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news
Duncan (picture via Avon and Somerset Police).PNGAvon and Somerset Police highlight horrific crash as close pass operation launched - but not everyone is impressed
Avon and Somerset Police says it will be running a comprehensive close-pass operations over the coming months, launching the initiative by highlighting a horrific incident in which a driver left a cycle commuter seriously injured when they crashed into him while attempting to overtake when it was not safe to do so.
The force’s initiative forms part of its support for the National Police Chief Council’s 2 Wheels Campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the dangers that people on bikes and motorcycles face on Britain’s roads, and will see plain-clothes and uniformed officers issued with bicycle cameras and targeting areas that are particularly hazardous for cyclists.
Where a motorist is deemed to have overtaken too closely, they will receive “either an educational letter or a notice of intended prosecution depending on the nature of the incident,” it says.
That initiative will be complemented by full-scale close pass operations with plain-clothes officers on bicycles filming drivers making close passes and radioing ahead to uniformed colleagues who will educate them about safe overtaking and, in more serious cases, report them for an offence.
Predictable responses on Facebook
A Facebook post about the initiative from the force drew the usual predictable comments of the “what about cyclists riding on the pavement” type – although equally, there were many motorists in favour of the operation – and police are encouraging all road users to report near misses, saying that will help it gain “a clearer picture of what’s going on and identifying if there is a need for some targeted work to be done to prevent a serious collision happening.”
“The first time I saw the remains of my bike, I cried”
The force used the story of a Portishead cycle commuter named Duncan who was knocked off his bike by a driver who followed another motorist overtaking him but had to pull in sharply to avoid a head-on collision with another vehicle.
“The first time I saw the remains of my bike, I cried,” Duncan recalled. “The realisation hit me hard on how serious my collision was. I kept having flashbacks and intrusive thoughts, and it stopped me sleeping.
“Over time my memory came back. I was reminded of the initial violent bang from the impact of being hit by the car, and then later being in the road in and out of consciousness, with someone trying to move me and paramedics trying to talk to me. That feeling of being frozen would overcome me night after night.”
He added: “Doctors told me afterwards I was very lucky to be alive. The day I came home from the hospital and first saw my children was very emotional, and I held them tightly.”
The first police officer to attend the scene said: “The first thing I remember seeing was what was left of the push bike. It was broken up into lots of pieces. Luckily, Duncan’s injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been,” he added.
“There wasn’t really anything else Duncan could’ve done that day to prevent him getting caught up in a collision,” he continued.
“He took cycling very seriously and the route was one he took regularly so he was confident in his bike-handling skills. Wearing a helmet and high visibility clothing, he could be easily seen, but unfortunately the driver misjudged the time and space they needed to overtake Duncan safely.”
“Every near miss is a potential incident”
Damien Devanny, a road safety officer with the force, said: “Part of my role is to work closely with data in order to help identify risk in advance.
“Our online near miss tool received 437 reports from cyclists in 2018 and, along with collision data, this helps us to better target our education and enforcement activity.
“Every near miss is a potential incident and we want to make the roads safer for all road users. We’d like to use this campaign as an opportunity to remind all road users to report near misses.
“There is enough space for everyone and Duncan’s story is just one example of how, had the driver just waited until he had a safe opportunity to overtake, then things could have turned out a lot differently.”
Officers from Avon and Somerset Police are partnering with South Gloucestershire Council for an event next Tuesday a Rolls-Royce’s Filton base to highlight the initiative and speak about cycle safety.
Ben von Bertele, chair of Rolls-Royce’s Bike Users Group, commented: “For Rolls-Royce, our employees are our most important resource, and making sure they can both get to work, and get home each day safely is a major priority.
“Ensuring they can cycle is key to keeping them healthy and happy, and we therefore work closely with the local police and council to ensure that the roads around our Bristol site are as safe as they can be.
“We always encourage our cyclists to log any close passes with the police, and think the close pass operation is a brilliant tool for driver education, and we look forward to seeing the impact it has,” he added.
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.
Latest Comments
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I didn't get my first BIKE until I was 40.
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"hanging in there by a thread" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Q17HG8lBo
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I managed to break the chain link on mine. (I assume it's the same product, mine came as part of a rather snazzy Birzman toolkit)....
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Good review. I like to see the full range of 'award stars' in use to differentiate between good and 'meh' products. Same with the Ribble Allroad...
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Like going to a cello lesson?
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"use of illegally modified e-bikes"...
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32 comments
Thank goodness he was wearing hi Vis clothing, otherwise the driver might not have seen him!
Wait.
There are a small minority of drivers who will give a cyclist absolutely no respect on the road, as they are just an obstacle in their way.
A prime example occured on a cycle last night, cycling along a road less than 1 mile from home, approaching a traffic island at somewhere around 20 ish mph, and moved to take the lane. Car driver comes alongside me and practically pushes me to the side of the road so they can get in front of me. Car passes me pretty much right at the traffic island so there was maybe 4-6" between me and him.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.0774834,-3.6374634,3a,75y,321.6h,86.1t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUfbRQFjhQjXPTe5O0_md3Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
And I will give people one guess what the twunt did after squeezing by me at a traffic island..... The google maps link is the island in question....from the direction I was travelling.....
"437 incidents reported on our close pass tool in 2018". That seems incredibly low. Two of them were from me and resulted in warning letters, including one to a taxi licensing authority, as well as to the registered keeper. Those were only the most egregious passes.
To be fair, Avon & Somerset is one of the better forces. I'm not excusing that traffic officer's comments because they are fucking daft and offensive to the victim but the force is moving in the right direction re cyclists.
As far as I can see, only the mass use of cameras and reporting of footage is going to make any difference in the medium term.
As per BTBS, this bit is dusturbing:
"to prevent him getting caught up in a collision"
Seems like the only thing he was caught up in was tons of metal. This makes it sound like an unfortunate incident, not somebody acting dangerously and then choosing their own life in tons of protected metal with airbags et al over the cyclist to their left!
My thoughts exactly.
"knocked off his bike"? What language is this, you mean mown down by a criminal, you make it sound like it's hardly worth worrying about. Equally when you've used such words as "clipped".
As for plod saying "There wasn’t really anything else Duncan could’ve done that day to prevent him getting caught up in a collision", fuck me cuntstable, you wouldn't use that language of it was a cyclist doing the same to a person would you!
there was NOTHING that Duncan could have done, that you even intimate that there was is a sick indictment as to your thinking, why even mention it in that way at all, as if somehow it's an out of the ordinary scenario? "getting caught up in a collision", you can fuck right off with that bullshit, you mean 'to prevent him from being mown down by a dangerous driver', c'mon, call it for what it is you bias twat!
And again "Ensuring they can cycle" who the fuck is "they"? You mean ensuring people can cycle right ... grrrr, would you use "they" if it was a daily attack on a minority group just wanting to go about their daily lives, would you fuck, so why people on bikes? This tells me all I need to know about this persons way of thinking. Cyclists are they and when they are victims of serious crime just get 'caught up in matters'!
spot on
It was the Chair of the Rolls Royce Cycle Users Group talking about members of that group - 'they' are the members of the Rolls Royce Cycle Users Group. To be fair I would have expect him to use the term 'we', presumably the chair is a member of the group - but it is difficult to know, given the piecemeal nature of the quotes.
Yes, we know Michel. Maybe one day...
I am amazed how many near misses/hits occur in the UK. Here in the Netherlands drivers are much more careful around cyclists.
In case of an accident, the law always favours the cyclist - and drivers are very aware of that. In most cases, the driver is 100% liable. And even when the cyclist is completely at fault, liability is split 50/50. Main reason for this extreme scheme: cyclists are extremely vulnerable and drivers sit inside a 'weapon'.
So even when a cyclist runs a red light or suddenly moves in front of a car, the driver is at least 50% liable in case of an accident. And although it frustrates drivers (including myself) at times: it works! Drivers think twice before doing something dangerous.
Another possible solution for the UK is to make cycling lessons - in traffic - mandatory to obtain a drivers license. One needs to experience the vulnerability of a cyclist to appreciate it. (Almost every driver in the Netherlands is also a cyclist, or at least has close family members who cycle. )
Because British drivers are - with very, very, very few exceptions - the most selfish, arrogant, murderous vermin on the planet.
Quite right too, the driver should be able to stop within a reasonable distance and be driving with enough awareness of what's happening around them. It is possible to drive around urban areas without hitting things, even the unexpected. It might mean going a bit slower than the speed limit, but it means safer and the level of traffic these days means that you aren't going to lose time. Unfortunately too many drivers can't drive properly, it's a full time job being behind the wheel. I don't see any reason how a driver can argue against having at least 50% of the blame.
It's not so bad back in the UK. I'm living in Tuscany, and experience more near misses than I did when I used to do my weekend rides out of London on the weekend. There are some roads here in Tuscany that are literally lethal to cycle on. I moved out here to get away from a big city and now find myself fearing for my life way more than I ever did cycling in London.
Right next door in Wiltshire, this is the response I got when I asked whether they offered the ability to upload camera footage via the web like Avon and Somerset do...
"Wiltshire police would still need to make a full report for you about the incident. We do not, as yet, offer the same service for uploading videos, and advice given by our Justic Traffic department states that we do not accept dash cam footage at all unless there WAS a collison. But if you call in, a report can be made."
Make of that what you will but to me is says they don't give a shit.
They're not alone.
https://www.hampshire.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/foi-media/hampshire-consta...
I wrote to the Chief Constable in Hampshire after a few of my close passes were consigned to the "no action but we'll keep their reg number on file for future reference" pile because of this solvability matrix.
Pointed out that drivers will never get any better unless they are confronted with consequences and that telling me that their number was now on file was somewhat pointless.
Response was something along the lines they would like to do more but they don't have the funds.
Maybe coincidence but the next close pass I reported got followed up and the driver got a visit from the police.
when they 'keep their reg number on file' does this automatically send a notice to the registered keeper? Is the follow-up automated, or does it rely on a clerk to count the number of reports?
If the driver doesn't know they've been fingered then they won't change their behaviour, but there is at least a posssibility of change if they know they're being watched, albeit by a computer. I'm fairly sure the majority of us drive a bit more carefully when we've amassed a few points on our licence.
it should be straightforward and relatively cheap to be able to log each report against the reg, send a letter automatically, and when some threshold has been bypassed have a human investigate (in case of nuisance reports) and where appropriate at least dock a few points, issue a FPN or whatever in much the same way as a speed camera works.
No. That was one of the points I made to them. Rather than tell me the reg was being watched, tell the driver.
Also doesn't make sense trying to see if they are repeat offenders ... They may have done something 10 times before but never been reported - and they just need to do it once to kill or seriously injure a cyclist.
Don't worry, I also cycle in Hampshire and report incidents where I am nearly knocked off my bike.
I get the same drivel from Hampshire Constabulary every time too.
I look forward to the day that I get seriously injured on the bike and the driver will escape unscathed and might at a push get one of those mythical "educational letters".
I honestly wonder why I waste my time reporting incidents, we live in a culture that glorifies cars anyway, I am part of the minority.
“It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
― Samuel Adams
Well done the WMP for starting this off, and for the many forces that adopt their excellent approach.
'Where a motorist is deemed to have overtaken too closely, they will receive “either an educational letter or a notice of intended prosecution depending on the nature of the incident,” it says....'
This bullshit again.
You cannot 'educate' someone on something that he or she already knows.
And unless A&S are going to buck the trend, the 'notice of intended prosecution' will contain a'one-time offer' to attend a 'driver awareness course' which of course, is supposed to 'educate' the driver on something that he or she already knows.
And far from being a 'one-time' thing, the 'driver awareness course' will be the standard response given to everyone stopped (except for mobile telephone use), as is the case with the Met.
But in the latter case, who cares since the slice of the pie that plod gets will go towards offsettting 'austerity'.
The whole system is utterly, utterly rank from top to bottom.
Dear A&S police Out of interest, what happened to the motorist in Duncan's case, the one who didn't wait to see if they had space but just followed the car in front? Points? Fine? A harsh talking-to and a driver awareness course?
Edited 16/5
https://bristolcycling.org.uk/700-cyclists-injured-on-bristols-roads-in-2017-1-prosecution-for-dangerous-driving/
Just found this article by the Bristol Cycling Campaign, which gives an indication of the likely answer to my rhetorical question...
there's a link in the sidebar on that page to this impressive piece about real versus 'cultural' safety:
https://www.kaupunkifillari.fi/blog/2019/03/31/rethinking-safety/
Essentially the same view that Lord Sir Air Marshall His Holiness Pope Chris B promotes about the overall irrelevance of helmets, with a well worked-out argument behind it. Well worth showing to the helmet zealots in your life.
Thanks for posting that - I wish we could get everyone involved with road safety to read that.
This image alone speaks volumes:
physical_inactivity.jpg
From the state of his bike it looks like the motorist made no attempt to pass and ran straight over him.
Well done Avon and Somerset Police. We can only hope more forces take the issue seriously - I am looking at you Thames Valley Police.
that was me ten months ago and i am still strugling to recover
btw a near miss is a hit and near hit is a miss
I hope your struggle gets easier soon. "Near hit" is definitely closer to the truth.
I hope you continue to get better. I like your terminology - 'near hit' it is for me from now on
I'm glad to see that you're still with us and best wishes for your recovery.
I welcome this initiative, especially as I think that plain-clothes police cyclists should be a very effective way to catch poor driving. It'd be great if drivers never know if a cyclist is a cop or not and take particular care just in case.
@Legs11 - re-education is definitely a thing. Just because you've learned something in the past, you may forget about it - this is why spaced-repetition is effective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition
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