Near Miss of the Day 822: Cyclist squeezed by overtaking HGV driver at pinch point

What goes through a lorry driver’s mind when they make a close pass on a cyclist such as the one featured in today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series?

Given the length of the trailer, there’s clearly no way of executing a safe overtake given the pinch point ahead caused by the traffic island, yet the driver goes ahead and attempts the manoeuvre regardless – forcing the cyclist to brake to avoid being hit.

Martin, the road.cc reader who filmed the incident in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, said in the description to the video on YouTube: “Cycling to work this morning along one of my usual routes (coming in to Dewsbury).

“This lorry had been behind me for a few hundred yards. We hit the short uphill section and the driver clearly saw it as an opportunity to speed up and pass me, but I tend not to slow down at all on this section of road and just power up the hundred yard short climb.

“I had to slow down considerably when I realised they were passing, and it just about gave me enough room as the back end of the lorry swung past me,” he added.

Highway Code Rule 163 says: “Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should not get too close to the vehicle you intend to overtake. You should give cyclists at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car. As a guide you should wait behind the cyclist and not overtake if it is unsafe or not possible to meet these clearances.”

And Rule 167 specifically addresses the issue of pinch points, telling road users: “DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example where the road narrows, when you would force another road user to swerve or slow down, approaching or at a road junction on either side of the road.”

> 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