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Near Miss of the Day 255: Lorry driver in very close pass

Our regular series featuring near misses from around the country – today it’s Warwickshire

Typically in our Near Miss of the Day series, the cyclist who films a close pass is the one who experiences it – not so, today, however.

The latest video shows a lorry driver making an extremely close pass on a cyclist, Sam.

He was riding a little way back from Andy, cyclist who filmed the footage with a rear-facing camera, and it’s clear just how poor and dangerous the driver’s overtake was.

Andy told us that it happened last Thursday in Warwickshire, adding, “Reported to the Police via web but obviously too early to get any response.”

> 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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19 comments

Avatar
schlepcycling | 5 years ago
0 likes

I tend to agree with BTBS, that I'd rather cars crossed the solid line to overtake because the alternative isn't that they wait until it's clear it's that they squeeze between me and the solid line in order to stay on 'their' side of the road, which is mostly much worse for me.

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CXR94Di2 | 5 years ago
1 like

If I'm doing 15/20/25mph and a motor overtakes me on the other side of a solid line leaving me enough of a safe gap and does not impinge on oncoming traffic or endanger others, where is the problem?

I agree to a point, but by adding when the driver is sure its safe to do so. 

 

The reason for double white or single solid lines is to stop the driver from making a maneouvre because they cant see far enough to make a safe overtake which involves crossing the white line. 

The 10mph is really quite silly, it should be for stationary objects, then a vehicle is allowed to pass over the white line, when safe.

 

 

 

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EK Spinner replied to CXR94Di2 | 5 years ago
0 likes

CXR94Di2 wrote:

I

The 10mph is really quite silly, it should be for stationary objects, then a vehicle is allowed to pass over the white line, when safe.

 

 

 

 

The 10mph thing makes sense to me, the legth of road and time taken is significantly reduced so the manouvre can often be done safely within the road visible. If this guidance wasn't in place it would even be difficult to pull over the lines to pass a pedestrian

To me the problem as usual is not to do with innappropriate legislation but is due to selfishess and impatience of drivers which is backed up by indifferent law enforcment and poor driver education

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zero_trooper | 5 years ago
1 like

I would like to hear the outcome of this complaint to the police. It is obvious from the footage that there was nothing coming in the opposite direction, so the lorry driver (and the BMW driver for that matter) should have been right across, well away from the cyclists. If there was some reason that they couldn't get right across e.g. poor visibilty due to a bend, then they shouldn't have overtaken in the first place.

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mikewood | 5 years ago
1 like

Rode this road tonight in a decent sized group. 20 passes over the solid white lines, 4 with traffic coming the other way and the inevitable cut back putting us in danger. Too many drivers can't see past the end of the bonnet. All followed by someone who doesn't see the need to stop at the stop line at traffic lights and stops after the ASL. Did it twice so if I was Plod, that would have involved his licence getting taken off him as he was very young

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BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
3 likes

it's either safe and there's enough room to overtake or there isn't, lines or no lines. I cycle quite a few routes that have double whites and often I'm more than happy for drivers to go across them to overtake when to me at least (and thus should to them) I can see that it is safe and there is enough time/space to overtake and pull in without causing issues.

Double whites and indeed much of the road restriction signage incl speed limits are for idiots and selfish/dangerous twats, but the vast majority ignore them anyway so are virtually pointless when there's no-one to penalise them and even if caught has no effect on changing behaviour because the penalties are pathetic even if you get one at all!

If I'm doing 15/20/25mph and a motor overtakes me on the other side of a solid line leaving me enough of a safe gap and does not impinge on oncoming traffic or endanger others, where is the problem?

Of course I'm not saying that all circumstances are going to allow that but there are quite a few I've come across where motors try to squeeze inside the solid line when there was time and space to go over the lines and make a clean AND safe pass.

In any case unless you have a really accurate speedo you won't necessarily know the accurate speed of the cyclist even if you are keeping equidistance behind them to make that call. The 10mph speed seems somewhat arbitrary though I accept it's obviously a rule from a long time ago so probably took into account the fact that the average family motor took a significant period longer to accelerate and get up to xx mph.

It's all about the forward planning and attitude to safety, sometimes dumbing it down (so telling you not to overtake at x point instead of making your own judgement not to) actually creates as many problems when certain types won't follow the dumbed down rules anyways!

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zero_trooper replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
0 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

 

 

In any case unless you have a really accurate speedo you won't necessarily know the accurate speed of the cyclist even if you are keeping equidistance behind them to make that call. The 10mph speed seems somewhat arbitrary though I accept it's obviously a rule from a long time ago so probably took into account the fact that the average family motor took a significant period longer to accelerate and get up to xx mph.

 

 

IIRC the law changed about 15 years ago with regard to overtaking on double-white lines. Prior to that no crossing (of the lines) was allowed.

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to zero_trooper | 5 years ago
0 likes

zero_trooper wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

 

 

In any case unless you have a really accurate speedo you won't necessarily know the accurate speed of the cyclist even if you are keeping equidistance behind them to make that call. The 10mph speed seems somewhat arbitrary though I accept it's obviously a rule from a long time ago so probably took into account the fact that the average family motor took a significant period longer to accelerate and get up to xx mph.

 

 

IIRC the law changed about 15 years ago with regard to overtaking on double-white lines. Prior to that no crossing (of the lines) was allowed.

TBH I thought it was well before that but more likely I forgot, that said I was reading comments about this some while back and a gent who was driving in the early 70s seemed to recall that rule back then but either way it's a figure they seemed to pull out of the hat, I guess they had to pick a number I suppose.

it's an improvement from the absolute but it's still flawed so far as to put people on bikes (and other motorists) in danger when the idiots are incapable of making a simple judgement!

Edit: I'm wondering if it was the Traffic Sign regs that were changed in 2002 to reflect the double whites but the 10mph thing was already around before that. I'll ask on CUK if I can be bothered.

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armb replied to zero_trooper | 5 years ago
0 likes

zero_trooper wrote:

 

IIRC the law changed about 15 years ago with regard to overtaking on double-white lines. Prior to that no crossing (of the lines) was allowed.

The 1994 regulations have the same 10mph rule, so it's at least 24 years:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/1519/part/I/crossheading/road-m...

The 1964 regulations aren't online (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1964/1857), but I thought the rule was the same when I took my test, which was well before 1994

But while the average car might be more powerful, it's also heavier, and laws aren't just for the average case, so I'm not convinced that's a good reason for it to change.

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brooksby replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
1 like

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

it's either safe and there's enough room to overtake or there isn't, lines or no lines.

Ah, but it is a great deal of effort to move that steering wheel more than one or two degrees clockwise and far too hard for people to do that while also checking FB etc... Didn't you get the memo? 

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

it's either safe and there's enough room to overtake or there isn't, lines or no lines.

Ah, but it is a great deal of effort to move that steering wheel more than one or two degrees clockwise and far too hard for people to do that while also checking FB etc... Didn't you get the memo? 

Given most of the gizmos in motors nowadays that compensate for shit driving surely even with social media checking they can cope with all that hardship of moving the steering wheel?

I actually think it's improving overall but there are always fucktards to drag back the standard and sadly when it's at least a couple every single day it's more often that that threat is what sticks in your head. Then there's the usual stuff that isn't ideal but you've got used to that shit so it doesn't phase you too much but you still think, you were half assed when you could have just gone that little bit further to make it good/safe.

Avatar
Htc replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
1 like

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

it's either safe and there's enough room to overtake or there isn't, lines or no lines. I cycle quite a few routes that have double whites and often I'm more than happy for drivers to go across them to overtake when to me at least (and thus should to them) I can see that it is safe and there is enough time/space to overtake and pull in without causing issues.

Double whites and indeed much of the road restriction signage incl speed limits are for idiots and selfish/dangerous twats, but the vast majority ignore them anyway so are virtually pointless when there's no-one to penalise them and even if caught has no effect on changing behaviour because the penalties are pathetic even if you get one at all!

If I'm doing 15/20/25mph and a motor overtakes me on the other side of a solid line leaving me enough of a safe gap and does not impinge on oncoming traffic or endanger others, where is the problem?

Of course I'm not saying that all circumstances are going to allow that but there are quite a few I've come across where motors try to squeeze inside the solid line when there was time and space to go over the lines and make a clean AND safe pass.

In any case unless you have a really accurate speedo you won't necessarily know the accurate speed of the cyclist even if you are keeping equidistance behind them to make that call. The 10mph speed seems somewhat arbitrary though I accept it's obviously a rule from a long time ago so probably took into account the fact that the average family motor took a significant period longer to accelerate and get up to xx mph.

It's all about the forward planning and attitude to safety, sometimes dumbing it down (so telling you not to overtake at x point instead of making your own judgement not to) actually creates as many problems when certain types won't follow the dumbed down rules anyways!

 

The double white lines hugely improve safety at night, where often the road appears to be clear ahead due to either rolling hills or hidden bends causing drivers to misjudge their overtakes because they are simply looking for headlights or the absence of them rather than carefully reading the road.

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burtthebike | 5 years ago
5 likes

Cyclist's fault for wearing that stuff that blends into the background so that the drivers can't see them until they are too close.

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psling replied to burtthebike | 5 years ago
6 likes

burtthebike wrote:

Cyclist's fault for wearing that stuff that blends into the background so that the drivers can't see them until they are too close.

 

What cyclist?

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Russell Orgazoid | 5 years ago
0 likes

Well done on reporting it. The lorry driver is clearly shit.

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ktache | 5 years ago
5 likes

Double white lines confuse the hell out of drivers, they vaguely remember back from reading the highway code when they took the test that there are some special rules for them, but they generally have no idea what they are.

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kil0ran | 5 years ago
5 likes

Cyclist speed > 10mph I assume, and overtaking on double whites. In an ideal world that should be 3 points each.

Obvs nothing will happen

 

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mikewood | 5 years ago
1 like

I use that road on a regular basis and it's shocking how many overtakes you get on solid white lines too.....

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dassie | 5 years ago
4 likes

Shockingly bad & dangerous pass; hope it is being reported.  That pass by the driver in the white BMW was not good either.

 

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