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news
Near Miss of the Day 827: Two close passes and a screenwash shower
A driver in Devon who repeatedly made close passes on cyclists, dousing them with screenwash for good measure, has been handed two Notices of Intended Prosecution (NOIPs) by police thanks to videos submitted by a road.cc reader who was on the receiving end of several such incidents.
The reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us: “This driver was a repeat close-passer on my commutes near Tavistock during March.
“The driver performed a few close-passes so that they could spray me with screenwash as they passed, droplets of which can be seen on the camera lens.
“I caught this on video three times and Devon & Cornwall Police sent out NOIPs for the two in the footage – I'm assuming for the close passes, not the screenwash showers!
“The third, they could not take action on, as it was dark and the number plate was obscured in the footage.
“There were a couple of other instances and one time I witnessed the driver do the same to another cyclist further up the road.”
Hopefully the motorist has changed their behaviour now, with our reader telling us: “The driver has since given me a wide berth when overtaking.”
> 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.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 5 sec ago
Something Something Brexit... ? (sorry) Anyway I think they should try calling them "loveable neighbourhoods".
- Flintshire Boy 1 hour 8 min ago
[Sorry - wrote mine before saw yours! You make the point much better than I.] .
- grOg 3 hours 49 min ago
Where does it state in the article that Ashley purchased the stock? it does state that Ashley bought the brand and intellectual property, not the...
- rogerwb 6 hours 29 min ago
Jump off the bike and run across. I cycle in trainers though.
- momove 7 hours 32 min ago
Cheers for the lesson! Wasn't expecting one so was pleasantly surprised, especially getting to find the origin of "laconic"!
- ktache 8 hours 19 min ago
Isn't it a rights issue?
- Daddy Feebs 9 hours 22 min ago
If anything, it looks a bit like an SL6
- wtjs 9 hours 58 min ago
Other commenters have different views True!
- Daclu Trelub 10 hours 13 min ago
Incredibly bone-headed.
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7 comments
Well done and thanks to the OP and to Devon and Cornwall police.
I think that repeated behaviour is one of the conditions in the CPS prosecution guidelines so I wonder if that helped.
A minor point but the tag for this is "Near Miss of the Day Richmond Park" could I suggest "NMOTD Devon and Cornwall" and "NMOTD NOIP" or "NMOTD action taken" to aid any future searches.
I'm assuming that is not a bike rack on the roof then.
It could be a canoe rack which would explain their love of the wet stuff. May be they just wanted to share their experiences.
I do actually think screen washer showering people deliberately, and that might be the tricky bit to prove btw, can be taken as a thing in its own right under careless driving they dont have to close pass you as well, its like driving through a puddle to splash people.
as I remember mentioning to one of m'learned friends about a time I was stopped at some traffic lights and this car pulled along side me and gave me the treatment, and I got a mouthful of it, it wasnt even set to hit the screen and they clearly knew I was there so not an accident at all, and they said I should have reported it as they could totally have prosecuted them just for that.
Result! Change of behaviour achieved, well done. and well done to the police for doing something.
We could endlessly debate the underlying reasons why this scrote thought that it was a good idea to threaten vulnerable people and spray them with a noxious substance (who knows what was in the spray?) but their motives will probably remain obscure, even to themself.
Decent enough result.
“The driver has since given me a wide berth when overtaking.”
Result! Well done to the anonymous rider, your report may have saved someone's life in the future.