Today’s submission in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a combine harvester driver making an extremely close pass on a pair of riders on a tandem – and what’s more, on a road that forms part of the National Cycle Network (NCN).
Naughty Claas from Phil Harman on Vimeo.
The footage was shot in North Yorkshire by road.cc reader Phil, who told us: “We were proceeding west out of Linton-on-Ouse on a tandem at around 20 mph when we were overtaken by the combine harvester.
“The road here is single track, and is part of a popular designated cycle route. Overtaking was unnecessary (we weren’t dawdling) and dangerous (those big wheels were very close, and road was narrowing).
“As can be seen from the video, four cyclists travelling in the other direction were also all but forced off the road, as it appears that the combine harvester driver also made no attempt to slow down to pass them. “
He added: “Bad anywhere, but on an official NCN route?!”
> 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@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
17 thoughts on “Near Miss of the Day 147: Combine harvester driver squeezes cyclists off road”
A bad pass is exactly that,
A bad pass is exactly that. There are some vehicles on narrower roads, especially in farming country, that I will indicate and pull over for. A combine harvester would be one such vehicle
Many of my local routes stick
Many of my local routes stick to narrow, country lanes frequented by large agricultural and forestry vehicles – for the 10 seconds it would take to pull alongside the verge with a foot down, let the vehicle pass and carry on without the stress. Not excusing the overtake, but sometimes making concessions to keep yourself safe is the better option.
monty dog wrote:
Must say I agree with that. I know BTBS will be on to tell us never to back down, always stand your ground but sometimes it’s less stressful to let the 10 tonne vehicle past, a bit like you expect them to pull over sometimes and let the stream of cars that have built up, pass them.
The cyclists also missed an opportunity for some Strava boosting. Should have got right back on it into the draft and so some PRs by any means.
There’s nothing more likely
There’s nothing more likely to create enmity between the cycling community and countryside folk than two clowns on a tandem who can’t spare a few seconds to pull over for combine harvester. So what if it’s national cycling route?
Wow, it seems they’re all out
Wow, it seems they’re all out for half term!
How do you know how long the combine had been following for?
Are you suggesting any vehicle should immediately jump off the road if they suspect a faster one is behind them – it’ll be interesting on the M6 tonight!
i like to pull over for
i like to pull over for tractors, combines, muck spreaders (always pull over for muck spreaders!) always get a cheery wave, or a farmer’y tip of their imaginery hat.
Our group do the same, but it’s not always instant as those criticising the rider are suggesting…
Surely the main point was
Surely the main point was that the vehicle was barely travelling faster than the bikes, so the overtake was unnecessarily risky. I get stopping if there is a clear speed differential.
Oh come on, there is
Oh come on, there is literally nowhere on the footage supplied where it would be safe to pull in anyway!
And I know nobody can answer this, but what would be the odds on the harvester driver himself pulling over for a faster vehicle? Not great, I don’t suppose…
ianbak wrote:
I think the suggestion is they hop into the grass banks (and presumably beg forgiveness for using using the road).
As a rule I am more than
As a rule I am more than happy to cooperate in getting faster road users past safely and off up the road on country lanes. If nothing else for the next 1/2 mile or so they are an effective rolling chicane slowing vehicles coming towards me.
This video seems like a completely pointless overtake of a marginally slower road user especially as the inevitable happens in meeting a vehicle coming the other way at which point the combine is holding up the cyclist.
I would guess that the owner of the combine would not be happy at all to see such a valuable piece of equipment being put at risk of being damaged by being driven in that manner. Let alone potential cost to the business in not being able to harvest crops if it were out of commission.
Pendantry alert! It may be a
Pendantry alert! It may be a harvester but it’s no combined harvester. Possible forage harvester, the cutter bar is too narrow.
Hamster wrote:
To be pedantic it should say ‘Pedantry alert’.
+1 on comments about
+1 on comments about ‘generally’ allowing a vehicle to overtake, except in this instance as others have pointed out, there was no-where to safely do that, and the amazing thing to me is that the harvester was only going the same speed as the cyclists. This really was stupid and dangerous driving on the part of the harvester (driver), especially as he was then holding up the cyclists only a few seconds later.
At weekends, most people in
At weekends, most people in the countrside are out and about for fairly leisurely purporses, so I take primarly position and let them pass when it’s safest for me. The exception I apply is for agricultural vehicles where tractor drivers are in the middle of their working day. As soon as I safely can do so, I pull over.
That said, it is always a two-way deal. I still expect tractor drivers to give me room, to slow right down, not to be talking on their mobiles or toking on a spliff. Originating from a rural part of Wales, I’ve witnessed all of the above.
This is why I ride with a
This is why I ride with a mirror. It looks naff, but gives me more time to either take primary or pull over when approached by something this dangerous.
That said, I don’t think anything can excuse the risk this farm employee took in passing the tandem so closely with such a big vehicle with exposed wheels.
If you consider it in terms of industrial safety, no safety manager would sign off a risk assessment for that manoeuvre. If the combine was being used for work purposes, this ought to be documented as a ‘near miss’ and some action taken by the employer to investigate the conduct of the employee and review the company’s operating procedures and training material.
Funny how when he comes to
Funny how when he comes to pass the car those big wheels can go on the grass, but they can’t when passing cyclists.