Escapes, just about, on hearing wife's in the vicinity (4,6)
I believe the answer is:
near misses
'hearing wife's in the vicinity' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.
'escapes just about on' is the wordplay.
'escapes' becomes 'misses' ('miss' can be a synonym of 'escape').
'just about' becomes 'near' (I've seen this in another clue).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'misses' put after 'near' is 'NEAR MISSES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for near misses that I've seen before include "Close calls" , "flying incidents" .)