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Near Miss of the Day 822: Cyclist squeezed by overtaking HGV driver at pinch point

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

What goes through a lorry driver’s mind when they make a close pass on a cyclist such as the one featured in today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series?

Given the length of the trailer, there’s clearly no way of executing a safe overtake given the pinch point ahead caused by the traffic island, yet the driver goes ahead and attempts the manoeuvre regardless – forcing the cyclist to brake to avoid being hit.

Martin, the road.cc reader who filmed the incident in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, said in the description to the video on YouTube: “Cycling to work this morning along one of my usual routes (coming in to Dewsbury).

“This lorry had been behind me for a few hundred yards. We hit the short uphill section and the driver clearly saw it as an opportunity to speed up and pass me, but I tend not to slow down at all on this section of road and just power up the hundred yard short climb.

“I had to slow down considerably when I realised they were passing, and it just about gave me enough room as the back end of the lorry swung past me,” he added.

Highway Code Rule 163 says: “Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should not get too close to the vehicle you intend to overtake. You should give cyclists at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car. As a guide you should wait behind the cyclist and not overtake if it is unsafe or not possible to meet these clearances.”

And Rule 167 specifically addresses the issue of pinch points, telling road users: “DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example where the road narrows, when you would force another road user to swerve or slow down, approaching or at a road junction on either side of the road.”

> 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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32 comments

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MartinCaine | 1 year ago
6 likes

Submitted to the police and got the usual response.
 

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wtjs replied to MartinCaine | 1 year ago
5 likes

This may either be by way of an educational course, Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty, or by a Court Hearing

It appears that West Yorkshire has either not taken, or not benefitted from the ACPO Advanced Dodging Course. Firstly, they have actually responded- in Lancashire they don't respond to troublemakers: defined as people who waste police time by submitting video to OpSnap Lancs. Secondly, West Yorkshire has committed itself by careless choice of wording to actually take some action, even though it's only going to be the joke course if the cyclist has failed to be seriously injured or killed. Lancashire, at 7th Dan Dodging, used to state: 

Once the driver has been identified then we will assess the most appropriate outcome, which could be...followed by the above options but also including 'an advice letter', which commits Lancashire Constabulary to nothing. You have to look carefully at communications from the police!

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Bungle_52 replied to MartinCaine | 1 year ago
1 like

Some action guaranteed then. Do you get a refernece number or incident number when you report? If so you may be able to make a follow up enquiry at a later date. I suspect it can take a while to go through the process.

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MartinCaine replied to Bungle_52 | 1 year ago
1 like

Yes I do.. and I have submitted a few before (which were far more dangerous than this encounter). Never heard anything further in the past, maybe I should chase them up and see if any action was taken.

The older emails I'm sure used to specifically state you will hear no more information unless it goes to court. This latest email I don't think said anything like that.

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wtjs replied to MartinCaine | 1 year ago
0 likes

The older emails I'm sure used to specifically state you will hear no more information unless it goes to court. This latest email I don't think said anything like that

Doesn't matter. You still won't hear anything, and they'll likely make you go through a long-winded FoI process to find out. If they do, you'll know they didn't do anything because ...stupid excuse

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MattieKempy | 1 year ago
3 likes

Presumably a copy of the video has been sent to SI and S Hastings of Penrith, Cumbria, (01768) 483892 for their comment?

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MartinCaine replied to MattieKempy | 1 year ago
5 likes

I hadn't got round to it, but I was wondering what they'd think. It was a close-call though. The driver probably did think he had space and time and maybe expected me to slow down since we were hitting an uphill section, but it's not that steep so I usually maintain my speed here (I have the thighs of a horse, and thousands of miles of practice on these Yorkshire hills ;-)).

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HoarseMann replied to MattieKempy | 1 year ago
0 likes

I wouldn't bother contacting the company, they're a one man band by the looks of it.

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brooksby replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
0 likes

Near enough - one man and his wife, looks like.

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cyclisto | 1 year ago
6 likes

Professional HGV drivers should be required to ride bicycles around heavy vehicles in tight conditions before getting their license.

Their license is already expensive to get, so adding this requirement wouldn't make a great difference in cost and it would help them understand the vulnerability of cyclists.

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ShutTheFrontDawes | 1 year ago
7 likes

"What goes through a lorry driver’s mind" - not much, apparently.

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ride2smile | 1 year ago
5 likes

Wow. I was frightened just watching it. Really hope you've uploaded that to the WYP online portal.

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IanMSpencer replied to ride2smile | 1 year ago
7 likes

Having been close passed to the extent of having to leave the road to avoid the rear end of a lorry, there are a frightening amount of hooks and projections on a lorry that bring to mind an Indiana Jones escape scene.

The police and courts should be directed to take a more severe line against drivers of vehicles which have unsafe projections (including badly loaded vehicles with projections). It doesn't need changes to the law, simply not adjusting your driving to account for the additional risk should be sufficient for without due care, it's implicit.

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CyclingInGawler replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
2 likes

Speaking of projections from lorries, many (okay, many, many) years ago I was cycling on the dual carriageway across Freckleton Marsh on a morning when the outside lane was coned-off due to roadworks. I was passed by an artic whose only load was a single steel beam placed across the width of the trailer, overhanging on both sides. I'll never know precisely what minuscule fraction of a mm of the beam actually hit my elbow, but it was somehow just enough to cause excruciating pain without doing any long-term damage. If the lorry had been another 5mm to the left I'd have had a smashed elbow. Much further than that and anything could have happened. Overhanging loads, indeed!

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MartinCaine replied to ride2smile | 1 year ago
8 likes

I have submitted it now. I've used the portal a few times before and usually get a generic response that they will attempt to identify and educate the driver. With a possibility of a fine, but I never hear anything back after that initial confirmation.

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Bungle_52 | 1 year ago
6 likes

Was this reported to the police?

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MartinCaine replied to Bungle_52 | 1 year ago
6 likes

Yes, submitted to West Yorkshire Police's Safer Roads system.

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Bungle_52 replied to MartinCaine | 1 year ago
3 likes

Thank you. I know it's a pain and expectations of action are low but it all adds to the evidence base being built up by road.cc and hopefullly will come in handy at some time in the future.

I look forward to hearing the outcome of this one.

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CXR94Di2 | 1 year ago
12 likes

Ride central when there are islands. Do not cede position until the road widens out to allow a safe pass

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Hirsute replied to CXR94Di2 | 1 year ago
8 likes

I'm sure you will get agreement o nthat but as IanMSpencer above says

"I am well aware it takes a certain amount of nerve when "in negotiation" with a lorry."

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AidanR replied to CXR94Di2 | 1 year ago
5 likes

I do this, but I would never have taken primary position early enough to avoid this - he was a long way from the island when the lorry began its maneuver.

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hawkinspeter replied to CXR94Di2 | 1 year ago
6 likes

CXR94Di2 wrote:

Ride central when there are islands. Do not cede position until the road widens out to allow a safe pass

Good advice, but our roads and drivers should be fit for purpose so that it wouldn't matter if a cyclist is hugging the kerb or not. That driver needs some serious re-education or a different job.

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ShutTheFrontDawes replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

What makes the road unfit for purpose in this case? I don't think road design contributed to the incident at all. The cyclist is somewhere they are allowed and entitled to be, and the lorry driver makes a dangerous overtake where there is insufficient room to pass safely. The lorry driver is 100% at fault.

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hawkinspeter replied to ShutTheFrontDawes | 1 year ago
5 likes

ShutTheFrontDawes wrote:

What makes the road unfit for purpose in this case? I don't think road design contributed to the incident at all. The cyclist is somewhere they are allowed and entitled to be, and the lorry driver makes a dangerous overtake where there is insufficient room to pass safely. The lorry driver is 100% at fault.

I agree, the driver is totally to blame. I meant that the road could be improved to reduce the chances of this kind of driver error e.g. segregated infrastructure or one-way motor traffic to remove the pinch point, or possibly speed humps before the pinch point.

I think it's worth examining how to prevent poor driving by looking at the road layouts as sometimes the design can make it easier to follow the rules than break them. It's probably not economically viable in this instance, but it depends on how much we value transport safety (not very much in the UK judging by the attitudes of most of the public and police).

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Awavey replied to CXR94Di2 | 1 year ago
2 likes

It's not a guarantee that things wont still attempt to pass you, I'm not saying dont do it, just be prepared for it.

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MartinCaine replied to CXR94Di2 | 1 year ago
2 likes

I was still a way off the island though, and I had no way of knowing quite how long the vehicle was. I was leaving room for overtaking vehicles but they should be aware of the clearance they require to safely overtake.

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
4 likes

Not to victim blame but it seems to me from the video that the rider is holding quite tightly to the kerb in a way that signals they are trying to cooperate with being passed.

Given the width of the road and the obstacles a much stronger position is justified - though I am well aware it takes a certain amount of nerve when "in negotiation" with a lorry.

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HoarseMann replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
4 likes

Yep. Also, having a vehicle like that behind you for a few hundred yards, I'd be getting twitchy about them making a rash pass and would be looking for somewhere to pull over to let them by.

I would be right in the middle of the lane there if I didn't want them to pass, but have bail-out options if they forced their way past.

Still, terrible driving.

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MartinCaine replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
10 likes

I'm the cyclist. I had actually given the driver ample opportunity to overtake me just before this section of road, where it was safe to do so (but it is on a gentle curve, so maybe they didn't know what was round the bend, like I do).

I was wondering why they hadn't sped up to pass me, then was surprised to hear the lorry revving as we approached the hill, knowing there were islands just up ahead.

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SimoninSpalding replied to MartinCaine | 1 year ago
7 likes

The haulier is based in Cumbria, so I suspect the driver didn't know the road well at all, but that is all the more reason to be cautious and observe carefully the road ahead.

These are the kind of incidents where I regret getting a camera. In real time it is scary, but over in a couple of seconds, but when you have it on video and you can see just how close it was to a life changing/ending incident it does make me think about my choice of hobby and preferred mode of transport. Ultimately I will keep on doing what I enjoy, and hopefully this driver will see the video and realise the error of their ways.

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