Near Miss of the Day 558: Van driver makes punishment pass on cyclist

Update: I complained to the Police and Crime Commissioner, who passed the complaint back to the Operation Crackdown team. They have finally reviewed the footage (after initially reviewing a different submission by mistake) and have emailed me the following:

"Thank you for providing us with crackdown reference number and apologise for the confusion [the incorrect review of a different submission].

After viewing the footage, My judgment would have been to consider this for prosecution. Therefore I apologise that matter was dealt in way of a formal letter.

Unfortunately due to the timescale we are now unable to prosecute. I have spoken to the Operation Crackdown team and the member of the staff who reviewed the matter has been spoken to regarding this report and warned over future conduct.

I understand the frustration but hopefully this email has explained the situation."

So the initial decision was wrong and the driver could/should have been prosecuted BUT because it took too long to get the decision reviewed they are now outside the 2 week window to issue a NIP.

I was getting ready to post that Sussex police will do nothing more than send a letter if at all...

Operation crackdown is a joke. I would bet they have never prosecuted anyone from videos provided by cyclists.

I've had far worse than this and they have never done anything more than a letter. Which is shocking because this is truly terrible.

I had a guy drive the whole length of church road, in a flat bed, screaming abuse at me and weaving into me multiple times, forcing me to avoid a collision at least 3 times... A letter is all he got.

I had a guy deliberately crash into me, in the cycle lane on the upper drive... Nothing.

You're better off finding out his insurance details to report a collision.

I'm not sure it was a punishment pass, maybe just a "get out of my way" pass. i.e. van driver has no intention of slowing down and waiting until the cyclists have passed the pinch point and considers that the cyclist on the outside should move over a bit so that he can "safely" overtake. He's a thug and should have the book thrown at him IMO.

So checked progress on Sussex Police's 'Operation Crackdown' and am underwhelmed:

'The details of this report have been retained on the Operation Crackdown database for intelligence. This means that if additional reports are received this case will be further reviewed.'

So no action. Apparently, according to the disclaimer on the website, "The Operation Crackdown team process every report with the most appropriate outcome, and the decision made is final."

So presumably that's that?

Words are important and can change attitudes...so my vote is "punishment pass...AKA coward's pass" truly that is what it is

A handful of Ninja rocks would do wonders...

Just look at all the empty space AFTER the traffic island - couldnt wait four whole seconds.

Wanker.

Keep us updated James! I'd love to hear Sussex Police's the driver's excuse.

Terrible manoeuvre

Yes, I suspect the horn and close pass were 'punishment' of the cyclists for riding 2-abreast. The stupid thing is that the road is plenty wide enough for a safe pass, if only the van driver could wait beyond the traffic island. 

Terrifying, to watch, especially if you watch the shadows frame by frame, you can see how the driver seems to closes the gap as he passes (this may be due to the angle of the sun)

What is it with these idiots who think it is thier responsibility to police the roads and force cyclist in to "thier place" (Obviously the rider is in the correct place) or that they should drive as if the rider were in that "correct place". Your responsibility first and foremost (and only) is to drive safely. 

I hope the cyclist doesn't get penalised for hitting the van. It can be tempting (I've certainly wanted to do that a few times) but it risks escalating the situation as drivers can get very precious over their vehicles.

Cyclist positioned himself correctly in "primary" still didn't deter the idoit who overtook.

The OP should have been in that position at a pinch point to deter dangerous overtaking irrespective of whether he was himself overtaking another vehicle (or riding alongside).  This driver is sorely in need of re-education.