The Iowa cycling community will be closely watching a court case in Benton County today (Wednesday). Cyclist Matt Phippen claims a pickup truck passed him in an aggressively close manner on a country road back in March. Matt Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says this may be the first time a motorist will go to trial for violating the Iowa law the demands vehicles give bikes more space.

“We’re seeing incidences that this happens,” Wyatt says, “and it’s really hard to say ‘the motorist buzzed me’ without any evidence to prove it.” The cyclist in the case -does- have evidence, video of the incident shot from a pair of bike-mounted cameras facing both directions. Phippen says the video shows there was plenty of room on left side of the road, but the driver drove down the center, then hit his truck’s diesel to create a plume of smoke to “make a point.”

The pickup driver, Steven Payne, is contesting the $270 in fines and fees. Wyatt made his comments on Iowa Public Radio’s “Talk of Iowa.”

(Radio Iowa)