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news
Near Miss of the Day 244: Close pass at speed by a "very remorseful" fellow cyclist
Today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a very close and very fast overtake on a cyclist by a van driver who turned out to be a bike rider himself.
It was sent in by road.cc reader Tom, who told us: “I had this very fast very close pass back in November on the A52 in Nottingham.
“Police said the driver was a cyclist himself and was very remorseful so let him off with a warning," he added.
“The video doesn’t really do it justice, he literally brushed my arm with his wing mirror doing at least 60mph.”
> 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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22 comments
Great Chuck, we had that until about 1980. The horse and cart used the roads beautifully, the bike used the roads beautifully, the early combustion engine used them relatively well. Cars are now designed to excede the speed limit in under 8 seconds whilst being an extension of the living room, the inhabitants increasingly safe and their ability to need to make decisions or pay attention being reduced. Larger vehicles are designed to be unsafe unlike any other piece of workplace equipment. The law basically allows you to endanger or end the lives of others without punishment.
Are you sure your world is better? Would it take the death of a loved one to change your mind?
'asking for trouble'
'basically runs at 80mph+ most of the time'
If the road is so bad then surely the actions of the drivers or infrastructure needs looking at. I'd make it a one way street, 20mph, speed bumps and 2 way cycle lane. Sorted!
FFS - might is right is a sure way to a compliant totalitarian society of hate!
Bloody good, mate.
Come back when you're sober and we'll talk some more!
Here on Earth there needs to be roadways more suited for motorized traffic, just as there needs to be some more suited for human-powered.
Completely agree with the legal assessment, but that is a road that I would cycle on less than once in a million years. I don't care if everyone drives perfectly safely, the risks are just too great. I would find an alternative route.
Watching that on full screen that's one of the worst I've ever seen. It really is mm from a fatality.
I doubt very much however that he brushed him with his wing mirror - at that speed differential (say 40mph) he'd have been knocked off. Probably buffeting from the bow wave of the van.
Can't believe that Notts Police didn't do anything further, if it was on WMP's patch he'd be looking at points and a fine.
I’m calling BS on the van drivers excuse. He would have seen the silver car and motorcycle move to lane 2 especially when they return to lane 1. In also assuming the cyclist had a rear light as you can see the front one flashing so no excuse and visibility is ok. I’ll lean to the ‘distracted by hand held device’ and couldn’t be arsed paying attention.
On another note I find it very concerning that as dual carriageways get upgraded by the widening lanes it is the hard shoulder and footpaths that previously existed alongside are sacrificed. As a result these dual carriageways become defacto motorways and if a traffic order isn’t slapped on it vulnerable road users avoid them at all costs. This doesn’t just apply to duals but also to some single carriageways- In sure that many of us here can rhyme off a list of roads to be avoided in their areas. There’s a road up my way that I would sooner take a 10 mile detour than cycle on it.
Bicycles are not allowed on motorways presumably because it’s considered too dangerous. If that is correct, I would say this road, having no hard shoulder, is more dangerous than a motorway. I would think that if I used this road I would be surprised not to be struck by a vehicle sooner or later. I’m not excusing the motorist.
yes you are. You're saying the road is too dangerous to cycle on therefore if a cyclist is hit it's their own fault for being on the road. It's an absolutely clear-cut example of victim-blaming.
Anyone cycling on the A52 must be not wired up right. It’s just a deathwish as it’s just like a motorway in parts, as you can see from the speed of the traffic in the vid. That’s not excusing the driving at all though. If i were the copper, i’d have had a word with the cyclist too.
Are you having a laugh?
So what are the alternative routes like, since you know it so well? Are they a similar distance/convenience, or are they several times further??
Several, B502 for one (which on checking Google Maps seems to have a painted cycle lane). Been a while since I lived in the area but there are good alternatives north of the A52. Not so many to the south on the section where that was filmed so it depends on where he comes from.
It's an A road just off the M1 which, when I was there at Uni, basically runs at 80mph+ most of the time. You'd have to give me a very good incentive to go anywhere near it on a bike.
None of this is excusing the shit driving in the video, but I'm sorry, this is one of those where you need to carry out a practical risk assessment and find an alternative route. I know I used to drive like an absolute bell-end on it getting between Derby & Notts as quick as possible.
It's like cycling on the A3 south of Guildford, or the A34 from Winchester to Oxford.
well it depends where you are coming from and going to, Im assuming thats the Derby to Nottingham section (Brian Clough way) as its dual carriageway, whereas the Notts to Grantham bit is single carriageway most of the way IIRC and much better to cycle on and you see lots of cyclists use it at the weekends
so theres the B5010 Derby to Notts which was part of the old route before the A52,runs near enough parallel to the A52. leads you far enough in to Notts you can then pick up the A52 rest of the way in as its abit safer or more suburban by then.
but I certainly wouldnt cycle on that dualed bit of the A52 precisely for the reason shown in the video, not once but twice with those vans, instead of vehicles doing the right thing by slowing down and moving across into the outside lane to pass you safely, theyll happily keep their foot to the floor, and pass you with barely enough room to miss you, and they no doubt justify that to themselves because they believe you to be the one behaving recklessly by simply being there on that road, not them, and as soon as that duty of care link is broken for them thats what you get.
It almost looks like the van swerved towards the cyclist, as it appears to move to the right to be more central in the lane after the pass.
A warning is not sufficient for that. “I’m a cyclist too” is a standard ploy used to justify behaviour, but it usually means they have a bike in the garage they don’t use because the roads are too dangerous.
A potentially fatal close pass! Terribke driving.
Think that the OP is being fobbed off by the police. Either he made a complaint, it was investigated and a decision was made or the police offered ‘to have a word’ with the offending driver. In these circumstances the latter should not have even been considered!
Feck, there's two of em.
You've got to be pretty mental to cycle the A52 though - that's the sort of road I'd move to avoid if it was on my commute and there was no other choice. It's lethal enough for drivers.
Was expecting a close pass by another bike based on the title. However, this is a completely legitimate pass in a large vehicle travelling at speed because he states that he rides a bike
to avoid any further police actionsometimes. Obviously takes serious injury / death to have a prosecution.I'd swap all the remorse in the world for a second's thought. Does this mean that when I say I'm sorry for trashing the car of some pillock who came within an inch of killing me, it'll all be forgotten? Or does that just apply to crimes committed whilst driving?
How do they know he was a cyclist? I'd be amazed that any cyclist would do something so stupid.
Sounds reasonable, so long as you say that you have driven at some point in the past.
When the van driver said he was a cyclist, I'd guess he meant that he often drove to a nearby off-road cycle route where he could tool around on a mountain bike. If he'd any experience at all of riding on a road, he'd never have passed that closely. Remorse or not, this deserved way more than just a warning, IMO.
Very bad pass, with no excuse. Even without that, that road does not look like a fun road to cycle on!
My first thought as well. High speed road with no shoulders? That's asking for trouble.