Near Miss of the Day 605: Building supplies firm to use cyclist’s close pass video to train drivers (includes swearing)

A timber firm has said it will use a video of one of its lorry drivers making a close pass on a pair of cyclists to provide training to its staff.

@simonmacmichael you know how you were saying an England v Germany match is a great time to ride… the morning after certainly isn’t. You happy with this driving @howarthtimber ? pic.twitter.com/JOuiHnXfEz

— PassPixi (@PassPixi) June 30, 2021

The video was posted on the PassPixi Twitter account yesterday morning, with yours truly tagged in, and drew a response from the company that operates the lorry, Howarth Timber & Building Supplies, which has 34 branches across England, most of them in the north west and Yorkshire.

Thank you. Please just point out to the driver that if he’s got time to stop and argue then he’s got time to hold back for a few seconds until it’s safe to pass. If we’d hit a rut or pothole we could have been under that thing. Best wishes

— PassPixi (@PassPixi) June 30, 2021

We’ve featured PassPixi – magnetic patches and stickers with a logo similar to a speed camera that cyclists can attach to their panniers or clothing to make motorists behind aware that the rider is using a camera – in our Near Miss of the Day Series before.

> Near Miss of the Day 538: Close pass driver hangs back when they realise they are being filmed

Nigel, who came up with the idea, told us at the time: “They were actually inspired in part by Near Miss Of The Day along with a close encounter with a Porsche driver who seemed determined to turn me into a bonnet ornament on my Sunday morning ride a couple of years ago (sadly, I wasn’t running a camera that day).

“I figured that cameras just don’t work on their own — they’re too hard to spot when a driver is approaching. I never claim that PassPixi stops all close passes,” – as indeed is the case here – “but it seems to make a big difference and that seems to be reflected in the nice comments we’ve had.

“I used to find I was bellowing ‘You ******* ****’ about five times per two hour ride — now I’m disappointed if I have to shout it once.

“What it REALLY helps to stop is the general abuse us cyclists face — people throwing things from cars, swearing etc. I’ve had nothing in the two years since I made the prototype,” he added.

The magnetic version costs £8.99 plus £3.50 shipping to the UK, while the adhesive version costs £5.50 plus (£1.50 shipping), and they can be ordered here.

> 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