Cyclists don't get many cycle lanes; when we do, we've seen a number of road users, from buses to cars to Amazon vans all try and stake a claim on them. A motorcyclist from Birmingham is the latest to feature on our Near Miss series who wanted to try out
the cycle lane in Selly Oak, entering it at a dangerously high speed from the wrong side and almost hitting a cyclist.
Joe was cycling in the bike lane on Bristol Road at 5PM in the evening on May 3, when a man with a black helmet and a black jacket on a black motorbike with no licence plate decided to jump the traffic and come across on the other side of the road into
the cycle lane.
"I've seen a few motorbikes in the cycle lane, The traffic is quite bad in the area, so quite frequently instead of waiting, people would come across the opposite side," Joe told road.cc. "But this one just shot into it towards me from the other side of
the road."
Joe added that there was no report it to the police due to the lack of a number plate on the bike. Although, even he could, he said that he wouldn't hold out much hope from the West Midlands Police after seeing the FOI request that we reported on,
revealing that 213 reports of careless or dangerous driving around cyclists last year resulted in no further action being taken by the force.
"Previously I've submitted footage to them that have resulted in me having to go to court appearances, so I've always spoken positively about the police. But recently, I sent in a few submissions and didn't hear back from them. That's when I was getting
a bit suspicious and then I saw the Freedom of Information report," he said.
https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-863-301071
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