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news
Near Miss of the Day 635: “Absolute moron” overtakes cyclists during sportive
By definition, the videos in our Near Miss of the Day series feature examples of poor driving – but there should be a special award for the type of stupidity displayed by this overtaking of cyclists participating in a sportive in Northern Ireland – and having to brake to a halt to avoid hitting another car head-on.
It happened during yesterday’s Tour of Strangford in County Down, a charity sportive organised by Ards Cycling Club and featuring 80 and 50 mile routes around Strangford Lough, the largest sea inlet in Britain and Ireland.
The clip was sent to us by road.cc reader Paul, who described the driver as “an absolute moron” – it’s hard not to agree with that.
> 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
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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16 comments
MGIF in an MGF?
Wouldn't have happened if the cyclists hadn't been there. Obviously their fault! (I suspect this is probably the thinking of the driver and many others who do this sort of thing).
This happens virtually every week on our club rides. Perfectly normal standard of driving.
We get the same thing done to us in running races - motorists use their cars to push us out of the way - if they see any marshals they verbally abuse them.
Do you have a lot of folk in the over 80 category ?
Anyway, you said earlier, you can hardly walk.
Odd indeed.
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-punched-repeatedly-head-furious-dri...
This Leo chap sounds suspiciously like the stuntman character of the same name from Aussie comedian Paul Hogan's sketch comedy show in the 70's…
I have ridden a number of Sportives over the years (large and small) as well as numerous club runs (both in tidy groups and a little scattered around) and although never done any road racing I have marshalled and driven as part of the convoy on a fair few.
I try to get our club runs to operate as a tight bunch in order to not just be efficient and look good but to also be a smaller "obstacle" to overtake. On sportives there can be such a long string of riders who aren't riding together but are on the same route, there ends up with no suitable gaps for an overtaking driver to pull back into (Yes they should plan ahead and know where they intend to go before starting the move) I suspect this type of incident can be bourne of a frustrtion having perhaps made 5-6 overtakes already but each time they are only moving up the group rather than past it.
I remember once jumping on a wheel of a quicker rider on pedal for scotland (when it was only 55 miles) and we crossed the white line to pass riders in front, we couldn't get back in for several miles becaue there were so many riders ahead (I stupidly clung on as he flew up the road - an adrenalin rush for sure but not one I would take now)
Sometimes the popularity of a sportive can have some unintended consequences
* Explaining why I think this may have happened is in no way trying to excuse the very poor driving, only give my opinion on what may partially explain (NOT excuse) it
At the risk of damning with faint praise, and with an eye firmly on Brooksby's comment below, at least the driver came to a stop, and didn't just try to push the riders off the road
I was literally about to say the same. I half expected them to lurch left and take them all out.
I would have loved to have eavesdropped on what was being said by the driver of the oncoming car
almost certainly blaming the cyclists for not leaving more/larger gaps
I came here to say that - makes a change from completely cutting back in across you.
Surely you mean "at least the drivers came to a stop"
The moron was very fortunate that the oncoming driver was able to stop.
Well, someone wasn't looking any further than the front of their car's bonnet...