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Near Miss of the Day 698: MGIF BMW driver close passes cyclist AND runner

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

It's a double close pass special today courtesy of a must get in front driver in Northamptonshire. Not just a close pass on a cyclist...but a runner too...

This one comes from Plumpton Road, linking Weston and Woodend in the East Midlands county, where road.cc reader Bruce was enjoying a "great day out" on the bike.

Travelling at around 16mph he approached the runner when the familiar rumble of a car neared from behind.

"I tried to hold a primary position to signal they needed to wait until it was safe," Bruce explained. "There are a lot of potholes on the left and the road is narrow but I could hear they had not kept a distance.

"They kept going until he forced me to the left into the path of some rather nasty potholes, either that or get hit essentially as they squeezed between myself and the runner."

On reviewing the rear camera footage Bruce noticed the driver had barely slowed during the approach and overtake.

"They were, for some reason, desperate to get through," he continued.

"Luckily the runner was okay, and with earbuds I think she realised how close a call she had. This was reported to the police and I believe actioned, however I am unaware of any outcome as Northampton don't get back to you like other forces."

> 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

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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