Near Miss of the Day 917: “Don’t get angry because a cyclist is faster than you” – Bin lorry driver “using vehicle as a weapon” misses filtering cyclist by “six inches max”

A filtering cyclist who was subject to a shockingly close pass from a council bin lorry driver – which narrowly missed the rider by inches after he was forced to swerve to avoid a collision – has warned motorists: “Don’t get angry because a cyclist is faster than you”.

The incident, described by the cyclist as a punishment pass which saw the driver “use his vehicle as a weapon”, took place at around 3.30pm on the Wimborne Road in Bournemouth, on Monday 30 September.

Shortly before the near miss, the cyclist, who posts videos of close passes and poor driving to their Dorset Safer Roads YouTube channel, had filtered past the council worker in the left lane before turning right at a roundabout – a manoeuvre the cyclist says enables them to “slot into a space I feel is safe”.

However, after exiting the roundabout (around 1.45 into the video), the cyclist is close passed by the refuse collector, who brushes past the bike’s panniers and misses the cyclist – who quickly swerved to avoid a collision – by what he describes as “six inches max”.

After reprimanding the driver with a swift “F***’s sake”, the council worker responds by telling the cyclist to “get out of the f***ing way”.

Following the confrontation, the futility of close passing a cyclist in a busy town centre – and especially carrying out a punishment pass for filtering – was laid bare as the lorry driver eventually passed the cyclist as he rode on a stretch of protected bike path… before finally watching as the cyclist filtered past minutes later, while the driver was stuck in a line of traffic.

> Near Miss of the Day 880: Bin lorry driver squeezes cyclist into kerb

“Every time I ride, I get somebody doing something illegal in front of me. I’m not a vigilante, I just report what my camera sees through the proper channels,” the cyclist told road.cc.

“Too often, a driver risks my life and others due to impatience. Occasionally I get somebody like this, who believes I have done something wrong, and tries to punish me in some way. That is what happened here.”

Describing the incident, he said: “I filtered past and slotted into the queue of traffic but because I entered the roundabout in the left lane the driver sought to punish me for it. As far as I’m concerned, this is using your vehicle as a weapon.

“This stretch of road is horrible, there is no correct lane to be in as a cyclist, if I go in the right lane cars undertake me – and get reported. At least in the left lane I get to slot into a space I feel is safe. Arguably I should have been further to the right, but it doesn’t excuse this though.

“The driver has been reported to Operation Snap and to their employer.”

> Changes to the Highway Code mean very little if they are not known or followed by motorists

The issue of filtering – which seems to have provoked the dangerous response of today’s lorry driver – was addressed in the 2022 updates to the Highway Code, which confirmed that cyclists can pass slower moving or stationary traffic either on the right or left.

However, it is also recommended that cyclists only pass on the left of large vehicles when they’re stationary or slow moving. Nevertheless, the Highway Code also advises motorists to be aware of cyclists filtering when in traffic and explains that cyclists can be difficult to see in such circumstances.

For the cyclist behind the Dorset Safer Roads account, the guidelines are even clearer: “Don’t get hissy at cyclists filtering past you, and don’t get angry because a cyclist is faster than you.”

> 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