Drivers sent warning letters after cyclist submits close pass videos – but she is unconviced police even watched the footage (+ videos)

Well it seems operation crackdown are already up to their old tricks.

Submitted a close pass with a driver on a mobile, ciggy hanging out the mouth and the rear seat and boot area filled with boxes so you couldn't see out.

Letter sent but YouTube states 0 views on the video, great work there..

I've just been reading up on NIP's and the legislation relation to them is the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, in other words a law made before small video recorders were in general use. 

Who thinks that it's time to lobby our MP's to update the law and allow ga greater timescale for video evidence to be submitted to the Police

Well done on taking this further.

I have been submitting various poor driving to OC for at least 3 or 4 years, with never anything to show for it.  From fairly poor close passes to almost head on collisions, the default response from Sussex Police is "we sent a letter".  That was until recently (actually the past couple of years I think) when they don't actually send you any notification at all, just tell you that they will "act on it if necessary".  However, having never been contacted since, I must presume that letters are just what happens regardless.  EDIT: I also started reporting under "Dangerous/Careless driving" instead of "close pass of cyclist", to see if that made a difference, but no.

I have often checked back on my videos, and they do show as "viewed" though as some have pointed out, it wouldn't be difficult for someone to just set up a macro or similar to go through every link and just play it in a browser while they do something else.  Whether that would be someone slacking off or a directive from someone in charge, who knows, thats all speculation anyway.

EDIT2: It appears that the ability to check the status was returned at some point, though you don't get an automatic notification any more.  Sure enough, those that are not more than a year old are all "sent a letter" or for a lot of them "kept on record", so most of it seems to come down to who is actually doing the work or how busy they are 🤨  And yes a couple show "0 views"...

Ironically, their in person roads policing seems to be pretty active, at least from what you can see on Twitter.  This is clearly an "office job" separate from the in person roads policing, and appears to have the same lackdasical attitude that your average desk jockey takes to monotonous work like this.

If I am to draw any conclusions from what I can see of other forces activity that they choose to share publicly, Sussex Police is amongst the poorest of them all.  We know that prosecutions are both possible to bring and to win, as the evidence from other forces proves.  Sussex Police are, I strongly suspect, more in the pocket of the majority political (read "land owning") classes in the area, who are the exact people who couldn't really give a s**t about anyone else but themselves, and will influence the chief inspector or whoever accordingly whilst they are off shooting animals with them or whatever.

I will await the FOI request with interest, something I have always meant to do but, alas with so many things, just did not have the time for.  Though I must confess I have little confidence that it will actually materialise in the form you ask for or whether I even believe it isn't just made up anyway.  My confidence in Sussex Police is basically zero.

Now that some sort of momentum may actually happen, I think it's time I got round to anonymising some of my submitted videos (I'm not into public shaming on the internet) and republishing them.  It's about time they were shown up in volume for the ineffective useless force that they are.

Stay tuned.

Good for Road.cc for pushing this. I am sussex based, too, and have submitted many crackdown reports. Nothing ever happens, the force is nigh on useless. 
 

Defund the bloody police. When was the last time they did anything to help you? 

This is sussex, where the anger and vitriol of local residents stopped the Velo South from happening in 2018 (the storm was the given reason for cancellation, but it was getting close to being cancelled anyway) and no sign of it ever being considered again. The police know that their inaction will not be unpopular. These residents would prefer to speed their 4x4s down single track roads screaming abuse at any cyclist who happens to be in front of them. 

Having reviewed all the videos I'd suggest Road reader M rides too close to parked cars and invites close passes, and possibly dooring at some point.

Close pass by van CK17

I really hope it is an optical illusion but the cyclist in front looked like their clothing was going to be caught in the rear wheel any second.

The rider is far too close to the parked vehicles. Ride at least 1 yard away from the side of the car ideally 1.5yds. Take control of the lane, stop opportunistic passes. Calm the speed of the vehicles behind

I've had this exact same issue with Sussex Police.

I've done over 50 reports to them via their "op crackdown", sharing unlisted youtube videos with them. All of my reports have "letter sent to owner" or something like that (even really bad offences like overtaking where banned and then going through  a red light followed by wrong side of traffic island in a matter of seconds).

Some of videos on youtube show as zero view on the video manager, even when the report is marked as  "letter sent to owner".

On a related note of drivers left hooking at roundabouts, here's a fine example. In this particular case, the driver clearly made an effort to give me as much room as they could, yet still felt the need to get in front and turn left despite it being clear that I was going to be proceeding straight on. It would have cost them literally a few seconds to wait and pass behind me. I suspect the reason they gave me room is because they themselves may be a cyclist, as they had a bike in the back of the car when this incident occurred!

https://youtu.be/YeoIswunFwc

Frankly wouldn't be surprised, suspect Essex Police don't really do anything either.  For reference, last incident I reported to them had an outcome notified two days later of the driver being given choice of a conditional offer or driver awareness course, two days, really!  How is that enough time for them to have sent out a NIP to the owner, for the owner to respond identifying the driver at the time and then for them to send the driver details of what action is being taken against them!  

why on earth would cyclists turning right position themselves on the extreme left on entry to the roundabout?

At the start of the clip I assumed the cyclists would be going straight on and hooked by a driver turning left, not turning right and hooked by a driver going straight on.

Get in the lane you would be in if using a car to take your exit, make drivers slow on the roundabout, it's not even a big roundabout. Cyclists will clear the roundabout in 20 seconds. While i have had impatient drivers on regular roads, narrow roads, and even pinch points. I've never had an issue on a roundabout. I think giving clear indication of intent at all times is the best approach.