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news
Near Miss of the Day 82: Driver in close pass on club ride
We know a lot of road.cc readers will have been out enjoying club rides over the weekend, so the latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series will have a particular resonance.
It happened to members of Hampshire-based Andover Wheelers yesterday, as a BMW rider executed a close pass on the group, and was sent in to us by Daz Adams.
He told us: "I happened on Kentsboro road going up towards Danehill and on Stockbridge, near Andover.
"I have contacted Test Valley (Hants Police) and sent them a link will see what happens.
"I was riding with the Andover Wheelers super steady group which I do every Saturday morning but due to the weather there was only 4 of us. We were riding two abreast up until we heard the car coming up so we moved to single file.
"My initial reaction was shock as I saw the bonnet come up along side of me which looked within touching distance then anger as the road was clear with nothing on the other side so it was totally unnecessary," Daz added.
Their group ride wasn't the only one on which a close pass was captured on film this weekend.
Warwickshire's Stratford Cycling Club has a similar experience yesterday, courtesy of the driver of a Waitrose delivery van.
SCC group ride almost taken out by a @waitrose driver!! pic.twitter.com/mTgmGI21LF
— Stratford CC (@stratfordcc) January 27, 2018
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.
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.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 14 min 59 sec ago
Apologies - you're quite right! Something about presentation and comprehension...
- wtjs 35 min 40 sec ago
You can find out whether they're lying about 'taking action' by asking them what they actually did. When they refuse to tell you, citing various...
- Bungle_52 51 min 42 sec ago
Blind spots eh. Just a reminder of the lorry driver who was aquitted after killing a cyclist on a roundabout where the jury obviously felt it was...
- GMBasix 1 hour 22 min ago
But don't forget to correct for altitude.
- chrisonabike 5 hours 20 min ago
Also don't forget - Sustrans are a charity *....
- chrisonabike 5 hours 31 min ago
Yes ... but (just due to the large numbers of people affected) this likely would only proceed in the UK at a very ... cautious ... pace....
- EK Spinner 5 hours 49 min ago
Arsehole in the van not with standing, how did they manage to get a risk assessment allowing a race (a group not a TT) group to be competing on ...
- RafaDy 5 hours 44 min ago
I think reviewer completely missed the point here trying to match bike's name with what it can do. Ribble is namin git's bike weirdly, the...
- Moist von Lipwig 9 hours 10 min ago
Bit of googling gone wrong in the article - the JAT is the Junction Assessment Tool, the Joint Approval Team appears to be a coutner terrorism...
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11 comments
Drove back to London from Hove yesterday via lots of back routes as M23 was part closed. Really good to see so many club rides out, and from everything I saw, all passed with respect and patience.
One group of a dozen or so (yellow/red kit, Lingfield way) were single file, I guess browbeaten into being so. Made them an absolute bitch to pass (though I did love how the lad covered in crap with no mudguards was relagated to the back).
Two a breast is best!
(Or does that sound a bit Harvey Weinstein?)
Bluebug, I think it may be a bit of both, a bad pass is often followed by a good one. Often the shit drive doesn't see a problem in what they do, has little concept of the width of their car or why a cyclist would be annoyed. The drive behind has a great view of how shit it is and compensates.
I had another today and it's getting worse in the centre of Crewe. Again I have three plus hours in the saddle and the mile of town centre pulls an idiot out. Big but single lane roundabout with 3 exits, I'm taking exit 2 straight on. Even if the car was taking exit 3 there wasn't room. Nearly went in the back of me, forced her way alongside then cut across the front for exit 2 with a few inches to spare.
Absolute twats!
Waitrose one just needs forwarding to their HR department. I'm sure their drivers are trained how to drive round vulnerable road users and I think this one needs to go on a refresher course.
I hope they do 3 strikes and they are out like some bus companies.
http://rate-driver.co.uk/HY17KGF
Both utterly pointless, could have both used the whole width of a 2 lane highway.
The van looks to be doing a punishment pass there, hope someone has told Waitrose about this.
Nice that the MPV shows how it should be done.
the van is definitely the scarier one, especially in the wet, but its the curious thing about close passes like that you often get the second car come through like the MPV giving loads of room which I dont know if its like a pity pass, you know like sorry that guy ahead of me was driving like a total muppet and we arent all like that.
No it's because the second driver knows how to pass cyclists safely. Often it's because they themselves, family or close friends' actually cycle.
It’s a SEAT, not a BMW.
And I’m not sure why the car make is relevant. Bad driving is bad driving.
GWEEDS....spot-on, squire. Why do accident (or near-collision) reports almost invariably include the actual make of car involved? I never hear of a bikie being knocked off his or her Genesis! What would be the point?
"Luxury" cars are suppose to have better brakes and technology for their age compared to the average car and van.
They are also the cars that will have the safety features that will warn of vulnerable road users first e.g. Audi A8.
In other words drivers are of these cars have absolutely no excuse not to brake in time and in future completely avoid you.