Near Miss of the Day 526: Flatbed truck driver clips cyclist while attempting mindless overtake

This is one of those near misses where the ‘near miss’ only refers to more serious consequences because the driver of the flatbed truck actually hits the cyclist while performing a mindless overtake.

Many a cyclist will feel a familiar knot in the stomach at the moment when the vehicle is alongside the cyclist.

With an oncoming motorist waiting to pass a parked car stopped up against the white line, it is obvious the truck driver will move towards the kerb. Contact feels almost inevitable.

The incident occurred in Worcester, before Christmas.

Nick said: “I pulled out of the side road heading downhill over the canal onto the flat, maintaining about 15mph.

“I was passed by a couple of cars (some say they were too close) and at the pinch point with the oncoming blue BMW waiting, the truck driver decided to ignore me and go for the gap.

“As he passed, my MTB bars were hit by the side of the load bed. As a mountain biker, I’m not scared of close passing objects or bar-clipping trees. The only difference is they are stationary and you see them coming.

“He has been fined and I assume points, but West Mercia don’t provide details.”

Nick also added that the vehicle had no MOT.

> 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.

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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