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news
Near Miss of the Day 526: Flatbed truck driver clips cyclist while attempting mindless overtake
This is one of those near misses where the ‘near miss’ only refers to more serious consequences because the driver of the flatbed truck actually hits the cyclist while performing a mindless overtake.
Many a cyclist will feel a familiar knot in the stomach at the moment when the vehicle is alongside the cyclist.
With an oncoming motorist waiting to pass a parked car stopped up against the white line, it is obvious the truck driver will move towards the kerb. Contact feels almost inevitable.
The incident occurred in Worcester, before Christmas.
Nick said: “I pulled out of the side road heading downhill over the canal onto the flat, maintaining about 15mph.
“I was passed by a couple of cars (some say they were too close) and at the pinch point with the oncoming blue BMW waiting, the truck driver decided to ignore me and go for the gap.
“As he passed, my MTB bars were hit by the side of the load bed. As a mountain biker, I’m not scared of close passing objects or bar-clipping trees. The only difference is they are stationary and you see them coming.
“He has been fined and I assume points, but West Mercia don’t provide details.”
Nick also added that the vehicle had no MOT.
> 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
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- brooksby 47 min 9 sec ago
But at least they're halfway there...
- chrisonabike 1 hour 18 sec ago
The assistant coroner seems just to have followed the expert here - forensic collision investigator Christopher Bell. Then further showed she wasn...
- FionaJJ 1 hour 47 min ago
When you put it like that ... ...
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I definitely agree that we could do with better crossings and junctions....
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click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of them all, then you won't get any more
- Hirsute 5 hours 56 min ago
A few problems here https://youtu.be/0P0a_n6XgrQ?t=125
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Indeed. You can get a brush for that and still have change for Haribos.
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Sustrans Teesside/Middlesbrough has done nothing for the cycle lane remaining strangely silent and inactive all the while taking a fortune off...
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Car ploughs into Fair Oak home and crushes couple's cars https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/24762662.car-ploughs-fair-oak-home-crus...
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Not quite the same scenario, but has some similarities......
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28 comments
I think you did brilliantly to stay upright. When you see things like that you realise how exposed you are to the incompetence of others.
Are you sure that West Mercia didn't actually say 'Don't worry, the driver is fine'
I'm sorry Nick, but as wtjs commented, this is bollocks. Unless you are talking about 'just before Christmas, 2019'
You report it, the police view the video, decide on a course of action (NFA, warning letter, offer of driver improvement course etc). In this case apparently it's the 'investigate' option. Which probably takes weeks.
The only thing I think they can have possibly done is view the video and on the strength of the evidence issue a fixed penalty notice for 'due care'. Even then they really need the id of the actual driver.
Do you have the result of your complaint in writing and an incident reference number?
Terrible driving BTW.
“He has been fined and I assume points, but West Mercia don’t provide details.”
I am very suspicious about this- they could never get this through courts etc. for an offence just before Christmas. Therefore, we're assuming some draconian punishment for the offence and the absence of MOT which has been accepted by the driver. I think they have offered him a deal, with no points and a minimal fine. The Police- The Dodgy Driver's Friend.
See my comments above wtjs.
Could be that the police have offered the driver a penalty notice for 'due care' or the option of court in, err, 2022!
This video shows perfectly how endemic close passes are and how little regard is given to vulnerable road users by drivers. A dangerous combination of over-entitlement, a lack of education and poor enforcement allows this to be so commonplace for so many of us. The BMW and Renault SUV were undoubtedly bad close passes in their own right, but the flatbed driver somehow managed to beat both with a level of driving that goes beyond dangerous. Punishment for such close passes should be an instant ban as mandatory, with the period set dependent on the severity.
I shudder to imagine, suppose loose clothing had become caught in the bodywork, the results don't bear thinking about. The driver was simply reckless as to the outcome, with death or serious injury a real possibility. Please tell me he's been prevented from driving, as a minimum.
3 out of the 4 passes were bad, yet apparently the problem is cyclists.
The problem with primary is it would simply have made some of these passes even more dangerous!
I read that advice on here a week or so ago about taking more space/primary when appropriate, and this morning experienced so many dangerous passes, in icy weather i'd add, that to report them all to WMP would take me over an hour. It's getting worse out there. It's absolutely lawless on the roads.
I had 3 today plus one driving around 60 in a 40 and one parked in a new cycle lane on double yellows, within the zigzags of a pedestrian crossing !
I didn't notice many close passes luckily, but as BCC in their infinite wisdom didn't bother gritting the main roads, I had an icy off on Summer Hill Road as I turned at the lights towards the NIA. First time I have downed on that bike since I bought it in April '18 as well.
I can sympathise. I slipped over on black ice friday morning. Bike is fine, but i've got one heck of a bruise on my knee. Thankfully i only average 1 slip a year.
Here here. It takes your safety into your own hands. Beep me all you want you can get past when it is safe.
If the vehicle had no MOT this is also worth reporting to DVSA / local Traffic Commissioner who will also then punish the business.
I was in court as a prosecution witness yesterday. The defendant was trying to argue that he'd left me a 1.7m gap... 4 points, £250 fine, £300 costs & £32 victim surcharge.
That £32 should come in handy. What will you spend it on?
Well, you were the victim, weren't you?
Time and time again, even when on the stand faced with undeniable video evidence, offenders will still lie to try and avoid punishment. Just like the countless occasions where someone is knocked off their bike (just like with Hannah Clare) and the offender fails to stop.
Drivers know that there's a chance they can get away with what they've done and until the percentage of successful prosecutions and the severity of the punishment increases, this will continue to be the case.
We need better awarenesses campaigns, more pro-active initiatives from the police and ideally a specialist centralised video evidence bureau to handle all footage rather than leaving that down to the individual forces (with everything else they have to do). Only then will we be able to to see the drastic improvements in driver behaviour to make everyone feel safe on the roads.
Drivers know that there's a chance they can get away with what they've done and until the percentage of successful prosecutions and the severity of the punishment increases, this will continue to be the case.
I agree!!
I was in court as a prosecution witness yesterday. The defendant was trying to argue that he'd left me a 1.7m gap... 4 points, £250 fine, £300 costs & £32 victim surcharge.
Hurrah!! Well done. Which force is this, and when was the offence? They deserve congratulation. Lancashire is still slowing down my cases as much as possible.
Norfolk. It happened in August 2019.... Was supposed to go to court in April last year, but kept getting delayed because of covid.
yep 2019 they prosecuted...2020 they just send warning letters
Norfolk. It happened in August 2019.... Was supposed to go to court in April last year, but kept getting delayed because of covid.
Lancashire is much more efficient at slowing down or stopping court cases- mine was September 2019, case due April 2020, rescheduled to June 2021 but with the ststement that it will probably be put back again.
Nice one dude, well done. Hope it wasn't too stressful
Should have reported the orange Renault as well, to close and on a blind bend. Glad you got a result for the van though.
Agreed Close pass with vehicles parked opposite on a bend. What a tool.
Really bad overtake. These days I use a small bar end mirror + listening out for vehicles behind, and take full on primary if I believe that no safe overtake is possible. They'd have to run right over me, or wait until safe, to get past.
Definitely a justification for taking primary. I wouldn't wait for vehciels to be approaching in this case, either - set the example as you come into their view. Oncoming vehicles also need to know you're on the carriageway.
Not that riding in secondary position (of which this was a somewhat submissive example at times) is an excuse for that atrocious driving.
Mirror can be a good advance warning device, but it's good to get into the habit of a good twist and look to show drivers that you know they're there, and you know they know you're there. And with their 'there', they're obliged to give way to you.
Awful. I wonder if the police disregarded your skill when assessing this.
I hope the bmw driver and vauxhall driver also received some form of penalty.