I was sent a PCN for passing a cyclist too
closely. On the footage that the cyclist uploaded to extra eyes I’m nearly on the other side of the road when passing. I am just wondering how the investigating officers calculates distance from footage? And do they measure from wheel to wheel? I have screen shots of the footage am I able to post them here? To gathers others thoughts. I’m happy to pay the fine and take it on the chin as a learning curb but from my memory and watching the footage I thought I gave reasonable distance.
What have you actually received? I doubt whether it's a PCN.
Why would they measure "wheel to wheel"? It's not the cycle wheels that are in danger. You need a clear gap )1.5m) between the cyclist's body and the extremity of your vehicle (probably the mirror).
It was very late when I posted I meant to say NIP followed by a conditional offer of a fine and 3 points. I’m trying to understand how they measure as they haven’t explained this. I know there is 1.5 m rule that’s why I Manoeuvred my car to the other side of her road, my car was only little bit over the line. Hence why I’m not going to court unless this what I choose to do. Just would like some advice regarding this before I accept points on my license.
Post the screenshots and see what people think I would suggest.
I’m trying to understand how they measure
They don't need to measure, while the Highway Code provides a GUIDE of 1.5m (up to 30mph - speed in question?), the law makes no such distinction, just whether the driving fell below the standard of a careful and competent driver.
Was all your car on the other side of the road? If not part of it being there is rather meaningless in assessing whether you left sufficient room.
The road was 30 mile per hour so was going below 30. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]
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Hard to tell from that with it all being cut off.
Judging solely by road markings if it is a reasonably wide carriageway that could be quite a reasonable gap.
It has personal info so had to crop it. In the footage you cant really see the other side of the road tbh because how the camera is angled. It frustrating as I remember anticipating going passed cyclist and thinking I need to move over so there is enough space. Perhaps I misjudged and should have gave more space 🤷♀️
You need to redact the information or crop it in a different way, but to me that looks close.
You can measure the width of the road on Google maps, but for most roads if you are not completely over the line you are too close. Difficult to say on those pictures, but if you can post the location and make of car it could be estimated. Having said that if police have decided to prosecute, then it must look close, and I imagine it would be hard to defend unless there is something really screwy going on with the camera angle. The cyclist will have been passed lots of times on that ride alone, and will know which feels close / dangerous and worthy of reporting.
From the severely cropped photo it does look like a close pass, but that’s just based on what you’ve shared.
The photo suggests you were far enough over the white line to obstruct oncoming traffic so perhaps could have gone further over.
Can’t tell much from the photo, but worth remembering that it isn’t just about the distance as you pass a cyclist, it’s also about moving back to your lane too quickly. Some motorists seem to forget that the cyclist is moving and treat them as a stationary object.
Without going into the merits of this case, most of the police photo illustrations I've seen do show the cycle wheel line.
1/ if you read the Highway Code it’s clear that’s not as it’s intended
2/ it also fails the common sense test
3/ it’s also not relevant directly only whether a driver is seen to be driving at a standard that falls below that of a careful and competent driver in the opinion of the bench.
Agree x 1
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