Near Miss of the Day 831: MGIF driver reverses over white lines into traffic to confront cyclist

Today’s Near Miss of the Day features the kind of standard, run-of-the-mill ‘Must Get In Front’ overtake – where an impatient driver just has to pass the person on the bike, despite being mere yards away from a swiftly approaching junction – experienced by cyclists up and down the country.

However, when this particular motorist was called out for his needless (and potentially dangerous) pass, he decided to confront the cyclist… by reversing back down the middle of the road towards oncoming traffic.

Church Lane Bartley Green..Can nearly always guarantee a must get in front..Highways maintenance drivers really are the worst..Close pass, drives over white lines whilst reversing into traffic..#birmingham #bartleygreen #closepass pic.twitter.com/0Ji7Iu5BPZ

— Northfield cyclist (@Northfieldcycl1) October 29, 2022

In the above clip, filmed in the Birmingham suburb of Bartley Green and uploaded to Twitter by Northfield Cyclist, the motorist – driving a Highway Maintenance vehicle – overtakes the cyclist before braking almost immediately to stop at a junction, where he turns right.

> Near Miss of the Day 830: MGIF driver does close pass on three cyclists ... and immediately turns right

The cyclist shouts at the driver: “Really? Just couldn’t wait, could you? Must get in front, must get in front!”

Seemingly displeased with this feedback, the motorist then stops before reversing in the middle of the road, over the double white lines – as drivers approach from both sides, with one forced to slowly navigate their way by – to exchange a few (not so) pleasantries with the cyclist.

Can't wait to pass safely but plenty of time for a chat as usual.

— Dark Side Driver (@urbanfox146) October 29, 2022

West Midlands Police, which claims to be the “first force in the country to proactively target ‘close pass’ drivers who endanger riders”, responded to the clip posted on Twitter, and urged the cyclist to report the incident to their online portal.

> 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