Near Miss of the Day 813: Audi driver passes oncoming cyclist at speed on narrow country lane

IanMSpencer wrote:

As cyclists, we cannot safely ride on gravel

Someone should tell the bike industry that.

OK, given I have a gravel bike, I'll take that one. Cyclists on roiad bikes can't ride safely on gravel.

(Goes off for a sulk).

IanMSpencer wrote:

One thing this, and the previous, now private, close pass on narrow lanes brings up is that drivers are unaware of the constraints on cycling safely that cyclists have. Cars ignore loose surfaces and small potholes, indeed will risk driving at speed along verges, especially when they believe they have an off-road capable vehicle.

Drivers.

Good work! I gave up on AB19CMJ...

Thanks for that, think you got me the name of the Dutch lorry that nearly got me a couple of months ago as well.

I've frame by framed through the footage directly from the camera and it's not clearly visible in any frame. Think combination of bumpy ride and low light defeated the camera a little.

Sometimes if you through one frame at a time you can make out different parts of the plate and build it up from there.

Do we know what camera was used?

it will be an Insta360, same one as Jeremy Vine uses, the issue isnt the quality of the footage. The Op Snap in Norfolk (and Suffolk because its the same team who deal with them) set a 7 day time limit on dealing with submissions, not the usual 14, and because a good chunk of the Norfolk road police team were out helping WMP at the Commonwealth games last week, it sounds like they hadnt got enough resource to review footage last week, so it goes down as NFA at best or marked as not meeting the submission criteria due to timeout, which might explain why 2/3rds of submissions get marked not meeting the submission criteria in Norfolk & Suffolk.

and Id say "generally they were pretty good" on this stuff,  not are anymore, as for the past two years the only outcome Ive seen is them sending warning letters or NFA, so whats the point wasting your time submitting this stuff especially if now you have to hope they have enough officers around to review it ?

General thought... if the local forces put such ridiculosly limiting criteria in place, why bother with a camera at all? It just brings additional focus and enables riders to re-live these episodes in a way that can't be healthy.

especially when they can often take 4 to 5 of their 7 days just to send you the link to upload the clip, but the stats they publish, although they dont consistently publish them, claim they do prosecute some people, but about 2/3rds just get binned, which Ive not seen other forces have that high a drop off.

but really I treat my camera more as its there just in case now, I wont ride without them but its not remotely about wasting my time submitting close passes to them anymore.

For Norfolk at least, the number plate has to be clearly legible to the officer reviewing the footage, so I don't think they'd accept it.

I used to go frame by frame with my submissions to WMP to get a clear pic of the number plates as I thought it might help save them some time. They asked me not to bother as they could do a better job with their own equipment! 😂

I tried very hard not to be offended.

Is it my imagination or is NMOTD getting more and more frightening with how close the last few have been?

From experience, driving like that is not "can't be bothered" but deliberate intimidation. I've often seen a raged expression on a motorist driving at us - incensed at the simple existence of cyclists. 4x4 Ford Rangers and Raptors and similar seem especially prone to it.

its a mix of both I think, the road ragey ones only go really crazy when you challenge them ahead of what they are about to do, the rest of them its a mix of indifference of get out the darn way cant you see cars are superior to you, to cant be bothered to give you the room as youll get out of the way unless you are suicidal.

its a very common move especially from Audis or 4x4s in the region on those roads, theyll pass even bigger passing spots than that rather than slow down for you, let alone give you space.

I have nearly perfected the hopeless cyclist wobble if I see a car far enough away that has the body language. If they can't convince themselves they'll miss you they are inclined to slow down - don't want to mess up their "detailing". The more incompetent you appear, the better.

IanMSpencer wrote:

The more incompetent you appear, the better.

I'm winning at life then!

I tried it once, but instead of slowing down, the daft old nit just turned into the verge at about 40mph and the car jumped up and I suddenly had visions of this car flipping on its side, and then having to explain to an officer why this car had crashed, loose nut behind the wheel, but somehow felt Id still get the blame for it. So I just play chicken with them for as long as I dare, Im not convinced all of them appreciate how messed up their detailing would be if we actually collided in any way.

Awavey wrote:

I just play chicken with them for as long as I dare

same, combined with a manic smile. Seems to at least get them to slow down, might get "you're in the middle of the road" yelled out of the window.

Hmm bit optomistic about prosecution, I think the head on passes are also subject to variation from force to force.

I regularly ride on single track across the North Somerset levels - very few drivers slow down or stop even when I am riding in the centre of the lane to make it obvious.

I have reported to Avon and Somerset police via their portal and whilst they often inform me that some action has been taken for same direction close passes, they have stated no further action for all head on submissions.