Near Miss of the Day 29: "Sorry mate, I didn't see you ... "

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day Series is a classic of the SMIDSY - "Sorry mate, I didn't see you" - genre, and it's one that left the cyclist concerned very shaken.

It happened last week to road.cc reader and YouTube user Westcliff GoPro, who told us that it happened on the A13 between Leigh on Sea and Hadleigh in Essex.

He said: "The driver was very apologetic, but it really left me shaken.

"If it wasn't for the disc brakes I believe it may have ended differently."

Several years ago the charity Cycling UK launched its Stop SMIDSY campaign to urge motorists to be vigilant for cyclists and for the legal system to take appropriate action against drivers who used it as an excuse in collisions in which a cyclist is killed or injured.

Nevertheless, official casualty statistics show that drivers failing to look out for cyclists remains a major contributory factor to road traffic collisions in which a bike rider is killed or injured.

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.