I mounted an action cam on my handlebars yesterday and began recording my commutes. Day one I get buzzed by a commercial truck, a tree service. I was able to get enough of the phone number from the side of the truck on the video that I found the business and wrote them a letter (see below). I will get one of two reactions: an apology from the business and a safe passing from this truck next time, or, not only buzzed but something thrown at me the next time he sees me on the road. But if the latter happens, at least I'll have it on video for a good lawsuit!

Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 4:33 PM
To: jawstree@verizon.net
Subject: JA Weaver's Tree Service Truck Drivers

To Whom it may concern:
I commute to and from work in Tampa by bicycle. As long as I follow the rules of the road, and motorists do as well, it is perfectly safe and a healthy lifestyle.
However, every once in a while a driver violates the law, and endangers my life, by driving unsafely. Because of this, (and the seven cyclists killed in the Tampa Bay area over the last two months) I have taken to recording my bike rides on a video recorder. Last night, on October 26th, 2010, as I rode South on S Manhattan Ave at about 5:30, your truck passed me in an illegal and unsafe manner. I have this event recorded on video, which is how I was able to identify your business.
As a business who cares about your reputation in the community, I’m sure you would want the drivers’ of your vehicles to obey all traffic laws and conduct themselves in a safe and secure manner. Therefore, I am hoping you will take the time to counsel your driver's on the rules of the road and safe driving, particularly as it pertains to cyclists in the road. In case you don't know the law, Florida State statute 316 says this about overtaking a cyclist:
*OVERTAKING AND PASSING A VEHICLE [§§316.083, 316.085]
The driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left thereof at a safe distance and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle. The driver of a vehicle overtaking a bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle must pass the bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle at a safe distance of not less than 3 feet between the vehicle and the bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle.
According to the Florida Bicycle association web site (https://www.floridabicycle.org/rules/bikelaw.html) "A cyclist is defined as being 2.5 ft wide with a minimum operating space of 4 ft. This includes the minimum safe distance from the edge of useable pavement (2 ft)." As you can clearly see from this image of your truck passing me last night, he was barely three feet from the curb, which means he was about six inches from my left shoulder as he went by. Surely you would not want the injury or death of a cyclist to be caused by one of your drivers operating one of your Company vehicles. I would greatly appreciate it if you could educate your drivers and counsel them to please practice safe and legal driving in the future.

And already got a great response from the business!

From: jaws tree [mailto:jawstree@verizon.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 5:24 PM
Subject: RE: JA Weaver's Tree Service Truck Drivers

Hello,
I just received this in the office and I have just spoke to Jim (the owner.) I have sent it to the foreman’s home e-mail and I am printing it for the rest of the crew. Jim said to let you know that he cycles that very same route on the way to the gym (our street intersects with Manhattan & he goes to Caltas via S. Manhattan Avenue.) Our drivers should already know better but this will definitely help to refresh their memories. Jim & I have much respect for cyclists and pedestrians (I walk about 4 miles per day and Manhattan is on my route as well.) Please except our sincere apology. Everyone will get a copy of this and a safety meeting to go along with it. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We hope that you are alright. Please contact us with any further questions or concerns.

Wow. Impressive.

Quick, while you have their attention: Ask for a free tree trimming!

That's great you got such a prompt response, hopefully it actually changes the drivers behavior.

I don't mean to attack you, but it looks like you were riding awfully close to the right side of the road.

That's probably what you call evasive action!

That doesn't exempt the driver from maintaining a safe passing distance.

My iphone has a decent video recorder. Trust me, it gets plenty of use. Ain't technology grand

GPS (or something akin) also helps, in that it simply documents time, place, direction, and speed. compiled with a video/date stamp, the info can be taken as fairly accurate.

And the truck still passed close to the OP, how much closer would
the truck have passed if the rider was in the middle of the lane

I've never been on that road so I can't give advise on
wether the OP should take the lane or share the lane

Pharasz: Amazing the way you handled this and the immediate response you got from the owners of the business. Out of curiosity, what type/brand of video recorder were you using?

Asana Cycles: How do you combine all those features onto a video? I guess you must have some special camera that has both a GPS capabilities and video recording.

Win !

I'm not excusing the driver of the truck, but riding extremely close to the shoulder will make drivers think they can weasel past you. Taking the lane in that situation means that they have to actually pass you safely.

That is a good letter. You are able to convey the message reasonably, and back it up with law and video. Well done.

Maybe that truck had a good reason for buzzing by so close. Perhaps the driver was trying to trim your limb, ha ha. Just kidding. Good job on the video and the follow up. See sometime we do win

True with maybe 99.9% of drivers in my experience. The driver was still a dangerous driving jerk.

Nice job!

Great work.

Good to see a company step up.

Of course you mean to attack him, your assumption that he only rides that close to the curb rather than thinking that he simply moved right as the truck was passing way too close, tells us so. Part of riding in the center of the lane is that position gives you more room to move away as some idiot buzzes you.

Do you really stay in the center of the lane as a big truck passes within 12 inches of you and then begins squeezing you to the curb?

Not true, it only makes it more likely that they will pass you safely. Most of us have had idiots unsafely pass us even when taking the lane.

I got hit once while riding in the middle of the lane at 25 mph by an idiot that crossed a double yellow line trying to pass and almost having a head on with oncoming traffic.

a video with text, and/or a voice over, along with a screen shot from Garmin Dashboard, or exporting the gps route or "track" as a .kml file to view in Google Earth, then export from Google Earth...
its not all that hard, to incorporate all the data into a video...
the video from the camera is 1 piece of the entire "works"

Yesterday on my commute to work, I had a dumpster truck behind me on a two lane with no shoulder. I was in the middle of the lane and there was enough oncoming traffic that he didn't pass me... although he made one attempt before realizing there really wasn't enough room. If I'd have been on the fog line he would have tried to squeeze past me anyway. When you ride that far to the right, it communicates to drivers approaching from behind that you think it's okay for them to pass you without changing lanes. Don't mean to derail the thread but it's one data point.

No, I'm not attacking him. I'm allowing him to respond and withholding my opinion until then.

I find it unlikely (not impossible) that the truck passed that close to him (and ended up in the positions show in the photo) while he was taking the lane.

I've been taking the lane for several spots of my daily 18 mile round trip commute for almost three years. I have yet to have a big truck buzz me while I was in the middle of the lane. The biggest truck I've had a problem with was a UPS delivery truck that raced in front of me (while I was in the middle - and not a close buzz) but then pulled in front of me and slammed on the brakes to make a right turn, forcing me to emergency brake on a slight downhill where I was going about 25mph. He got reported and reprimanded.

When I get buzzed in the middle of the lane, it's usually a big pickup or a big SUV. I think I've had two regular cars do it in that three years, compared with maybe a dozen or so pickups/SUV's. That's still not that common given that I do it every day in a major city on roads with a lot of traffic. Back when I used to try to keep far right, close buzzes were pretty much an every day occurrence; usually a several times a day occurrence.

Big trucks (semis and such) require a higher class of license which is harder to get. The drivers tend to be less willing to purposely risk a collision with a cyclist. A few have honked. One yelled when he was behind me. None have passed close when I was in the middle. Back when I rode to the far right, a few did pass close, and it was terrifying.

"Accept" to receive with approval or favor.

That's a kind of funny typo.