Video: Tractor nearly kills Irish cyclist in frightening move on rural road

The driver of this tractor inflicts a near death experience on this cyclist and doesn't seem to mind at all; this is a new level of ignorance.

We’ve brought you clips in recent years showing motorists and cyclists engage in crazy manoeuvres on the roads, but this one will take some beating.

The clip comes from cyclist Paul Knightly and has been shared on the Facebook page of the Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 group, which is campaigning for a safe passing distance of 1.5 metres to be enshrined in Irish law.

The short clip at the bottom of this piece shows a tractor with a rear platform - known as a link box - pull up alongside Knightly overtaking him.

This close pass, with the tractor wheel so close to the cyclist, was only one scary feature of this incident.

But the driver clearly gets caught out when an oncoming car appears just ahead as the overtaking move is already underway.

The tractor driver then proceeds to practically do a left hand turn into the ditch to avoid the vehicle.

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The only problem is that Knightly is riding along the road and is very nearly struck by the tractor before the link box almost finishes off the job.

The tractor driver – with the link box covering the vehicle’s registration – continues on his way; oblivious or simply not interested in the near death experience he’s just visited on cyclist Knightly.

Not a bother: After almost taking out the cyclist to avoid this oncoming vehicle, the tractor keeps going; it's rear registration (if it had one) hidden from view by the link box.

Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 have shared the video with the following message, including some words about the incident from the rider in question:

Another example of the type of dangerous overtaking that many bicycle riders experience. This clip was sent in to us by Paul Knightly.

"If I hadn’t braked, It would have been a different story, I’m actually getting hit by the foliage on the ditch to avoid a collision, the rear wheel locked up and skidded on the mud, I was that far in."