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Close Pass campaign to be rolled out by police in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Leicestershire

Roads policing units covering four more counties pledge to follow lead of colleagues in West Midlands

Leicestershire Police and Devon & Cornwall Police, which runs its roads policing unit in partnership with Dorset Police, are the latest forces to adopt the campaign targeting motorists who pass cyclists too closely that was launched by West Midlands Police last year.

The award-winning campaign has been widely praised by cycling campaigners and road safety experts since it was unveiled in September.

Devon & Cornwall Police was one of three forces represented in Birmingham yesterday to see the initiative in work first-hand, the others being Dorset Police and Wiltshire Police.

An earlier briefing day in January saw 18 police forces participate, including Leicestershire Police, with a number confirming afterwards to road.cc that they would be adopting the approach taken by West Midlands Police.

> Close pass policing could be rolled out to 16 forces: is yours one?

In response to a tweet from the office of the Devon & Cornwall Police & Crime Commissioner about the visit to the West Midlands, Caspar Hughes, co-founder of Rollapaluza and a campaigner with the group Stop Killing Cyclists, asked: “Will be we seeing the Close Pass Initiative being policed in Devon & Cornwall soon?”

He received a reply from the Chief Inspector Adrian Leisk, head of roads policing for Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, confirming that it would be rolled out to the three counties.

Meanwhile, the Leicester Mercury reports that Leicestershire Police will begin close pass operations, which see plain clothes officers on bikes alert colleagues about motorists giving them insufficient room, during the summer.

Eric Ludlow of Leicester Cycling Campaign told the newspaper: "Every cyclist will have experienced the sensations of a car flying past them at a very close distance.

"Even for experienced cyclists it can be extremely frightening.

"We have been in discussions with the police in Leicestershire about this since their colleagues in the West Midlands tried it.

"We were hoping for a few crumbs but the police have served up a full meal.

"We are very grateful to the police for taking on board our request.

"I am sure it will make a real difference to the safety of anyone riding a bike in the city and county."

Earlier this month, the charity Cycling UK took less than 48 hours to exceed its £12,000 target on Kickstarter that would enable it to provide ‘close pass mats’ to all police forces across the UK.

> Cycling UK hits £12,000 Kickstarter ‘close pass’ target

With nine days left, the Too Close For Comfort campaign has now raised nearly £14,500 with almost 1,000 people pledging money to it.

Duncan Dollimore, the charity’s senior road safety officer told road.cc in January: “Cycling UK knew West Midlands Police were on to a winner when they rolled out their ‘Give Space, be Safe’ campaign last year, which is why we backed it from the start.

“It’s a cheap, cost effective initiative that has proved highly effective at changing dangerous driving behaviour.

“It’s great to see so much interest in following West Midlands’ example, but Cycling UK is aware that a number of forces are still not getting their very simple message.

“We want to see more consistency across all police forces in tackling near misses, as these are not isolated incidents happening only in certain pockets of the country, but everywhere, every day."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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3 comments

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atgni | 6 years ago
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Always amazing how much more people driving can see in their mirrors than they can out of the windscreen.
Maybe cars should be made to reverse everywhere..

Avatar
Bikeylikey | 6 years ago
1 like

Is there any legislation by which a driver can be prosecuted for deliberately passing too close? Last Sunday myself and a friend were coming up the long hill just outside Tintern going towards Chepstow when a half-wit in a blue-green Mercedes convertible, top down, sped by with about six inches to spare. If that.  We both shouted something inarticulate, like 'aaargh' and 'whooaahh', upon which the idiot raised an arm giving us the finger, which he held for a good two hundred metres. His motive, I assume, must be some sort of paranoid hatred of the human race, maybe concentrated on just the cycling section of it, which is likely to end up in someone being injured or killed if he isn't brought to justice. Does anyone recognise this joker? Can anything be done about such idiots?

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CygnusX1 replied to Bikeylikey | 6 years ago
1 like
bikeylikey wrote:

Is there any legislation by which a driver can be prosecuted for deliberately passing too close?

If you can get the police/CPS to take your case seriously and bring it to court it is usually dealt with as the offence of "Driving without due care and attention" under the Road Traffic Act 1988:

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/item/careless-driving-driv...

If you're really, really lucky they may prosecute it as dangerous driving, but "hey, nobody died" so good luck with that.

bikeylikey wrote:

Does anyone recognise this joker? Can anything be done about such idiots?

Did you get the number plate or video footage? Report it to the police.

A number plate on its own is unlikely to result in much but you may get a sympathetic plod having a word with the registered owner and it may possibly be added as a note to the PNC against the plate.

Perhaps our resident copper, Stumps, can advise?

 

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