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Near Miss of the Day 411: Farmer towing trailer turns across cyclist's path ... and stops

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Greater Manchester...

This isn't the worst near miss we've ever seen, but it's certainly inconsiderate driving and, for the cyclist involved, frustrating as he's forced to slow down and swerve to get around a trailer being towed by a farmer who had turned across his path and immediately stopped to open a gate.

It was filmed on Saturday afternoon on Manchester Road in Ramsbottom, near Bury by road.cc reader Barry.

"There was no one behind me, luckily, but the farmer couldn't be bothered to wait 5 seconds until I passed," he said.

"He left it like that while he opened the gate to his farm. Luckily you can't hear me swearing on the video."

> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?

Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.

If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.

If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).

Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.

> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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8 comments

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
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I held up a cyclist the other week.
Going down a long hill 30 limit and I always put the cruise control on. Saw a cyclist slowly gaining on me, eventually he had to freewheel - reckon I messed up his Strava time !

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Oldfatgit | 4 years ago
2 likes

Chances are, he'd have done that no matter what mode of transport you were using.
He'd probably forgotten he'd got the trailer on laugh

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spen | 4 years ago
2 likes

He's a farmer, he has God given right to do that don't you know

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EK Spinner | 4 years ago
2 likes

possibly not the first time they have pulled a stunt like that, judging by the state of the rear end of that pickup

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StuInNorway | 4 years ago
0 likes

He was probably in a rush to get home to post his feelings about how everyone should be wider and slower around horses . .  if cars were as skittish and unpredictable as horses they'd never be allowed on the road. (Although given the reporting of single car collisions where the car apparently rolls without the help of an incompetent driver, maybe they are)
Oddly when not with a horse, the often seem to have an unusually hard time negotiating other road users safely. 

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Expatpat replied to StuInNorway | 4 years ago
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Er, shortly after the invention of the internal combustion engine and the development of farm tractors well over one hundred years ago, farmers tend not to use horses for agricultural purposes these days. Stupid generalisations dont help, stupid.

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brooksby replied to Expatpat | 4 years ago
0 likes

Maybe they do in Norway?

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Sriracha | 4 years ago
2 likes

Sums up the difference in attitude towards a person depending on whether they are in a car or on a bike.

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