Solid white lines in the middle of the road aren't there for decoration. They're there to tell drivers that they must not overtake, and typically appear at places where it is unsafe to do so – something the motorist featured in today’s video in our Near Miss of the Day series ignored.
Rule 129 of the Highway Code says:
Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Clearly Darren, the road.cc reader who filmed the clip, was riding at more than 10 miles an hour, meaning the motorist was not allowed to overtake at all. And besides making a close pass on the cyclist, the illegal manoeuvre also took the driver very close to traffic coming in the opposite direction.
And in making the close pass, of course, the motorist also ignored Rule 163, which says that drivers should give at least as much space to cyclists when overtaking as they would to a car.
The incident happened yesterday afternoon on the the B489 in Buckinghamshire.
Darren, who apologised for his swearing during the clip, told us: “I was wearing a hi viz jersey, crash helmet and gloves, with my Moon Nebula rear light on as well.
"lt’s been reported to the the police, but i won’t hold my breath."
> 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