The term near miss follows a very recognizable English pattern. I’m not sure why you’re reading it as non-standard phrasing. The word miss is a noun. It means

The term near miss follows a very recognizable English pattern. I’m not sure why you’re reading it as non-standard phrasing. The word miss is a noun. It means something that did not collide. So if the incident was a “miss” it was a non collision. The word near is an adjective modifying the noun miss. So what kind of miss was it? It was a miss where the objects were near to each other. It was a near miss. An adjective before a noun is normal. I bought a car. What kind of car? A green car. The incident was a miss. What kind of miss? A near miss.