Near Miss of the Day 42: Cyclist on way to vigil meets aggressive driver

This video in our Near Miss of the Day feature, like the others, highlights how vulnerable cyclists are on the road - all the more so because it happened to a cyclist on his way to a vigil to commemorate a 32-year-old doctor killed last week while riding her bike home from work in Birmingham. 

The footage was shot by road.cc reader Dick Jones, who was riding to Birmingham University for the start of the vigil for Birmingham Children’s Hospital doctor Suzanna Bull who was killed in a collision with a lorry at the junction of Edgbaston Road and Pershore Road at around 4pm on Monday 9 October.

As Dick rode to the vigil along Oakfield Road in Edgbaston, he encountered a situation that will be familiar to anyone who rides along a street with parked cars either side and supposed traffic-calming measures on the narrow carriageway - an impatient, speeding driver coming straight at him.

"I was riding fairly central as there were speed bumps and parked cars, but still clearly on my side of the road," he told road.cc.

"The driver goes the wrong side of the traffic island to overtake a couple of cyclists and then drives at me forcing me out of the way."

He continued: "After the vigil I turned left at the corner where the tragic collision happened (film still attached). That was a poignant moment. 

"I haven't reported my near miss as my camera failed to pick up the registration," Dick added.

Last night's vigil was accompanied by a go-slow ride as campaigners appealed to Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street to provide infrastructure for people on bikes in the city and to follow-through on previously announced plans to build protected cycle routes, reports the Birmingham Mail.

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.