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news
Near Miss of the Day 510: A gratuitous close pass after a series of wide overtakes
Today’s near miss is a needlessly close overtake, the gratuitous nature of which is only highlighted by the safe, wide overtakes that immediately precede it.
The incident occurred towards the top of Cheddar Gorge at around 9.30am on September 27.
“Most of the cars pass me with good space,” said Steve, who submitted the footage, “but the blue BMW was fast and so close its wing mirror brushed my arm.
“It was obviously deliberate as there was nothing coming the other way and the previous drivers had all given plenty of space.”
The manoeuvre was reported to Avon and Somerset Police who told Steve they would take action against the driver as severely as they are able under their guidelines for such incidents.
Back in August we reported how the force had taken action against a motorist caught on camera making a close pass on a cyclist – with the offending driver being one of their own officers in a marked police car.
> 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
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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15 comments
Would be interesting to know what A&S's guidelines are 'for such incidents'.
It's a straightforward complaint about an alleged offence under the Road Traffic Act. Bread and butter policing. The only wrinkle is video evidence, which makes the evidence stronger IMO.
The manoeuvre was reported to Avon and Somerset Police who told Steve they would take action against the driver as severely as they are able under their guidelines for such incidents.
I'm surprised that nobody has commented upon this obvious police dodge- a pre-excuse for 'having a word with the driver'.
Yes, see my comment above.
Clearly the close pass was the major here, but the second car, although giving plenty of room cut it fine in the face of oncoming....
If the driver has to brake during the overtaking manoeuvre then there is a obvious lack of driving skills, forward planning is very much lacking.
All true. But I'd argue that particular manoeuvre was a mistake; they got it wrong but it's understandable why this mistake happened. The driver misjudged it and accelerated to get past quickly, then braked. Not ideal, but if that's the worst close pass we have to deal with then we're doing well.
The "actual" close pass that happened here? Terrifying - that driver should be banned.
Th other drivers showed how to overtake safely. The idiot in the BMW needs a wake up call. I hope the cops take action.
the 1st and 3rd drivers did, the second one was bad as the overtaking car had to brake due to the presence of an oncoming vehicle, and I suspect the oncoming vehicle also had to brake.
True
Even the toy dog stuck on the window looked surprised at how close that was!
Regular occurance up cheddar gorge - if I ride that way I try to pick quieter times, but still plenty of numpties driving there. If its not a close pass then its often overtaking on a blind bend.
Exactly my experience when making a "bucket list" ride up there a couple of years back, ten really courteous drivers waiting patiently and passing wide then one spanner close passing to show they were cross at having wait ten seconds. Also my wife was nearly hit on the way up by a beemer taking the "racing line" (i.e. driving on the wrong side of the road) round one of the blind bends on the steepest part. Quite shocking and spoiled what was otherwise one of the best climbs I've done in England.
Surprise surprise. Another BMW. Who would have thought? Kudos to the BMW in front though, proof that some BMW drivers are considerate, unless the driver was a cyclist.
That was pure nastiness.
Agreed. No good reason to drive dangerously close ;-(