Police let down

[steveindenmark]

Ive looked at the clip a few times and he is close but Benb didn't appear to have to change course, the driver got through and the space quickly opened. But Benbs perception may be totally different. Trying to judge this with these cameras is very difficult. Would you get a conviction. I doubt it.

Benb made 2 complaints, the second being abusive and threatening behaviour, which led to my comments.

The police have looked at it and made their decision. Its not the one Benb wanted and he is obviously a bit peed off. Its not the first time we have seen it on here and it wont be the last.

 

[PhilDawson8270]

A minimum overtaking distance written into law would knock that dead.

If you remove the subjectiveness of a "close pass", will it not be harder to then prosecute them? While a minimum passing distance sounds nice and clean cut. How hard will it be to prove, with random cameras, and random focal lengths, etc?

Obviously close ones will be clear cut, but the closer ones that are still unacceptable, I believe would turn into "Prove I was within xxx cm" and there is no other option.

 

[steveindenmark]

The favourite pinch points in Denmark seem to be roundabouts. If they look thin, I stick the bike in the middle of the lane so cars cannot come past. Up to now it has not caused a problem. But if I stay at the edge of the road, they will try and squeeze past.

 

[Johnno260]

I get pinched like this a lot, I have given up saying anything as you get the generic you're a bike get off the road, or people get aggressive and I don't really want to justify a reason for self defence in court.

I have noticed a lot if you make a gesture or react you get brake tested almost straight away, attitudes in general on the road are horrible.

Worst case I saw last week was someone pulling out a side road, going across a cycle path he cut a cyclist up badly, then turned left almost immediately and almost hitting the guy again.

I have also had issue when keeping a safe distance from a cyclist, the poor kid was very nervous and wobbling a lot, the motorist behind wanted me to overtake but there wasn't room as the guy really was wobbling and there was oncoming traffic, I was then tailgated by the guy and I had my daughter in the car so I pulled into a lay by to let him pass but he took this as a que to follow me in and have an argument.

Morale of the story would be try not to react, there are too many nutters out there, if you have footage approach the police and report the other road user.

 

[fossyant]

I think the lesson to learn from this and the other CCer who got a fine is that we should at no point swear or get abusive in a situation like this. You quickly lose the upper hand.

It's difficult to do when someone threatens you. I've done it myself when a driver deliberately drove at me a few times. It only got as far as intelligence for the police but they did tell me the driver was known to them.

 

[mjr]

If you remove the subjectiveness of a "close pass", will it not be harder to then prosecute them? While a minimum passing distance sounds nice and clean cut. How hard will it be to prove, with random cameras, and random focal lengths, etc?

Obviously close ones will be clear cut, but the closer ones that are still unacceptable, I believe would turn into "Prove I was within xxx cm" and there is no other option.

There was another option: he might have been done for road rage if it hadn't become a two-way.

I don't see how it can become significantly harder to prosecute them than it currently is, where the proportion of prosecutions currently rounds to 0% unless it's a police officer who they close-pass. It's already almost impossible to prove that a pass it too close with uncalibrated cameras alone (edit because even if you can prove a distance by measuring objects on-camera, there's no fixed minimum for how close is too close - or are there precedents that aren't widely known?

 

[benb]

I think the lesson to learn from this and the other CCer who got a fine is that we should at no point swear or get abusive in a situation like this. You quickly lose the upper hand.

It's difficult to do when someone threatens you. I've done it myself when a driver deliberately drove at me a few times. It only got as far as intelligence for the police but they did tell me the driver was known to them.

Yeah, I'm really going to try not to react angrily in future, but it's really hard when someone has just nearly wiped you out, and the adrenaline is going.

 

[benb]

I think this ended up being six of one and half a dozen of the other.

He passed close, you had your say, he had his and he moved on. But then you gave him the @Anker sign or the finger as he moved on. Are you surprised he got a bit anti. His complaint was that you were too far away from the kerb. By that time the chat had escalated and I didnt hear you telling him why you were riding there. Its not a great surprise that he wasn't interested by then.

You could have handled this a lot differently and I'm not surprised the police were not interested. You gave as good as you got.

This is only my opinion and others may see it differently. But now you have watched the clip, wouldn't you do it differently next time.

6 of one and half a dozen of the other - maybe, if you are only concerned about the swearing.

Only one of us endangered the other's life.

 

[steveindenmark]

6 of one and half a dozen of the other - maybe, if you are only concerned about the swearing.

Only one of us endangered the other's life.

I appreciate your view but as an independent observer, that is hard to see on the clip.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

What did you want the outcome to be? @benb

 

[Biff600]

It didn't look that close.

It seems to me that since the news reported on minimum passing distances a vast amount of cyclists have jumped on the bandwagon and have complained what they assess to be 'too close'

I agree that there should be some leniency towards the distance that vehicles pass each other due to the safety aspects of cycling, but would you rather have an articulated truck pass you at 1.5m at 56mph or Mondeo-man pass you at 1m doing 30mph ??

For the record, I had a bus brush my arm yesterday as it passed me

 

[steve50]

Yeah, I'm really going to try not to react angrily in future, but it's really hard when someone has just nearly wiped you out, and the adrenaline is going.

That is the best and only way to deal with these situations, I can fully understand your anger and frustration at some nobber passing you too closely especially at a pinch point BUT as I have said before on these boards, you never know who is behind the wheel of the car and how they are going to react once you have given them the finger or some verbal abuse.
If you are more than capable of taking care of yourself in a fist fight then fair enough do what you will, but if you are like the majority of us it is best to let it go over your head, pull over and calm down or just carry on cycling and let it go.the next guy to get out of his car in anger could be carrying wrench or a knife.....................is it really worth it?

 

[benb]

What did you want the outcome to be? @benb

I'd have liked him prosecuted for careless driving, and got points and a fine.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I'd have liked him prosecuted for careless driving, and got points and a fine.

What do you think the Police should do with you?

 

[benb]

For those who are saying it's "not that close", you'd be hapy to be overtaken as close would you?