Driver fined £1,100 for passing Bridgend cyclist too closely

38 comments
  1. He “refused to attend a course or pay a fixed penalty notice” sounds like he could have got away with a course and perhaps £100 but he wanted to refuse any responsibility for breaking the law. Eh, his call.

  2. > Mr Humphreys said he and his son later measured the road and estimated the gap he left for the cyclist was sufficient and safe.

    > He said: “Taking into account the cyclist and his bike, there would have still been at least 4ft (1.2m) space.

    So he’s left 4 foot of space from the edge of the road, a couple of foot or so of which will be the cyclist and his bike…And he’s complaining because he thinks that’s plenty of room?

    4 points doesn’t sound like enough to me, he’s clearly a danger.

  3. Such a non story, guy didn’t agree, took it to court and lost. That’s why it cost so much. Like it usually does.

  4. FWIW, I did some digging.

    4 points suggests that this is a category 3 offence, the least serious, and so he’s been given a band A fine

    https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/careless-driving-drive-without-due-care-and-attention-revised-2017/

    A Band A fine is 25-75% of weekly income

    https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/explanatory-material/magistrates-court/item/fines-and-financial-orders/approach-to-the-assessment-of-fines-2/2-fine-bands/

    £1100 sounds like a pretty hefty fine, but it means he’s earning at least £76k per year. I think he’ll be alright.

  5. Reminds me of my boomer older relative who got fined for speeding and was raging that it shouldn’t have been a 40 zone. The sheer arrogance.

    I got done for speeding once, we had some road works on ten metres of a 60 zone. But they reduced 600m to 30 well past the works. If you tried to stick to 30, you would get overtaken so dangerously that it wasn’t worth it. I did 40 to keep them off my back and got the one traffic cop in Essex with a speed gun. Royally pissed me off but I did the speed course and that was that.

    Drivers in this country are nuts these days

  6. > Motorists must now leave a 1.5m (5ft) gap when overtaking cyclists, as well as slowing down. The gap must be 2m (6.5ft) when passing pedestrians or horse riders.

    I genuinely didn’t realise there was a different rule for pedestrians. Why do pedestrians need more space than a cyclist? Surely if it’s too close to pass a person on foot safely it’s also too close to pass a cyclist safely?

  7. >Mr Humphreys said he and his son later measured the road and estimated the gap he left for the cyclist was sufficient and safe.

    >He said: “Taking into account the cyclist and his bike, there would have still been at least 4ft (**1.2m**) space.

    And

    >Motorists must now leave a **1.5m** (5ft) gap when overtaking cyclists

    Bit of a self own incriminating yourself, maybe don’t be dummy and attend the road safety course – it’s the dinosaurs like this who need it the most. Also no chance there was even a 1.2 m gap based on that video lmao.

  8. I did the calculations, in feet and inches because he was claiming 4 feet.

    That road is 19’ 8” wide, so each lane is ~9’ 10” wide.

    A typical adult cyclist is 2’ 6” wide.

    The law says you have to allow 4’ 11” of space as you pass.

    An Audi Q8 is 7’ 2” wide. It’s straddling the white line, roughly centrally in the photos, so there’s 3’ 7” of Audi in the lane.

    2’ 6” of cyclist + 4’ 11” of legal space = 7’ 5”

    7’ 5” + 3’ 7” of Audi = 11’ 1”

    9’ 10” of lane width – 11’ 1” = -1’ 3”

    So, even if the cyclist was on the very edge of the road, the Audi couldn’t possibly have passed the cyclist legally in the position he was in.

  9. I know the cyclist here! They started filming after a hit and run and have sent over 500+ cases to operation snap. It’s good to see the police pursuit these cases

  10. Good. Have to say it’s absolutely fucking terrifying riding your bike and having people almost clip your handlebars as they drive past.

  11. What a poor quality argument from his quote.

    I got fined for doing something wrong before but it was a really long time ago so I couldn’t possibly be fined for being wrong now.

  12. You should only be overtaking a cyclist when the opposite lane is clear. If the opposite lane is clear than use the entire lane.

    Guy is a massive cunt.

  13. Reading the story I was thinking to myself that I’ve met far too many nasty arrogant old cunts like him in my life and it’s nice to see one get some comeuppance.

  14. I know that road. It’s a long straight with ample space to pass. Hell, I’ve overtaken tractors on it before now.

    B4280 if anyone wants to look it up.

  15. I don’t mind sharing the road with them, but they have to understand the rules apply to them too.

    Drivers, eh? Can’t find many without points on their licence lately.

  16. Good.

    Send a message to arsehole drivers that cycle cam technology means they won’t get away with endangering the lives of others anymore.

    This particular arsehole refused to accept responsibility and is going to end up with a harsher penalty because the evidence is very clear.

  17. Does this mean cycle lanes need to be at least 2.5 metres wide for cars to go past cyclists in them?

    Have they not seen the width of roads in this country?

  18. There’s footage where he passes right next to the cyclist and then has the balls to claim he went out and ‘measured the road’ and estimated that there was at least 4ft of space when the footage looks like he was lucky to have left 1ft

  19. Typical 77 year old stubborn mentality lmao.
    Didn’t do the course, got prosecuted.

    “I’ve had my license for 60 years” yea and you learned to drive when there was no theory, and less roads and test requirements.

  20. Strangely, the comments “promoted” in the Daily Fail article about the same story were of the conclusion:
    – cyclists don’t pay roadtax so it’s fine.
    – cyclists have it coming to them for wobbling around
    – cyclist should pull over to let queue of cars pass ( just like tractors always do for me – not!)

  21. “It doesn’t make sense to me”

    Honestly, it is simple. Leave a 1.5m space when overtaking a cyclist. You may not think it necessary, but cyclists do, as does the law.

  22. ‘Wayne Humphreys, 77, was fined and given four penalty points for failing to leave enough space in his Audi Q8.’

    ITS ALWAYS OLD PEOPLE IN HUGE CARS. Every time I ride someone fitting this exact description tries to kill me.

  23. That was a clickbait title to get the anti-bike crowd into a lather. Other cars went around him. He didn’t. So it raises the question – did he even see him? Was he driving with due care? His behaviour after the fact suggests a casual attitude to other road user’s safety.

  24. Don’t read the Daily Heil’s write up of this if you value any concept of human compassion or decency.

  25. When you overtake another car you usually have to go on the opposite side of the white line briefly. The same is true for passing anything. If you think you can pass a bike without crossing the white line (maybe due to on coming traffic) you are probably far too close to the bike.

    Squishing a bike into the gutter so that you can drive unimpeded on your side of the road is not acceptable.

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