Near Miss of the Day 275: Close pass from "white van driver" (police officer)

kil0ran wrote:

Out driving today and was at the back of a line of four cars waiting to overtake a cyclist (uphill bend, long straight ahead so no hurry). Leaving a bit of a gap to the car in front. Cars in front eventually start to overtake cyclist cos they've got to the straight only for the muppet who has been tailgating me to decide to overtake me at the same time. Suddenly muppet's got nowhere to go, so has to chop in to my two second gap, nearly tail-ending a really rather nice (for a car) '19 plate VW Arteon in the process. Looked like the Arteon driver wasn't best pleased because he then made what had to be the world's slowest ever right turn, meaning tailgating wanker was held up. Naturally once the road was clear tailgating wanker proceeded to pull a ridiculous high speed close pass on the cyclist, beeping her horn and gesticulating. 

Clearly late for her bridge morning, she must have been 70+

I don't do many miles these days but it's literally every car journey I see someone doing something properly stupid. Like overtaking vehicles on double whites because they're travelling slightly under the speed limit.

I drive, on average, about 500 miles per week. There's shit driving that gets ignored and really shit driving that will get a reaction from me. I can see dozens of examples of someone doing something stupid each day. Take yesterday morning, I was doing 30mph in a 30mph zone and got overtaken. I caught the car up at the next set of lights. He tore off and I caught, and then passed him at the next set of lights as he was waiting to turn right. He gained absolutely nothing, except maybe his taxi licence.

don simon fbpe wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

Out driving today and was at the back of a line of four cars waiting to overtake a cyclist (uphill bend, long straight ahead so no hurry). Leaving a bit of a gap to the car in front. Cars in front eventually start to overtake cyclist cos they've got to the straight only for the muppet who has been tailgating me to decide to overtake me at the same time. Suddenly muppet's got nowhere to go, so has to chop in to my two second gap, nearly tail-ending a really rather nice (for a car) '19 plate VW Arteon in the process. Looked like the Arteon driver wasn't best pleased because he then made what had to be the world's slowest ever right turn, meaning tailgating wanker was held up. Naturally once the road was clear tailgating wanker proceeded to pull a ridiculous high speed close pass on the cyclist, beeping her horn and gesticulating. 

Clearly late for her bridge morning, she must have been 70+

I don't do many miles these days but it's literally every car journey I see someone doing something properly stupid. Like overtaking vehicles on double whites because they're travelling slightly under the speed limit.

I drive, on average, about 500 miles per week. There's shit driving that gets ignored and really shit driving that will get a reaction from me. I can see dozens of examples of someone doing something stupid each day. Take yesterday morning, I was doing 30mph in a 30mph zone and got overtaken. I caught the car up at the next set of lights. He tore off and I caught, and then passed him at the next set of lights as he was waiting to turn right. He gained absolutely nothing, except maybe his taxi licence.

What really gets my goat are the fuckwits who insist on forcing you into the kerb whilst they overtake a parked car on their carriageway, OK, there may be enough room, but it is bad lazy driving and they wouldn't do that on their driving test. 

biker phil wrote:

don simon fbpe wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

Out driving today and was at the back of a line of four cars waiting to overtake a cyclist (uphill bend, long straight ahead so no hurry). Leaving a bit of a gap to the car in front. Cars in front eventually start to overtake cyclist cos they've got to the straight only for the muppet who has been tailgating me to decide to overtake me at the same time. Suddenly muppet's got nowhere to go, so has to chop in to my two second gap, nearly tail-ending a really rather nice (for a car) '19 plate VW Arteon in the process. Looked like the Arteon driver wasn't best pleased because he then made what had to be the world's slowest ever right turn, meaning tailgating wanker was held up. Naturally once the road was clear tailgating wanker proceeded to pull a ridiculous high speed close pass on the cyclist, beeping her horn and gesticulating. 

Clearly late for her bridge morning, she must have been 70+

I don't do many miles these days but it's literally every car journey I see someone doing something properly stupid. Like overtaking vehicles on double whites because they're travelling slightly under the speed limit.

I drive, on average, about 500 miles per week. There's shit driving that gets ignored and really shit driving that will get a reaction from me. I can see dozens of examples of someone doing something stupid each day. Take yesterday morning, I was doing 30mph in a 30mph zone and got overtaken. I caught the car up at the next set of lights. He tore off and I caught, and then passed him at the next set of lights as he was waiting to turn right. He gained absolutely nothing, except maybe his taxi licence.

What really gets my goat are the fuckwits who insist on forcing you into the kerb whilst they overtake a parked car on their carriageway, OK, there may be enough room, but it is bad lazy driving and they wouldn't do that on their driving test. 

They don't do it to me in the 4x4, but I had a woman squeeze through, hit my wing mirror on the Volvo, and piss off without stopping. No damage fortunately or I'd have been doing a u-turn.

don simon fbpe wrote:

biker phil wrote:

don simon fbpe wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

Out driving today and was at the back of a line of four cars waiting to overtake a cyclist (uphill bend, long straight ahead so no hurry). Leaving a bit of a gap to the car in front. Cars in front eventually start to overtake cyclist cos they've got to the straight only for the muppet who has been tailgating me to decide to overtake me at the same time. Suddenly muppet's got nowhere to go, so has to chop in to my two second gap, nearly tail-ending a really rather nice (for a car) '19 plate VW Arteon in the process. Looked like the Arteon driver wasn't best pleased because he then made what had to be the world's slowest ever right turn, meaning tailgating wanker was held up. Naturally once the road was clear tailgating wanker proceeded to pull a ridiculous high speed close pass on the cyclist, beeping her horn and gesticulating. 

Clearly late for her bridge morning, she must have been 70+

I don't do many miles these days but it's literally every car journey I see someone doing something properly stupid. Like overtaking vehicles on double whites because they're travelling slightly under the speed limit.

I drive, on average, about 500 miles per week. There's shit driving that gets ignored and really shit driving that will get a reaction from me. I can see dozens of examples of someone doing something stupid each day. Take yesterday morning, I was doing 30mph in a 30mph zone and got overtaken. I caught the car up at the next set of lights. He tore off and I caught, and then passed him at the next set of lights as he was waiting to turn right. He gained absolutely nothing, except maybe his taxi licence.

What really gets my goat are the fuckwits who insist on forcing you into the kerb whilst they overtake a parked car on their carriageway, OK, there may be enough room, but it is bad lazy driving and they wouldn't do that on their driving test. 

They don't do it to me in the 4x4, but I had a woman squeeze through, hit my wing mirror on the Volvo, and piss off without stopping. No damage fortunately or I'd have been doing a u-turn.

This is why I drive a £400 17yo Mondeo. Not a straight or unscratched panel on the thing (none of which happened in my ownership, I bought it like that because it was sound as a nut mechanically). People tend to steer clear, I certainly get less chancers like that than I do when driving the missus' Mk1 KA. 

But you're right - every single journey there's a level of fuckwittery (defined as driving that endangers others). I got "stuck" behind a cyclist through a double-whites section last week - guy was doing 20mph based on my speedo so I couldn't overtake. Ended up being overtaken across the double whites by a bloke blaring his horn and giving me a load of verbal. He did the same thing again just up the road on a blind bend. Car he overtook eventually turned off and 8 miles later I was right behind the same bloke in the queue for the lights. Eventually he's going to kill someone or himself, it's only a matter of time. I've done my fair bit of twattish driving in my younger years but one thing I've never done is cross double-whites, even in very high performance cars. 

biker phil wrote:

What really gets my goat are the fuckwits who insist on forcing you into the kerb whilst they overtake a parked car on their carriageway, OK, there may be enough room, but it is bad lazy driving and they wouldn't do that on their driving test. 

I've had this from learner drivers under instruction, I wouldn't back down and so we came to a stop with his vehicle inches from the parked car and my bars inches from the wong mirror, I was in primary to prevent the incident. Told the instructor there wasn't enough room and that he needs to give way and that two inches gap between the wing mirror and my handlebars is ridiculously dangerous, the old fart wasn't having any of it so I reported him.

Got an initial reply but that was about it, the whole driving standard is shit when instructors and police won't obey the law/HC and assault you with their weapon of choice. 

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

biker phil wrote:

What really gets my goat are the fuckwits who insist on forcing you into the kerb whilst they overtake a parked car on their carriageway, OK, there may be enough room, but it is bad lazy driving and they wouldn't do that on their driving test. 

I've had this from learner drivers under instruction, I wouldn't back down and so we came to a stop with his vehicle inches from the parked car and my bars inches from the wong mirror, I was in primary to prevent the incident. Told the instructor there wasn't enough room and that he needs to give way and that two inches gap between the wing mirror and my handlebars is ridiculously dangerous, the old fart wasn't having any of it so I reported him.

Got an initial reply but that was about it, the whole driving standard is shit when instructors and police won't obey the law/HC and assault you with their weapon of choice. 

I wonder if there is any means to report a driving instructor to the DVSA?

jh27]</p>

<p>[quote=BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

biker phil wrote:

What really gets my goat are the fuckwits who insist on forcing you into the kerb whilst they overtake a parked car on their carriageway, OK, there may be enough room, but it is bad lazy driving and they wouldn't do that on their driving test. 

I've had this from learner drivers under instruction, I wouldn't back down and so we came to a stop with his vehicle inches from the parked car and my bars inches from the wong mirror, I was in primary to prevent the incident. Told the instructor there wasn't enough room and that he needs to give way and that two inches gap between the wing mirror and my handlebars is ridiculously dangerous, the old fart wasn't having any of it so I reported him.

Got an initial reply but that was about it, the whole driving standard is shit when instructors and police won't obey the law/HC and assault you with their weapon of choice. 

I wonder if there is any means to report a driving instructor to the DVSA?

[/quotehttps://www.gov.uk/complain-about-a-driving-instructor

brooksby wrote:

I'm not sure what it says about our roads, that I wouldn't have known that this was deemed a close pass (except that the story called it one...).

while it’s not a shockingly close pass it’s unacceptable for a marked vehicle to make pass especially when Police Scotland are running a Close Pass Operation. They passed me the other day on a similar road and it was textbook. They slowed down and then moved fully into the other lane to pass. 

I know this road and up to a few years ago it was a two lane carriageway with a narrow central reservation for people attempting to cross. It existed to take the pressure off the Main Street in Govan. The city planners then built a two way bus corridor on the lanes going the direction Ian was going. They gave no thought to implementing cycling. There is no means of access from Harmony Street where he was coming from so he is committed to this lane.

I’m a short a*** 165 cm to be exact. If I was to lie down on that carriageway with my heels on the kerb I would have been treated as a speed bump by the cop. 

For all it’s flannel on investment in cycling and raising the modal share to 10% by 2020 (still sitting at below 2% folks) the govt here has made no inroads to providing sound infrastructure and compounds safety by allowing the Fiscal to not progress instances of dangerous driving unless you’ve been injured. They don’t even have Driver/Speed awareness courses here or the ability to post footage on a site for the police to then issue a FPN at the least. It’s an absolute shambles. 

CXR94Di2 wrote:

If you ride near the kerb, then drivers try to pass whilst remaining to the left carriage and not cross over the centre line For the last year or so, I ride centrally down all roads, this stops the squeeze by passes, which most drivers do. Its holds up traffic flow, brings down vehicle speed to your speed. They have to plan to overtake and more often pass completely to the other side. Yes I still do get the complete deranged driver with the close pass- but now I have more space to move away from said manoeuvre. These are rare in comparison, to the thoughtless driver who needs to be reminded to pass more carefully-riding centrally for me achieves this

This every single time, better to have more honks of the horn than close passes, I was walking to the next town via a twisty back lane with no verge/path last weekend to go collect a bike, it'd just had surface dressing, speed limit 20mph. I walked about 3 feet from the edge of the road, further on bends so that motorists could see me earlier, still had fucktards bombing along at 50mph but two of them had to come to a stop due to vehicles coming the opposite way.

One women was throwing her hands up and cussing because she had to stop instead of mowing me down, I mean how inconvenient for her to have to not kill someone in exchange for a few extra seconds on her journey! If I'd have been hugged right next to the hedgerow she would have bombed past without stopping more than likely striking me or just missing me by inches, exactly the same for cycling.

If only the police and government actually protected the vulnerable by drumming home the facts/law!

biker phil wrote:

I've been close passed by a police vehicle on many occasions, to be honest I've never bothered reporting them, it's difficult to fight against the establishment.

Always report them. What’s the worst that could happen? They ignore it. They are an organisation like any other. “The establishment” is nonsense. What happens all depends on who picks it up. If it’s another force, or another unit that roads don’t get on with well (politics happens in every organisation) or the culture is that public image is more important than “protecting your own” then the perpetrator may get hammered.

John Smith wrote:

biker phil wrote:

I've been close passed by a police vehicle on many occasions, to be honest I've never bothered reporting them, it's difficult to fight against the establishment.

 

Always report them. What’s the worst that could happen? They ignore it. They are an organisation like any other. “The establishment” is nonsense. What happens all depends on who picks it up. If it’s another force, or another unit that roads don’t get on with well (politics happens in every organisation) or the culture is that public image is more important than “protecting your own” then the perpetrator may get hammered.

well...depends how much tinfoil you wear as your headgear of choice

had a similar kind of space close distance pass on my bike by the local police in a BMW X5, which is their road/firearms unit choice of vehicle, it was the classic overtake as another car came the other way so suddenly the space they had to move in, as an X5 alone pretty much fills most of the available carriageway width, narrowed, yet not more than 200metres further up the road they turned into a Greggs car park.

report it ? what purpose would it ultimately serve, hardly likely to send a letter to themselves about it and thats all it would be at best regardless of whose vehicle it was, yes its anoying especially when they run close pass operations and declare the roads are not only safer as a result,but that they only stopped a handful of vehicles.

but if I reported that instance, to be fair Id have to report every single car that gave that same kind of gap, which often pretty much feels like nearly all of them & I could probably fill their case books for a year doing that & frankly Ive got better things to do with my time.

Id rather save the report option for the really dangerously close overtakes that need action taken, not the technically that was a close pass ones.

stonojnr wrote:

report it ? what purpose would it ultimately serve, hardly likely to send a letter to themselves about it and thats all it would be at best regardless of whose vehicle it was...

Id rather save the report option for the really dangerously close overtakes that need action taken, not the technically that was a close pass ones.

What might happen? The officer involved could get a serious bollocking and reminded that they should be an example etc. Don’t do it again etc. If they keep getting reports then much worse.

I totally understand only reporting the worst offenders, and I probably wouldn’t bother reporting the one in the video, but not because I thought the police would never do anything.

John Smith wrote:

stonojnr wrote:

report it ? what purpose would it ultimately serve, hardly likely to send a letter to themselves about it and thats all it would be at best regardless of whose vehicle it was...

Id rather save the report option for the really dangerously close overtakes that need action taken, not the technically that was a close pass ones.

 

What might happen? The officer involved could get a serious bollocking and reminded that they should be an example etc. Don’t do it again etc. If they keep getting reports then much worse.

 

I totally understand only reporting the worst offenders, and I probably wouldn’t bother reporting the one in the video, but not because I thought the police would never do anything.

I've contacted Lancashire Police more times than I care to mention. After waiting on hold for an eternity, I speak to someone, they are usually not interested at all. The last time I reported a driver, for texting behind the wheel, I insisted on an appointment at the nearest station which was open. After showing the officer the video, she told me that it wasn't really in the public interest to prosecute, after all she 'was in fairly slow moving traffic and wouldn't hurt anyone at that speed'. Even though the woman was holding the phone and admitted texting before telling me to fuck off, all on HD video. The bobby said she had better things to investigate. Hence why I reported her to the PSD, and no response. And they wonder why folk are losing respect for them.

stonojnr wrote:

John Smith wrote:

biker phil wrote:

I've been close passed by a police vehicle on many occasions, to be honest I've never bothered reporting them, it's difficult to fight against the establishment.

 

Always report them. What’s the worst that could happen? They ignore it. They are an organisation like any other. “The establishment” is nonsense. What happens all depends on who picks it up. If it’s another force, or another unit that roads don’t get on with well (politics happens in every organisation) or the culture is that public image is more important than “protecting your own” then the perpetrator may get hammered.

well...depends how much tinfoil you wear as your headgear of choice

had a similar kind of space close distance pass on my bike by the local police in a BMW X5, which is their road/firearms unit choice of vehicle, it was the classic overtake as another car came the other way so suddenly the space they had to move in, as an X5 alone pretty much fills most of the available carriageway width, narrowed, yet not more than 200metres further up the road they turned into a Greggs car park.

report it ? what purpose would it ultimately serve, hardly likely to send a letter to themselves about it and thats all it would be at best regardless of whose vehicle it was, yes its anoying especially when they run close pass operations and declare the roads are not only safer as a result,but that they only stopped a handful of vehicles.

but if I reported that instance, to be fair Id have to report every single car that gave that same kind of gap, which often pretty much feels like nearly all of them & I could probably fill their case books for a year doing that & frankly Ive got better things to do with my time.

Id rather save the report option for the really dangerously close overtakes that need action taken, not the technically that was a close pass ones.

Always report them.

If the police aren't driving correctly then they potentially won't stop others when they witness them doing the same as this driver did.

They will also ignore your reports as they will think 'that's what I do, it's fine'

Also any drivers that see that overtake, will think, 'it's fine because the police do it'.

That driver needs educating

grumpyoldcyclist wrote:

Always report them.

If the police aren't driving correctly then they potentially won't stop others when they witness them doing the same as this driver did.

They will also ignore your reports as they will think 'that's what I do, it's fine'

Also any drivers that see that overtake, will think, 'it's fine because the police do it'.

That driver needs educating

I agree in principle yes & Ive seen it many times how other drivers react to the way any of the emergency service vehicles pass you on the road, they do set the example, and I have certainly raised that very point with them directly about it several times before.

and in a perfect world I would report every vehicle who overtook within 1.5m, but it never feels quite like Im riding in a perfect world when out on the bike

John Smith wrote:

biker phil wrote:

I've been close passed by a police vehicle on many occasions, to be honest I've never bothered reporting them, it's difficult to fight against the establishment.

 

Always report them. What’s the worst that could happen? They ignore it. They are an organisation like any other. “The establishment” is nonsense. What happens all depends on who picks it up. If it’s another force, or another unit that roads don’t get on with well (politics happens in every organisation) or the culture is that public image is more important than “protecting your own” then the perpetrator may get hammered.

The last time I complained to Lancashire Police, I went all the way up to the Professional standards department, and they didn't even have the decency to respond.