Friend insanely close passed by team sky coach
- Thread starter Big Dave laaa
- Start date
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glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
Getting back on topic...
This probably deserves a thread all of its own but it's pertinent to this one and very timely.
An unbelievable blog from West Midlands Police.
I'll let you read it (longish) and enjoy it yourselves. I was gobsmacked.
GC
This probably deserves a thread all of its own but it's pertinent to this one and very timely.
An unbelievable blog from West Midlands Police.
I'll let you read it (longish) and enjoy it yourselves. I was gobsmacked.
GC
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
It's obvious the journalist meant real cyclist but needed the extra key strokes to make up his daily quota.
Starchivore
I don't know much about Cinco de Mayo
- Location
- Halifax, West Yorkshire
Quite a good blog, covered a lot and had the right tone. A bit too vague about their plans but encouraging I thought.
The best bits:
Cyclists don’t cause us, as an organisation, problems, that’s because they aren’t causing our communities problems, they aren’t killing nearly 100 people on our regions roads as mechanically propelled vehicles currently do. Yes we do get complaints of the “nuisance” variety, pavement cycling, some anti-social behaviour (usually yobs on bikes rather than “cyclists”), red light running etc. but you get the idea, most peoples interpretation of “1st world problems” or the “modern day blues”, nothing that’s a priority for a force like our own in a modern day society. Bad cycling is an “irritant” to the wider community rather than a danger, and maybe an improvement in infrastructure and policing may alieve many of the reasons that cause a very small minority of cyclists to be an “irritant”
.....in partnership with Birmingham City Council we have a new partnership scheme which will see a traffic officer riding the most vulnerable locations for cyclists looking to instantly act upon close passes, distracted driving and the like. The cycling traffic officer when passed too close will let the officer up the road know, who will in turn stop the motorist. Then the offender will be given a choice, prosecution or 15 minutes spent being educated as to the correct way to pass a cyclist.
It’s simple but effective, drivers are shown how far they should be from a cyclist, we have chosen the widely advocated 1.5mtr as our minimum but of course a much further distance will be needed in many circumstances depending on the vehicle type and speed. For instance if the opposite carriageway is available for an overtake and isn’t used in its entirety the driver will be pulled and shown why they should utilise all the available road room available to facilitate a safe overtake. A full sized replica road floor mat with various hazards positioned on it will give perspective and equip drivers with the knowledge needed to prevent further offences being committed.
Those who are committing any other offence as well as the “close pass” due care offence will be prosecuted for all offences, no immediate educational alternative for those who show such a low standard of driving.
rugby bloke
Veteran
- Location
- Northamptonshire
Sensible words in the blog, lets hope its backed up by sensible actions.
EnPassant
Remember Remember some date in November Member
- Location
- Gloucester
This:
Many will say “make eye contact, this ensures they have seen you”, absolute rubbish this, half the time they will be looking not at you but right through you. Ignore the eyes of the driver; watch the wheels of the vehicle instead. A vehicle won’t move without the wheels moving, and you will see the wheels move far before you realise the vehicle is moving thus giving you that split second extra that to react and hopefully avoid a collision.
Was news to me, not so much the wheels which I do as well and will now do much more assiduously, but the eye contact, I've always done that and it appears I've always been wrong.
Many will say “make eye contact, this ensures they have seen you”, absolute rubbish this, half the time they will be looking not at you but right through you. Ignore the eyes of the driver; watch the wheels of the vehicle instead. A vehicle won’t move without the wheels moving, and you will see the wheels move far before you realise the vehicle is moving thus giving you that split second extra that to react and hopefully avoid a collision.
Was news to me, not so much the wheels which I do as well and will now do much more assiduously, but the eye contact, I've always done that and it appears I've always been wrong.
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
I do the eye contact thing as well, but look for recognition that they've seen me. I usually get this in the form of a look that says, "WTF are you staring at?".
GC
Dayvo
just passin' through
- Location
- 59° 50′ 5.55″ N, 10° 47′ 41.89″ E
Making eye contact is a bit difficult when the vehicle is approaching you from behind.
I think this is very worthy of a new thread - perhaps even a sticky that every other police force could be directed to. Obviously words are nothing without actions, but this is a great start.
Bimble
Bimbling along ...
Good idea - I think you should post a new thread (if you haven't already).
Apollonius
Guru
- Location
- South Staffordshire
I too was amazed by the blog from West Midlands Police. I had no idea that the police understood this stuff! How does the message get to the Clarksonists though?
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
Repetition, dissemination via every method you can access. Link to it at every opportunity.
GC
