Anybody who is a regular cyclist has experienced it. That sudden feeling of something alongside you, that skip in your heartbeat when you’re not sure whether they’re doing it on purpose or if they’ve not seen you, the clenching of the bars and
hoping you don’t get dragged under the wheels.

Close passes are unfortunately an aspect of cycling that we have all experienced to varying degrees.

I lived in London for 15 years, and close passes there are unfortunately common. To be honest the standards of driving were generally worse, the number of cars were a lot higher, and the streets a lot narrower, so it’s not surprising. However, all this
meant that while close passes were almost a daily experience, they took place at much lower speeds.

I recently moved to the Cotswolds, where the main roads are wider, cars drive faster, and the standard of driving is generally much better. Despite this, yesterday I experienced the worst close pass I have experienced in my 20+ years of riding.

I set out to do a quick gravel ride before work. I was wearing a bright orange jersey, a red helmet, and even had a light and radar system. I decided to try a new route, and as is the way in many rural areas, the path I was following had become a
ploughed field with no signs. After 20 minutes of trying to find my way out of what seemed to be the world’s largest field, I found the path again and was back on track. For some reason the path went through somebody’s garden, then back onto a road.

I then had a lovely ride of a few miles in the late summer sunshine along quiet country lanes. Even on these thin lanes, every driver I encountered gave me plenty of room. Despite getting lost it had generally been a great ride.

My final kilometre is along a relatively quiet A road, and after 300m it goes from 50mph down to 30mph, so there usually is very little issue with it. Not on this occasion, unfortunately.

As I was riding I was aware of a big Luton van behind me. It slowed and passed me perfectly, completely on the other side of the white line. Then about 10 seconds later, a Transit pickup truck raced past me leaving all of 12 inches, at well over 50mph.

To be honest, I didn’t even have time to do everything I mentioned in the first paragraph. There was no firm gripping of the bars, no increased heart rate. It all happened so fast that there was almost no reaction beyond a slight wobble.

It took me a couple of seconds to understand what had happened and to shout the second-worst swear word, and my next action was to call the driver the worst one. I was angry and instantly fuming that somebody seemed to deliberately put me in that much
danger for no reason, and appeared to have done it deliberately.

This is the instant reaction that we’re used to, the one we see in videos, but it’s the part afterwards that has the real impact and the bit that drivers don’t see.

I got home still pretty angry, put my bike in the garage and went to say hello to my heavily pregnant wife who had just dropped my two-year-old daughter at nursery. Then, I jumped in the shower and began to calm down and think rationally.

It was only then I realised how close to death I had been. If I had moved to my right at all in that split second, my daughter would have lost a father and my soon-to-be-born son would never have met me. Everything began to run through my head, how my
wife would have had the police arrive at the door, how she would have had to call my parents and sister. She would have had to explain to my daughter what had happened. The only thing that prevented this scenario was me not drifting away from the kerb,
there being no obstacle to avoid, and there being no wind pushing me the smallest distance outwards.

Due to the actions of one driver, my life was nearly ended and my family nearly left fatherless.

I was in shock to the extent that people at work mentioned it and asked if I was ok. I couldn’t think straight. To come that close to death through no fault of your own, all because one person decided that you’re not worth anything because you’re
not travelling as fast as them, is not something you like to think about.

This is the element that is not discussed enough when we see all the anti-cyclist rants on social media, or when people in positions of power like Grant Shapps demonise cyclists. The damage caused by vindictive messaging is more than just some nasty
words, it has real consequences when poorly informed people begin to see cyclists as less than human.

There is not a doubt in my mind that the person yesterday did it on purpose. They could not have missed a giant Luton van clearly passing a cyclist, it was a perfectly straight road, and there was perfect visibility. I was so lit up I would have stood
out in a rave.

Their actions were inches away from orphaning my children, widowing my wife, and by chance alone they didn’t. That split-second decision caused me to have nightmares about what they did, and I know that for the next few rides I am going to be flinching
whenever a dot appears on my bike computer telling me a vehicle is approaching.

So, if there is anybody reading this who wants cyclists to ‘get off the road’, or who feels like a ‘punishment pass’ is a justifiable reaction to the cyclist existing near them, I hope you can begin to understand what it’s like to be on the
receiving end.

Unfortunately, given the callous way this person behaved, I have no doubt they would have probably laughed about the damage they caused when they got to work. Unfortunately, far too many people in this country and others would have laughed with them.

https://road.cc/content/blog/real-impact-close-passes-cyclists-303843

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On 13/09/2023 12:43, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

Anybody who is a regular cyclist has experienced it. That sudden feeling of something alongside you, that skip in your heartbeat when you’re not sure whether they’re doing it on purpose or if they’ve not seen you, the clenching of the bars and

hoping you don’t get dragged under the wheels.

Close passes are unfortunately an aspect of cycling that we have all experienced to varying degrees.

I lived in London for 15 years, and close passes there are unfortunately common. To be honest the standards of driving were generally worse, the number of cars were a lot higher, and the streets a lot narrower, so it’s not surprising. However, all

this meant that while close passes were almost a daily experience, they took place at much lower speeds.

I recently moved to the Cotswolds, where the main roads are wider, cars drive faster, and the standard of driving is generally much better. Despite this, yesterday I experienced the worst close pass I have experienced in my 20+ years of riding.

I set out to do a quick gravel ride before work. I was wearing a bright orange jersey, a red helmet, and even had a light and radar system. I decided to try a new route, and as is the way in many rural areas, the path I was following had become a

ploughed field with no signs. After 20 minutes of trying to find my way out of what seemed to be the world’s largest field, I found the path again and was back on track. For some reason the path went through somebody’s garden, then back onto a road.

And you had no trouble in deciding to trespass in someone's garden.

I then had a lovely ride of a few miles in the late summer sunshine along quiet country lanes. Even on these thin lanes, every driver I encountered gave me plenty of room. Despite getting lost it had generally been a great ride.

My final kilometre is along a relatively quiet A road, and after 300m it goes from 50mph down to 30mph, so there usually is very little issue with it. Not on this occasion, unfortunately.

As I was riding I was aware of a big Luton van behind me. It slowed and passed me perfectly, completely on the other side of the white line. Then about 10 seconds later, a Transit pickup truck raced past me leaving all of 12 inches, at well over 50mph.

To be honest, I didn’t even have time to do everything I mentioned in the first paragraph. There was no firm gripping of the bars, no increased heart rate. It all happened so fast that there was almost no reaction beyond a slight wobble.

It took me a couple of seconds to understand what had happened and to shout the second-worst swear word, and my next action was to call the driver the worst one. I was angry and instantly fuming that somebody seemed to deliberately put me in that much

danger for no reason, and appeared to have done it deliberately.

This is the instant reaction that we’re used to, the one we see in videos, but it’s the part afterwards that has the real impact and the bit that drivers don’t see.

I got home still pretty angry, put my bike in the garage and went to say hello to my heavily pregnant wife who had just dropped my two-year-old daughter at nursery. Then, I jumped in the shower and began to calm down and think rationally.

It was only then I realised how close to death I had been. If I had moved to my right at all in that split second, my daughter would have lost a father and my soon-to-be-born son would never have met me. Everything began to run through my head, how my

wife would have had the police arrive at the door, how she would have had to call my parents and sister. She would have had to explain to my daughter what had happened. The only thing that prevented this scenario was me not drifting away from the kerb,
there being no obstacle to avoid, and there being no wind pushing me the smallest distance outwards.

Due to the actions of one driver, my life was nearly ended and my family nearly left fatherless.

I was in shock to the extent that people at work mentioned it and asked if I was ok. I couldn’t think straight. To come that close to death through no fault of your own, all because one person decided that you’re not worth anything because you’re

not travelling as fast as them, is not something you like to think about.

This is the element that is not discussed enough when we see all the anti-cyclist rants on social media, or when people in positions of power like Grant Shapps demonise cyclists. The damage caused by vindictive messaging is more than just some nasty

words, it has real consequences when poorly informed people begin to see cyclists as less than human.

There is not a doubt in my mind that the person yesterday did it on purpose. They could not have missed a giant Luton van clearly passing a cyclist, it was a perfectly straight road, and there was perfect visibility. I was so lit up I would have stood

out in a rave.

Their actions were inches away from orphaning my children, widowing my wife, and by chance alone they didn’t. That split-second decision caused me to have nightmares about what they did, and I know that for the next few rides I am going to be

flinching whenever a dot appears on my bike computer telling me a vehicle is approaching.

So, if there is anybody reading this who wants cyclists to ‘get off the road’, or who feels like a ‘punishment pass’ is a justifiable reaction to the cyclist existing near them, I hope you can begin to understand what it’s like to be on the

receiving end.

Unfortunately, given the callous way this person behaved, I have no doubt they would have probably laughed about the damage they caused when they got to work. Unfortunately, far too many people in this country and others would have laughed with them.

https://road.cc/content/blog/real-impact-close-passes-cyclists-303843

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Very poignant article for me. Reading it on the anniversary of being used as target practice. And emotions all up in the air.

Even since getting back on the bike after it all, still having to deal with involuntary flinches as somebody blasts by and doing my best not to have a complete meltdown while they allow scant inches space. Yet ironically remaining stoic. Even when a
mirror catches my elbow and being grateful it wasn't a bonnet. The phrase "don't let the buggers grind you down" comes to mind and holding onto the fact that if I quit cycling they've won.

As it goes, in general a good chunk of drivers are pretty competent with another group that are just plain inept. It is the small handful who ruin it for all road user as they simply drive with no care, consideration or courtesy to any road user.

Great, honest article George. Stay safe out there and may you always have fair winds. And remember don't let them grind you down.

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Phew! Viscerally well written.

Mobile phone driver? That was my first thought. Driving with their outlook set to detect motor vehicles ahead only - literally the occasional glance up from their screen, enough only that they would know if a vehicle was looming in their horizon, nothing
more.

I see it so often. Walking to work, I counted ten drivers on their phones. One nearly ran me down on a pelican crossing - the way was clear in his mind, no vehicles in contention with his path; didn't see the light, didn't see me. Another veering towards
the kerb - I'm betting a filtering cyclist would have been a casualty. I saw a rear-ender in stop-go crawling traffic; how is that possible?!

Of course they don't put the phone back in the glove box when the traffic clears.

I see it from the top deck of a coach on the motorway, HGV drivers watching a video, the occasional glance up to monitor the distance of the HGV in front, that's it.

I'm pretty convinced that mobile phones are involved in much or most of these cases. The rest are quite likely just malicious.

It scares me just how little attention mobile phone use at the wheel receives. It's a pandemic, it's everywhere. Of course, it's not texting these days, so a simple call/sms history reveals nothing to Plod. They need something more sophisticated, a sort
of "phonealyser" that can be administered on the spot at every incident, an inseparable twin to the breathalyser.

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swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

The phrase "don't let the buggers grind you down" comes to mind and
holding onto the fact that if I quit cycling they've won.

But ‘they’ aren’t fighting a battle with you. The problem lies entirely between your ears. And if you think that you go so far as to believe you
are in some kind of battle, perhaps you have the wrong perspective.

If you give up, there is no means by which ‘they’ would know ‘they’ have
‘won’, but you know you will have ‘lost’. It’s your loss, not ‘their’
victory.

Time to change the paradigm? Start by ceasing to read the doom-laden
cycling media, which might prove to be your own worst enemy, rather than
the ‘they’ of which you speak. Take a defensive cycling course. Avoid videos from Jeremy Vine and Michael van Erp, their battles are not your battles.

--
Spike

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swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

Phew! Viscerally well written.

But, by piling supposition upon supposition, one can create whatever
doom-laden scenario one wants…

Mobile phone driver? That was my first thought. Driving with their
outlook set to detect motor vehicles ahead only - literally the
occasional glance up from their screen, enough only that they would know
if a vehicle was looming in their horizon, nothing more.

I see it so often. Walking to work, I counted ten drivers on their
phones. One nearly ran me down on a pelican crossing - the way was clear
in his mind, no vehicles in contention with his path; didn't see the
light, didn't see me. Another veering towards the kerb - I'm betting a filtering cyclist would have been a casualty. I saw a rear-ender in
stop-go crawling traffic; how is that possible?!

Of course they don't put the phone back in the glove box when the traffic clears.

I see it from the top deck of a coach on the motorway, HGV drivers
watching a video, the occasional glance up to monitor the distance of the
HGV in front, that's it.

I'm pretty convinced that mobile phones are involved in much or most of
these cases. The rest are quite likely just malicious.

It scares me just how little attention mobile phone use at the wheel receives. It's a pandemic, it's everywhere. Of course, it's not texting
these days, so a simple call/sms history reveals nothing to Plod. They
need something more sophisticated, a sort of "phonealyser" that can be administered on the spot at every incident, an inseparable twin to the breathalyser.

--
Spike

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eilmck wrote:

Plenty of complaints about lack of police action, what about a personal civil claim? Would such a claim for compensation for distress work in the UK? Often a civil claim has a larger impact on the criminal that the sentence from the criminal courts.

That's an interesting idea, but wouldn't you have to demonstrate some kind of financial loss due to their driving? Maybe if you needed counselling services after being bullied on the road, you could try sueing them for the costs.

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