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Near Miss of the Day 605: Building supplies firm to use cyclist’s close pass video to train drivers (includes swearing)

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country

A timber firm has said it will use a video of one of its lorry drivers making a close pass on a pair of cyclists to provide training to its staff.

The video was posted on the PassPixi Twitter account yesterday morning, with yours truly tagged in, and drew a response from the company that operates the lorry, Howarth Timber & Building Supplies, which has 34 branches across England, most of them in the north west and Yorkshire.

We’ve featured PassPixi – magnetic patches and stickers with a logo similar to a speed camera that cyclists can attach to their panniers or clothing to make motorists behind aware that the rider is using a camera – in our Near Miss of the Day Series before.

PassPixi

> Near Miss of the Day 538: Close pass driver hangs back when they realise they are being filmed

Nigel, who came up with the idea, told us at the time: “They were actually inspired in part by Near Miss Of The Day along with a close encounter with a Porsche driver who seemed determined to turn me into a bonnet ornament on my Sunday morning ride a couple of years ago (sadly, I wasn’t running a camera that day).

“I figured that cameras just don’t work on their own — they’re too hard to spot when a driver is approaching. I never claim that PassPixi stops all close passes,” – as indeed is the case here – “but it seems to make a big difference and that seems to be reflected in the nice comments we’ve had.

“I used to find I was bellowing ‘You ******* ****’ about five times per two hour ride — now I’m disappointed if I have to shout it once.

“What it REALLY helps to stop is the general abuse us cyclists face — people throwing things from cars, swearing etc. I’ve had nothing in the two years since I made the prototype,” he added.

The magnetic version costs £8.99 plus £3.50 shipping to the UK, while the adhesive version costs £5.50 plus (£1.50 shipping), and they can be ordered here.

> 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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14 comments

Avatar
NewBob | 3 years ago
0 likes

Most Drivers haven't got the Strength in the Legs to drive like a Motorcyclist is required to do at Walking Pace or similarly slowly for the Off Road Test, and it instantly becomes frustrating having to adjust. Most probably can't do Pistol Squats either. If you have a Video of a Squad of HGV Drivers doing Pistol Squats, please share it!

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Cupov | 3 years ago
0 likes

Wonder why the driver stopped just down the road, unless that was the delivery address.
Surely he wasn't trying to justify his sub-standard driving.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Cupov | 3 years ago
5 likes

The twitter thread poster posted he believed he then stopped to do that specific justification in his reply to Howarth. 

Driver: "Did you just give me the finger?"
Cyclist: "Well you did just try and kill me"

Avatar
Awavey replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
3 likes

Which to me implies an intent on the part of the pass then, because how is the driver remotely able to see the cyclist giving them the finger unless they are specifically looking to see how the cyclist reacts ?

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
2 likes
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

The twitter thread poster posted he believed he then stopped to do that specific justification in his reply to Howarth. 

Driver: "Did you just give me the finger?"
Cyclist: "Well you did just try and kill me"

Fack me, suggesting that the driver was looking in his mirrors and was well aware of what he did

Jesus

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
2 likes
Captain Badger wrote:
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

The twitter thread poster posted he believed he then stopped to do that specific justification in his reply to Howarth. 

Driver: "Did you just give me the finger?"
Cyclist: "Well you did just try and kill me"

Fack me, suggesting that the driver was looking in his mirrors and was well aware of what he did

Jesus

It's amazing the number of shit drivers who will check their mirrors after close passing cyclists and respond to any reaction.

either looking for a response because they know they are crap

or checking they haven't hit the cyclist by accident because they know they were cutting it fine.

Not something I d after passing cyclists, because I know I wasn't close to them and no chance of either injury or jestures 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
0 likes

I'm guessing he had seen the big camera sign on the back of the videographer at the last second, then saw the complaining hand movements and realised he had been 'caught'. So pulled over then. He might have actually  been apologetic rather then complaining but as we can't hear him.

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jh2727 | 3 years ago
4 likes

> A timber firm has said it will use a video of one of its lorry drivers making a close pass on a pair of cyclists to provide training to its staff.

So we can expect more passes like this in the future?

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wtjs replied to jh2727 | 3 years ago
2 likes

So we can expect more passes like this in the future?

Lorry drivers don't need training in lawbreaking up here- they already know how to do it, and have the protection of the police. This lorry did indeed go through these red lights at speed, but nothing happened. The police claimed, obviously lying, that they couldn't do anything because they had sent the enquiry about the driver 'to the wrong address'.

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TriTaxMan | 3 years ago
0 likes

and a second later

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TriTaxMan | 3 years ago
0 likes

At least Howarth Timber responded - Tarmac just ignore it...... 

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bikeman01 | 3 years ago
4 likes

Great, so now I can look forward to being passed with impunity by drivers who look out for the passpixi sticker.

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Awavey replied to bikeman01 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Albeit that pass clearly demonstrates drivers dont notice such things anyway, so its situation normal still

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Velo-drone replied to bikeman01 | 3 years ago
1 like

Those drivers would have been buzzing you anyway, so what difference does it make to you?  

In fact, you probably gain some level of "free-rider" (pun intended) benefit as drivers begin to develop an understanding that anyone they pass could  have a camera, whether they're wearing a PassPixi or not ... 

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