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Near Miss of the Day 407: Two close passes on first day of lockdown being eased

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Leicestershire...

Yesterday saw the partial easing of lockdown in England, with people now advised by the government that they can take unlimited exercise as well as drive to open spaces anywhere in the country. The latter will put more drivers on the road, of course, so we may well see more close passes - and here's a road.cc reader who had two yesterday, the first from a car driver coming towards him who seemed to be distracted by his phone, the second from an articulated lorry driver towing a trailer who overtook him.

It was filmed by road.cc reader Graham, who told us that both incidents happened in Charnwood, north west Leicestershire, and who said: "Yesterday for the first time in months I went out with my Gitup onboard, this being the first day after lockdown was started to lift.

"Needless to say I was close passed. Twice." Regarding the first incident in the video, he said: "I think the driver fiddling with his phone or something as he was driving straight at me, swerving at the last minute and waving an apology.

"I note the car, M11KCK, is not MOT'd and the MOT expired before the lockdown, so I've contacted the police, who want me to visit a police station to file a report!"

> 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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22 comments

Avatar
Shades | 3 years ago
4 likes

Felt like 'back to normal' yesterday (Wed).  Post 'working from home' ride; cars right up my backside, impatience etc.  Hardly an encouragement for anyone thinking of taking up cycling as a mode of transport.

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HoarseMann | 3 years ago
8 likes

looks like the BMW couldn't see you due to the blind spot created by their hand 

 

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Hirsute replied to HoarseMann | 3 years ago
3 likes

Brilliant find HoarseMann !!

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brooksby replied to HoarseMann | 3 years ago
3 likes

I'm seeing that, but all I can think about is that scene in the cargo hold of Titanic...

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domats replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
3 likes

Kate Winslet drives an Audi not a Beemer.

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nniff replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
2 likes

brooksby wrote:

I'm seeing that, but all I can think about is that scene in the cargo hold of Titanic...

A film that infuriates me, because the water is only cold outside the ship........

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brooksby replied to nniff | 3 years ago
0 likes

My daughter was watching a US sitcom called 'Schooled' last night, and two of the characters were debating how there'd been plenty of room for Leonardo/Jack to get on the floating door with Kate/Rose at the end, and how she was clearly just being selfish...

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hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
4 likes

brooksby wrote:

My daughter was watching a US sitcom called 'Schooled' last night, and two of the characters were debating how there'd been plenty of room for Leonardo/Jack to get on the floating door with Kate/Rose at the end, and how she was clearly just being selfish...

With the success of Titanic, I'm surprised they never made a sequel.

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Captain Badger replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

With the success of Titanic, I'm surprised they never made a sequel.

I think it fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy

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hawkinspeter replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
2 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

With the success of Titanic, I'm surprised they never made a sequel.

I think it fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy

I've read a few conspiracy theories about the Titanic; there's one popular one about how it was actually the Titanic's sister ship (HMHS Brittanic) that was sunk for insurance money. Personally, I can't believe that a simple iceberg could sink a robust ship like the Titanic - I've been throwing bits of lettuce at the side of a car for the last hour and it hasn't even made a scratch!

 

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Dao replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
0 likes

Ah yes, there was indeed a sister ship. Ironically it too sank, but not to an iceberg. I forget the cause, but I think it was something to do with being submerged under too much water.

found it:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/britannic-sinks-in-aegean-sea

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Captain Badger replied to nniff | 3 years ago
0 likes

As I understand, during filming the water was pretty chilly (although not Atlantic cold) and they were filming over long periods of time. They'd considered using warm water, but that resulted in steam and condensation, so cold it had to be. And cold it was.

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eburtthebike | 3 years ago
2 likes

With traffic levels getting back to pre-carowner virus days, the £250m of short term funding is going to be wasted unless it is used very soon.  Just heard Shapps on the radio talking about cycling walking and public transport, but I dont' think he mentioned the £27bn they want to spend on roads, the biggest ever amount, and totally contrary to the government's carbon emissions policy.

Well done for reporting those, and I hope the black beemer driver gets his just desserts.

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brooksby replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
1 like

Time is weird now, though; he mentioned it before yesterday, which makes it ancient history best forgotten.

(And on amounts promised to be spent, I'm glad Charlie Brooker pointed out that the sainted Captain Tom raised as much walking in his garden as Boris promised we could now put  into the NHS every week - remember? He had it written on the side of a bus)

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Sriracha | 3 years ago
4 likes

and the white BMW shows how overtaking should be done! I take it all back (mind you, it wasn't a 1-series).

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Captain Badger replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
1 like

I noticed that too!

#NotAllBeemers 

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Captain Badger replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
0 likes

sdfs

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g2311 replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
2 likes

Yep. I'm the rider, the worst thing about the truck incident was that he turned right into a building site about 400m up the road, it's in the video. So the driver saved himself a few seconds and put several lives at risk. But probably not his own.

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brooksby replied to g2311 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Glad you're OK - I imagine if the truck driver had been putting his own life at risk then he (probably, he) would have taken a great deal more care...

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ktache replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
0 likes

Nipping out to get some bread just a few minutes ago I saw a  huge motorway aggregates lorry, the "highly trained professional" driver had decided to obscure his already awful forward visibility by placing a "lucky" numberplate at the bottom of the windcreen right in front of him.  Ah well...

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Sriracha replied to ktache | 3 years ago
0 likes
ktache wrote:

Nipping out to get some bread just a few minutes ago I saw a  huge motorway aggregates lorry, the "highly trained professional" driver had decided to obscure his already awful forward visibility by placing a "lucky" numberplate at the bottom of the windcreen right in front of him.  Ah well...

This kind of thing?
https://road.cc/content/news/269329-lorry-driver-whose-view-was-blocked-...

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ktache replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
0 likes

That at least, apart from being incredibly dangerous, had some practical value.

This was pure vanity.

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