A VIDEO of a Range Rover overtaking a cyclist in a near-miss has sparked fury online.
The black four-by-four swerved to avoid an oncoming car as it accelerated past the terrified cyclist on a Warwickshire road.
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The unnamed cyclist captured footage of Barry Field, 59, making the risky overtake in his Range Rover.
In the video, the dark Range Rover passes the cyclist close by at high speed.
The driver of the sizeable car is then forced to swerve in front of the bike to avoid a crash with another vehicle.
The cyclist, who was not named by cops, responded to the prosecution, saying: “I know there are bad drivers and bad cyclists out there but all I want to be able to do is go for a ride and come back home safely to my family. His impatience could have killed me.”
The aggrieved biker submitted the footage to Operation SNAP to report the ordeal.
Having reviewed the footage, Warwickshire Police charged Mr Field with driving without due care and attention.
The cops gave the reckless driver a choice of punishments, including a driver retraining course, a fixed penalty fine and license points, or a court hearing.
Mr Field chose to go to court and pled not guilty to the charge.
In a hearing at Warwickshire Magistrates Court, he was found guilty.
He was ordered to pay a £500 fine, £620 in costs to the CPS and a £50 victim surcharge.
Three points were also added to his license.
One commenter on YouTube said: “But it wasn’t careless was it? It was a dangerous life-threatening move that could’ve knocked the cyclist off under his car or another car lorry or bus, even the backdraft could knock him off.”
Discussing the case, PC Ken Bratley, the Operation SNAP Coordinator for Warwickshire Police said: “Fortunately the cyclist was not injured and on reviewing the footage there is no doubt that this was an extremely careless pass.”
“Cyclists are much more vulnerable than drivers in cars and that’s why the Highway Code has been updated asking drivers to give cyclists more care and attention”, he continued.
“This includes waiting behind a cyclist until it is safe to pass them and leaving at least 1.5 meters when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds.”
PC Bratley finished with a warning: “It’s really important that drivers understand their responsibility to look after more vulnerable road users such as cyclists, horse riders and pedestrians by slowing down and giving them extra space.”
“Bad cycling mainly causes annoyance to people but bad driving results in 5 road user deaths a day.”
Operation SNAP is a national initiative run by police forces in order to allow drivers to submit dash/helmetcam footage of similar experiences that they believe contain an offence.
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