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news
Near Miss of the Day 417: Van driver makes close pass on tandem cyclists - then jumps red light
Close passes don't happen by chance. Sometimes, of course, they are deliberate - so-called punishment passes. At other times, poor road design that causes conflict may play a part. But very often, it is simply down to very bad driving that puts others in danger, as we see here with a van driver in York not only making a close pass on a couple on a tandem, but then going through a red light at a junction where cyclists are crossing from each direction.
It was filmed by road.cc reader Phil, who said: "Near miss riding our tandem back into York on Hull Road on Friday. Two cars overtake safely, then a white van (with clear company markings and number plate) passes much more closely in a hatched region, and then goes on to jump a red light by huge margin with amber and red clearly visible in the video. Other cyclists crossing the same junction shortly after."
> 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.
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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18 comments
UPDATE: I am happy to report that North Yorks Police "OP SPARTAN" have been in touch to say they do want prosecute the driver of the van.
To those that say it wasn't a close pass, I'll admit I've experienced worse. The wide angle camera, mounted on the right makes the gap look bigger than it was.
Also, the width, speed, and trajectory of the van (which was probably also keen to cut in to avoid the Peugeot stopping in the central ASL at the lights) made it feel very uncomfortable.
From what I've read, West Midlands Police would probably have given the driver a warning for the pass. But the main offence was jumping the lights.
But is the prosecution for red light jumping?
(Jaded submitter of footage to Essex police, only selecting the worst examples)
Not the worst pass but it does look like one of those where the driver continues to move out whilst at the side of the cyclist, thereby passing the rear of the bike closer than the front.
Whilst it's definitely not a "good pass" (should have moved further into the other carriageway) I wouldn't have classed it is as a "close" pass. Maybe I've become de-sensitised by the number of cars, vans and lorries that overtake me much closer than that. I'd be positively ecstatic if they all left that amount of room
Whilst it's definitely not a "good pass" (should have moved further into the other carriageway) I wouldn't have classed it is as a "close" pass. Maybe I've become de-sensitised by the number of cars, vans and lorries that overtake me much closer than that. I'd be positively ecstatic if they all left that amount of room
I make it only 4 seconds between the red light jumping and the next 2 riders crossing the junctions having waited for the lights to change, now imagine if they had been riding at c15mph on the approach as the lights changed, I'm going to guess that could have been much worse
I make it only 4 seconds between the red light jumping and the next 2 riders crossing the junctions having waited for the lights to change, now imagine if they had been riding at c15mph on the approach as the lights changed, I'm going to guess that could have been much worse
Not really a close pass.
"Which bit of ASL don't you understand?"
"Are there too many syllables in 'advanced' for you ?"
Don't get this as a close pass at all I'm afraid, there's a clear line in the road where there's a different type of tarmac, the two cars Phil says "overtake safely" both have their nearside wheels close to that line, and the van passes on exactly the same line! The red light jumping bit is a disgrace, but either all three vehicles made a close pass or none did (and it's none).
I suspect the van felt closer as it was bigger and probably trvelling faster but I would argue was there 1.5 meters clearance, did any of them cross the line to overtake? If not then a close pass for all three.
The red light was more ambler gambler as front wheel had potentially passed the lines before red light shone. Should have been slowing on amber as the other car did but not "technically" against the law.
Bloody ajax error.
Not true - you MUST stop on amber unless you are already so close to the stop line that you cannot safely stop before it.
(same ajax error...)
Oh please, amber means gun the engine, even breaking the speed limit if needed, then you have the defense of declaring that it would have been dangerous to try and stop.
Highway code only applies to cyclists, don't you know...
A Fiat 500 is about 1.6m wide, a Ford transit can be 1.75-1.9m, even if they follow the exact same line and the trench of infill they follow is perfectly parallel to the rider and not angling in...the van is still passing nearly half a foot to a foot closer
Eh? If their nearside wheels are following the same line, what difference does it make how wide each vehicle is?
I was going by the painted centre line as the reference point as you can work out with the car width then how much space they are actually giving you with a reasonably accuracy and the 1.5metres they are supposed to be giving you.
and Im assuming they painted that in a straight line as it marks the actual centre of the road, the people who dug up the road arent as constrained by maintaining straight lines, and any covergence on the relaid tarmac bit of road is Im assuming a trick of the eye/light/wide angle of the lens, as just before the traffic lights it converges on the straight on lane arrow, so its now centre of the 1st lane,and it sure wasnt to begin with, so something has shifted
but both car drivers sides stick to the centre line,both roughly the same size,both roughly giving the same space. Even when the hatching starts and the line moves, the vans drivers side actually sticks close to where the original centre line would be, which means if the van is wider, it must be closer to the cyclist, which was my initial reaction on viewing the video.
Whilst it's definitely not a "good pass" (should have moved further into the other carriageway) I wouldn't have classed it is as a "close" pass. Maybe I've become de-sensitised by the number of cars, vans and lorries that overtake me much closer than that. I'd be positively ecstatic if they all left that amount of room