to keep travelling straight on when a driver indicating left cut across them at speed, at an unsafe distance.
When they were then stopped at a red light moments later, the cyclist told the driver the footage would be reported and said it had been a "ridiculously close pass".
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) agreed and, having heard the rider's witness statement and seen the footage, put the case to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, recommending that the driver be prosecuted for careless driving and required to either pay a Fixed Penalty Notice fine or undertake a driving training education course.
> 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 joined in 2020 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 has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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19 comments
recommending that the driver be prosecuted for careless driving and required to either pay a Fixed Penalty Notice fine or undertake a driving training education course
Despite my very best efforts, there is still a reluctance to believe in the dodges employed by the police to avoid taking action against drivers. It's over 6 months later and we apparently don't know what actually happened. If PSNI refuses to tell you that, using the GDPR dodge, then at the very best it was the joke driving course and it may well have been nothing at all. It's the word 'recommending' that gets them off
I've never been on one (not intended as a humblebrag), but what actually happens on these driving courses? I presume that the intention is that it teaches the miscreants Not To Do It Again. But hearing how much people disparage them, is it just a Powerpoint presentation while the instructor says, "M'kay"?
I went on a speed awareness course once. I was struck by how few of the attendees thought they'd done anything wrong. There were lively discussions. I quite enjoyed it but had I still been working I would probably have resented the time I had to spend there. My two memories were one bloke complaining about a driver doing 50mph on a NSL road because that was obviously far too slow. I used to drive that road and would never exceed 50mph, it just got you stuck behind the next queue of traffic quicker. The other was the hazard awareness video. I was concentrating on kids coming out between parked cars and cars leaving junctions etc. The rest of the group all shouted out "speed camera" which I hadn't even noticed. Needless to say I was the only person who had cycled there.
The courses moved online during the pandemic so completely different now I suspect.
The courses
moved onlinebecame even more of a joke during the pandemic so completely different now I suspectThanks for this, Bungle.
Did those people really think that a speed camera was a 'hazard'? Ridiculous.
It is when you are happily driving along and they all slam their brakes on in front of you because they have spotted it.
Think of it like an online training session, that costs more money than it should and the participant has no choice in attending.
It's an alternative to punishment in my opinion.
I've done both the speed awareness, and the 'what's driving you?' courses over the years, and on balance they do have a degree of impact. Certainly more than 3 points on a licence would have anyway.
So I'm a fan.
The way I see it, is if only one in ten participants tangibly change their driving following a course, that's one more person compared to a fine/points
Not a close pass according to Thames Valley Police as not part of bicycle visible
Not sure I would bother telling them they are being reported - I like the idea of a completely unexpected official letter arriving. If you tell them they are bieng reported, there is no surprise with the letter and if the police fail to act on the evidence then it reinforces their view that they are a great driver and cyclists are out to cause trouble.
Correct. Official police advice is don't engage, no matter how satisfying it might feel.
UnOfficial police advice is don't
engagereport, no matter howsatisfying it might feelbad the offence or how good the evidence"I just want your face for the camera"
"i don't remember the incident, I can't recall who was driving"
I stongly suspect that , as things stand, the punishment for not indentifying the driver would be a lot more severe than if they own up to it.
maybe, and yet people have managed to get away with it before. I don't want to speculate on how that might be achieved, in case I am right. Disseminating that information would not be desireable.
I reported someone for jumping a red light, the registered keeper failed to identify the driver. It went to court and they got 6 points and had to pay just over a grand in fines / costs.
A FPN for Careless Driving would probably be 3 points and £100.
Video
I reported someone for jumping a red light, the registered keeper failed to identify the driver. It went to court and they got 6 points and had to pay just over a grand in fines / costs
How the other 20% lives?!
Ignored in Lancashire
https://upride.cc/incident/k7ddy_audia4_redlightpass/
The converse of that is that if you tell them they're on camera and being reported and the police take no action at least a) they might consider their actions in future having been reminded that lots of cyclists carry cameras and b) they might at least have an uneasy few weeks wondering what's going to come in the mail.
Careless driver?