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news
Near Miss of the Day 781: Police claim they can’t prosecute close pass driver – because cyclist’s footage only came from one camera
Police told a cyclist who submitted footage of a very close pass in which not only did the driver give a long blast of the horn, but the car’s passenger also put their arm out of the vehicle’s window, possibly in an attempt to strike the rider, that they could not refer the footage for prosecution – because it was only taken from one camera.
It’s the first time we’ve heard of a force taking such an approach, and given we have now featured nearly 800 videos in our Near Miss of the Day series, and received countless other submissions, it’s one that’s left us a bit flummoxed to say the least.
The footage was shot by road.cc reader Kionne, who told us: “Not sure why the extended blast on the horn was required, I was not obstructing traffic, the road was wide enough to easily pass me, my position was good and my pace was good. You can see that all the motorists before were able to pass me without issue.
“As for the passenger, it was unclear whether he was trying to hit or push me but thankfully he missed.
“I reported it to South Staffordshire Police who sent out a warning letter, they told me there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the pass or possible attempted push as I only had footage from one camera.
“They went on to say I need to have at least two, possibly three cameras before they will even consider prosecution.
“In an attempt to appease me they said they see much worse than this and still do not prosecute,” he added.
> 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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54 comments
You've given me an idea.
Perhaps collectively we could divide and conquer. We could analyse the collection and divide up the responses to highlight the inconsistency of handling video evidence.
We could assess quality of evidence, likely severity of incident, police response.
We could them submit it to our MPs, police forces and local councils in a coordinated fashion.
Your error here is in assuming that they could care less.
While I share your pessimism that change can be achieved, throw enough stones and one might hit a target.
I could see the police being quite keen to get rid of what is essentially an admin task of limited interest to most officers it appears, and Johnson can't think of any big ideas so he is welcome to have our little idea instead, and you never know what MP decides they want to put their name to something.
After a recent incident I decided that this was a possible way forward. Your post has now strengthened my resolve.
The drivers is still ultimately responsible for the vehicle and its occupants, If a passenger does anything that endangers other road users, they driver is still culpable for their actions. same as the driver is responible for ensuring all passengers wear their seatbelts. They can still be held accountable. And if the passenger is close enough to nearly touch the cyclist they are also driving too close to pass safely.
But that's just not true. With regards to seatbelts, the driver isn't responsible for what other adults (>14 years) do - that is even spelt out in the legislation: "no person other than the person actually committing the contravention [not wearing a seatbelt] is guilty of an offence by reason of the contravention" (source). Even with children <14 years, the driver isn't strictly responsible for what the child does; the driver is only responsible for their own actions, but the driver "must not without reasonable excuse drive the vehicle on a road unless the child is wearing a seat belt" (S15 ibid.)
If the car is close enough for the passenger to nearly touch the cyclist, then I agree the driver is at fault for being too close (regardless of what the passenger does), and if the driver deliberately drove close in order to allow the passenger to assault the cyclist, then that is another matter (albeit one that is hard to prove). But if the driver is too close purely due to careless/dangerous driving, and the passenger then decides to assault the cyclist, I don't see that the driver has any responsibility in law for the assault.
Disgraceful response from police. This is where Road.cc can help, perhaps. Do us all a favour and shake this one about if you can.
What surprises me is the surprise that the police will make up and clutch at any excuse to not do anything about anything, no matter how stupid. Exposing this lamentable attitude has been my focus for quite a while- I moved onto offences which are indisputable, like vehicles crashing through red lights, or without MOT and insurance. The Hyper-Crap forces like Lancashire still do nothing. I have many of the latter, including a BMW driving around Garstang without MOT and VED for over a year where the driver either lives or visits for days at a time at the appropriately named Old Police Station. It's a month since it was reported to the pastmasters at Ultra-Indolence, and it's still driving around with no MOT or insurance
Submitted this to West Mercia a few months ago. The pass wasn't great but not terrible (by current standards) so not sure which offence they're prosecuting, video to follow soon...
Shame on you South Staffs Police.
SS Police are NOT performing consistently with peer forces. Many of who are prosecuting drivers from one camera angle. Typically, a forward facing position.
If one of these idiot fucks wants to go out there tomorrow and kill a cyclist with their souped up roller skate. SS police will do nothing but criticise the dead rider for employing one fucking camera.
SS POLICE. You are actively encouraging criminal behaviour with immunity from effective prosecution.
WAKE UP SS POLICE!
This has to be challenged, especially when other forces seem to have no problem prosecuting with a vid from a single camera. If I was Kionne, I'd be asking under what rule this three cameras decision was taken, why it only seems to apply in Staffordshire, and do they apply the same rule to drivers' dash cams?
If, as I suspect, he gets a steaming pile of police crap in return, he then escalates it to the officer's superiors and takes it to the PCC, and if he's a member of CUK, taking it to them and asking their advice.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, all trust has been lost in our police. An absolute waste of money and resources. They'd rather police tweets than police streets.
Defund them all, make them scared for their jobs and let's see what happens then. They might actually start doing something.
I'm convinced that during the lockdown they turned to social media because it's an easy win and have never turned back. Crimes like street robbery and burglary are being reclassified as minor and tweets are being classed as violence. It's a joke.
Oh please, this is nothing more than a hysterical myth.
Really? So if that's a myth they are in fact just totally shit then? I can't tell if that's better or not.
South Staffordshire Police = Bunch of useless cunts.
As a resident of Staffordshire, I can confirm our police service is utter shit in every regard.
Well I now know what to say if I ever receive a speeding ticket through the post 'sorry, only one camera, not valid'
So, now we have Politards, too!
Just re-submit with three separate crops from the same camera.
You couldn't make it up!
And something tells me that if you'd had three cameras they have needed at least four.
I'm convinced that some Police forces have calculated that it is more cost effective for them to employ one or two extra Officers trained in breaking bad news to relatives than it is to undertake routine traffic enforcement and collision prevention work.
Edit: Having slept on it. I'm wondering if the issue is more to do with identification of the driver? With the suggestion that a rear facing camera and / or head mounted camera might be better placed to acquire that detail. It would be illuminating to see the full Police communication to Kionne.
I wish I had it, it was all said in a phone call. They said they couldn't prosecute as they couldn't prove how close the car was or that there was any intention from the passenger to hit me. I offered to go back to the scene and take photos with measurements but they didn't care.
Would be interesting to see what the warning letter said...
Inspector Kevin has some suggestions for how to help the police prove the distance in NMOTD 779. May of use for your future submissssions.
Inspector Kevin has some suggestions for how to help the police prove the distance in NMOTD 779
The problem is that the police, with possible honourable exceptions, are not the slightest bit interested in proving any distances. The default position is No Death or Serious Injury = No Offence, and the whingeing cyclists can get stuffed. The South Staffordshire 'We Need More Cameras' dodge was way behind Lancashire's 'We Need Confirmatory Video From the Vehicle' of 3 years ago- not available, of course. I like to think Lancashire's Finest will be the first force to demand overhead drone video 'otherwise we can't do anything'.
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