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news
Near Miss of the Day 493: Aggressive close pass on cyclists riding two abreast
Today's video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a cyclist riding side-by-side getting a close pass from a particularly aggressive driver who leans on the horn during the overtake. The incidents were filmed on Saturday by road.cc reader Rob, who said they struck him as particularly relevant given the recent focus by some parts of the media about cyclists riding two abreast.
> Fleet Street fury over campaigners' calls to clarify ‘two abreast’ cycling rule
"My first ride out with for a while with a friend and we were having a good ride on country lanes. The first incident was a Volvo and they couldn’t wait 10 seconds for an oncoming cyclist to pass before they tried to overtake.
"You can see they hesitated for a split second but then promptly drove through a tight gap giving little space to both us and the oncoming cyclist. It must have been worse for them. At least this pass wasn’t at speed and we weren’t riding two abreast.
"The second incident was very scary. I had literally just cycled up next to my friend to chat; throughout the ride we often rode two abreast aware of cars coming from behind or up front; we would move back into single file quickly once aware of a car.
"However, with this car there was no warning as they did not slow down at all and drove past at considerable speed (in excess of 40, probably 50 mph) and so close.
"You can see from the video that the car passed at speed within 50cm of me., probably nearer 30cm. To make matters worse they beeped the horn as if we were doing something wrong or to just intimidate us.
"I’ve had a quite a few bad experiences and this is probably one of the worst. This idiot needs to know they can’t drive like this and put people’s lives in danger so I have submitted to Surrey Police in the hope that they take action…….this is my first submission so fingers crossed.
"I’ve read the ’Near Miss of the Day’ reports on road cc for while and I thought this last miss was topical given the discussion around riding two abreast. I’m pretty sure that had we been riding single file the driver would have probably given us more room, although unlikely that they would have slowed down.
"The fact they beeped the horn makes it appear that they thought we were doing something wrong by riding two abreast which supports the fact that the Highway Code is not clear or that most drivers have their own version of what the Highway Code is/should be or they simply don’t care."
> 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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81 comments
"The video showed good riding; had there been a queue of cars then considerate riders would have maybe gone to single file
Perhaps, but that would be at their discretion."
and we're there; that was my point. I could have made it a little clearer.
If a cyclist does this yes it will help the convience of the driver(s); that would be the idea behind it. and yes a cyclist who does this would be considerate.
That was a lot of arguing for you to agree that it's at the riders discretion....
Have a great weekend dude
Never said otherwise. ditto re the weekend
Why are you being evasive with your answer? You and the club think it's an appropriate way to manage a group ride, so why not just tell us the name.?
I'm not being evasive it's none of your business. I assume you are happy with the way your club runs group rides so it does'nt matter to you surely? are you annoyed a club is prompting considerate cycling in a situation that you don't agree with? How many clubs don't promote considerate cycling? I thought they all should/would.
Why do you keeping mis quoting what I have said; just because I have said sometimes it's not considerate to ride 2 abreast you have assumed that means always? ie. it's all or nothing bizzare atitude.
I didn't think the Volvo was that bad, then the cyclist going in the other direction appeared; driver should be prosecuted. Then the second, which was just as bad. Well done for reporting this, and I hope these drivers aren't given a slap on the wrist, as either case could have resulted in injury or death.
That's what gets me about things like this; the only reason the cyclist doesn't end up in hospital or the mortuary is their experience and blind luck. One gust of wind, a pothole, a stone in the road and they're dead. These aren't victimless crimes, they're crimes which threaten the lives of cyclists, a fact ignored by our laughingly named justice system.
If this is a route used by cyclists regularly, ask the council to put in a 30mph speed limit, or designate it a "quiet lane" with priority for pedestrians and cyclists.
Has ANYONE achieved an actual prosecution for non-contact close-passing? This is the important indicator of what the police actually think (which is that close passing doesn't exist) as opposed to what they claim to believe (which is that all road users are treated equally and fairly). Lancashire claims to be prosecuting an offence from 30.9.19- no date set, and they're clearly assigning a zero priority to the case until they think they can get away with dropping it altogether.
Tbf I think of the last 6 close passes I';ve reported to the Met, all hav ebeen sent NIPs - but then the met is the gold standard it seems
Yes, lots of them. Norfolk constabulary are pretty good and have a web portal for reporting traffic offences. The process is a bit clunky and it take some time to make the statement and edit the video submission, but it works.
So out of 115 complaints submitted:-
62 notices of intended prosecution issued
1 trip to court, which resulted in a conviction
8 warning letters sent
2 no further actions
the remaining 42 I wasn't informed of the result, which either means nothing was done with them or I just didn't get informed of the result.
When the reporting portal first opened I was being told of the results for about 70% of the submissions made. Then there was slight hiatus where the complaints were being delt with by Suffolk Constabulary (this is where the no further actions came from - I wasn't hit, so what's the problem...) Then it went back to being dealt with by Norfolk Constabulary and they have been really good in keeping me informed about what action is being taken.
What I have noticed is that it does have to be pretty close < 40cm or there needs to be other agrivating factors to get a NIP. A close pass at > 40cm will probably only result in a warning letter or no further action
Norfolk & Suffolk have a combined single roads unit,so where whoever deals with your submission is based shouldn't make a difference to how its processed, though it's still a subjective assessment at the end of the day. I've reported 6 and had 5 NIPs, 1 warning letter in total.
I wouldnt have said all those were within 40cms, some had aggravating factors for sure,but because of the process & the statement writing I tend to only submit ones I label imminent peril, so only the really worse ones ever get submitted,I'd be submitting every ride if I just went for 'that was a close pass'.
Weirdly havent submitted any this year yet,not because there havent been any to report,but Ive lost the zeal to do it during Covid,i can avoid the worst roads for close passing at the moment,plus I dont feel like it's making any difference submitting them anymore.
"or that most drivers have their own version of what the Highway Code is"
I don't think any actual changes to the Highway Code are going to stop that from being the case.
Looks like Hesiers Road and Beech Farm Road, Warlingham. Bit of a race track through there.
Ahh the "that's a dangerous/fast road" line. Your point is?
in other news "look at me, I'm the fearless enforcer in my half tonne of speeding metal, putting my life on the line to enforce (my version of ) the law."
Just an observation over many years, like the occasional burnt out car or the one that didnt make it round the bend from Skidd Lane.
Now get lost.
Why are you trying to abuse me?
Nothing like rational discussion of an issue to get to a consensus view that we can all support. Never let it be said that all cyclists are nice people.
he's in good company:
Royston smith MP says cyclists should ‘stick to cycle lanes’ after rider dies in crash with lorry
...says his comments were "misinterpreted" by cycling campaigners.
www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/mp-says-cyclists-stick-cycle-lane...
made me smile...
The point was fairly clear - that it's locally known as a nasty road. Not sure why you are trying to score points from that - there was no suggestion that that was an acceptable state of affairs.
I think that's exactly what it is : unintended perhaps, but it's all about normalising "danger", "dangerous roads", "look out, if you don't, it will be your fault."
If you think about it, it's an appalling state of affairs that we've all come blindly to accept, from dual carriageways to residential cul de sacs.
Spot on. squidgy Been down that way only a couple of times and havent had this issue before. I have previously turned down Beddlestead Lane coming from Hesiers rather than carry on to Beech Farm.
Looks like I won't find out if there is any action taken as Surrey Police have come back and stated 'We are not in a position to give individual updates and any decision reached is not subject to review.'
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