Near Miss of the Day 432: A Manchester commuting compilation - including moment turning taxi driver left cyclist with fractured elbow

Today’s submission in our Near Miss of the Day series is a compilation of a month’s worth of commuting from Stockport into Manchester back in pre-coronavirus times, put together by a cyclist to highlight the need for safe infrastructure now and once some semblance of normality returns – with the video including an incident that left him with a fractured elbow when a taxi driver stopped in front of him, mid-turn, at a busy junction.

Not so much of a near miss in that specific instance, then, but there are plenty of other examples of poor driving on show including a succession of close passes as well as one motorist who nudges the rider's rear wheel.

The road.cc reader who sent the footage in, James, said: “Just a typical month of commuting in Manchester – my cycle cam footage over a month of commuting between Stockport and Manchester.

“I thought this was particularly relevant now given then slap in the face from Manchester and Stockport Council around cycle lane infrastructure during and post-COVID.”

Stockport does however seem to have plans for both pop-up lanes and permanent infrastructure on the two main routes into Manchester, the A6 and the A34.

Regarding the incident involving the taxi, James said: “The driver pulled across my path and stopped in the middle of the road. Pretty bad junction there. Had a fractured elbow but driver has now accepted liability.

“The first two videos were the last week in November, I was then off the bike for two months with the fracture, then the rest of the videos are in the three weeks following that (February this year).

“So technically not all within a month, however one month of actual riding with a break for my injury recovery.”

> 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