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news
Dame Sarah Storey with Sheffield NW Neighbourhood Policing Team (via Strava).PNGDame Sarah Storey joins South Yorkshire Police on close pass operation – and almost one in five drivers get pulled over
Dame Sarah Storey, who earlier this month became Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian athlete, joined road policing officers in South Yorkshire last week for a close pass operation targeting drivers who overtake cyclists too closely.
Fresh from winning the 17th Paralympic gold medal of her career at Tokyo three weeks ago and wearing the rainbow jersey of para-cycling road world champion, Storey accompanied the operation on Friday afternoon on the A57 through her role as active travel commissioner for the Sheffield City Region.
> Dame Sarah Storey named Sheffield City Region's first Active Travel Commissioner
It was carried out as part of last week’s Project EDWARD, with the acronym standing for European Day Without A Road Death, a Europe-wide initiative launched five years ago by the European Traffic Police Network and supported by the European Commission.
An account of the operation, carried out on Manchester Road from Rails Road up to Cutthroat Bridge, was posted to Strava by Inspector Kevin Smith of the Sheffield Northwest Neighbourhood Policing Team, who said that it was one of the roads they receive most complaints over.
“Two teams of cyclists were used, two on road bikes wearing road bike gear and looking, at least in one case, like an athlete,” he wrote. “The other pair were on our electrically assisted e-bikes.”
He outlined the specific issues related to the stretch of road chosen, which reflect a scenario we often see in submissions to our Near Miss of the Day feature.
“The A57 is a long climb with lots of double white lines due to some blind bends,” Inspector Smith said.
“It is often safer to cycle two abreast on these sections to reduce the temptation of some motorists to try and ‘squeeze’ the cyclist to the side of the road by overtaking on a blind bend and then pulling back left to avoid a head on collision with traffic the other way approaching at 50 miles per hour.
“Even when cycling solo, it is often safest to ride in primary position on these bends, to ensure that you are visible around the bends,” the officer said.
“Unfortunately, it was not the most stress-free afternoon of cycling, with lots of people apparently unable to overtake without the assistance of their horn (perhaps it is linked to a booster system?).
“Sarah’s Garmin radar detected 110 overtakes over the two laps we completed, and of those 110 overtakes, 20 were stopped for advice purposes, which is disappointing.
“Our other pair were also close passed a few times, taking the total to 25 vehicles stopped for advice purposes, and another five that we will catch up with through the post,” Inspector Smith said.
“In total 10 prosecutions for a range of offences from careless driving to contravening double white lines. It seems many drivers are unaware that if a cyclist is travelling at more than 10 miles per hour there is no loophole to allow them to overtake on double white lines, and we saw a depressing level of selfish and poor behaviour throughout the day.”
Referring to the rule which says, among other things, that cyclists “should never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends,” the inspector revealed, “We’ve already seen some ‘what about Highway Code rule 66’ whataboutism on twitter by people trying to justify close passes.
“My reply is that on this road, the only safe place to be to overtake is on the opposite side of the carriageway (it is a 50mph road), and if you need to be on the opposite side of the carriageway, it doesn’t matter how far into the road the cyclists are, if there’s no room on the opposite side of the road, there’s not enough room to overtake.”
Inspector Smith added: “As you can imagine, trying to keep up with a gold medallist also added a new level of difficulty to the affair (this was my second highest wattage 20 minutes of 2021. and trust me, I wasn’t planning on going all out), but it was good to show Dame [Sarah] Storey how we run close pass operations to try and educate road users, either by speaking to them at the side of the road, or by providing consequences to their poor driving choices.”
> Dame Sarah Storey to campaign for safer roads for cyclists on behalf of British Cycling
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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If drivers routinely get away with this then how the hell do MPs like this expect it to work for bikes?...
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I'm all for my overall experience being enhanced.
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That there was intent?
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When was the submission? I have been informed by the Met that although they have to send an NIP within fourteen days they then have up to six...
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Try getting hit by 2 tonnes of metal moving at speed and tell me that half an inch of polystyrene (with holes cut in it) will make any real...
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While I agree, not all bike fitters are equal. I found their know-how varies enormously—some are considerably more expert than others.
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Now on my PC it says again that I don't have a subscription. I ask you to indicate what should be done to avoid this situation.
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Like Hawkinspeter, I am a bit of a tool squirrel. I bought one of these. It is really neat and well made, but I've found it rather confusing to use...
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69 comments
I saw a bus driver training college in Mexico(?) did just that. The lined up the trainees on exercise bikes, got them pedaling, then drove a bus past them to show what it felt like. Think it was a great idea.
Firstly thanks! Second - I think practice makes habit, so while adding in a "riding a bike" component to driver training might be helpful we know that having done a driving test or read the highway code doesn't have much bearing on how people drive in the years after that.
I think you do get an "empathy" effect if a much greater fraction of drivers either regularly spend time on a bike* themselves or have nears and dears who do.
* On / near the roads, not just "I ride the trails all the time" or "we always cycle at Butlins".
To some extent that already exists for HGV/PCV CPC: in Greater Manchester, CPC-certified cycle awareness training is available for free for anybody who lives, or works* in Greater Manchester with a driving licence. When some courses cost a packet, why would any driver or fleet manager not make sure they did that course?
(* and if you drive through in an artic, you're working, right?!)
What needs to happen is extending that as a requirement to all drivers.
Thanks for your efforts, and returning to post here. As ever enlightening
Thanks for your efforts, and returning to post here. As ever enlightening
Excellent point! My relentless attacks on the police reflect my local situation. It appears that things are different in South Yorkshire. I recall my first reading of something by Inspector K when I thought he might not be genuine-I was wrong and he has given us a good account of the Good Cops.
At last some real life police data, that confirms what virtually all riders have been saying for years. There is a huge proportion of drivers who dont know how to overtake a vulnerable road user safely, with planety of space
At last a police scheme which catches the majority of drivers who put cyclists' lives at risk. I'm not convinced it is as low as 20% but it's a start.
Admin, ffs sort out the 97% page covering adverts.
Great work.
A couple of comments on here I agree with from S13sfc, I have noticed exactly the same. Good to have the extra space but can't believe where they overtake. And from Remodel, I was in London last weekend walking and in a couple of taxis and buses. I could not believe the shocking standard of driving, cycling even scooting . Regular jumping of red lights by all transport, pushing in when no right of way etc. Had my eyes closed or holding my breath a lot of the time. Can't believe there are not more casualties.
Relief to get home to Edinburgh where roads I previously thought were busy now seem deserted.
Remodel? I certainly should be remodelled....yes London is mad at the moment. Had a jaunt down to Brighton last week and felt sooo relaxed, this is why I ride...until I hit Croydon and it was here we go again...
London's my birthplace and home and I love it dearly, but I shouldn't have (as a freelance from home) to escort Mrs H most days on her commute because I'm scared of something happening to her (she's a great rider but I've been made paranoid).
FWIW whilst the EDWARD part of Project EDWARD might be an acronym, it actually stands now for "Every Day Without A Road Death", check out the official site https://projectedward.org/
but that aside, what is this Garmin radar detector they were using ? is this a hitherto unknown feature of my Garmin I wasnt aware of.
It's probably the Garmin Vario - which uses radar to alert cyclists about vehicles approaching from the rear and sounds alerts on a compatible garmin bike computer.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/698001
The radar is a Garmin Varia and the feature to count the number of vehicles that overtake you is probably the third-party Connect IQ app "My Bike Radar Traffic" which installs on your Garmin watch or head unit. May only work on more modern head units with recent version of Connect IQ.
The interesting thing about My Bike Radar Traffic is that it also records the speed of traffic overtaking you.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/05/varia-radar-maps-connect-app.html
Good write up from DCR. It also appears you can sync it with a video file. Might be useful additional submission for close passes - perhaps even to shame those forces that ignore our video submissions or apply the "only a witness" rule unjustifiably.
Now if only other head units could support it.
I believe Wahoo units do. Though, of course, Garmin aren't going to tell you that.
I've got the Garmin Varia RTL515 which is a great piece of kit. It does an excellent job of tracking approaching cars that you might otherwise be unaware of. Definitely worth it's cost and it's a decent rear light as well.
It looks interesting for sure but I dont know what use I'd find for it, I'd wondered if it was just capable of recognising close passes so you could use it as data to prove you arent going insane & maybe lobby decision makers with.
plus it's another several hundred pound bit of tech,that you have to keep charged up,to the point the tech keeping me 'safe' just to ride a bike starts outweighing the cost of the bike itself.
I thought it provided some really interesting data - like the fact that one car approached us at 100kph which is 20 above the limit and crazy speeds for that road.
that's not something I would have picked up on as I usually face forward when riding.
However, it is something I can't afford so I don't think it will be a regular feature. It was good to figure out the % of close passes though.
There are two groups of people: those who own a Varia radar and those who haven't had a chance to ride with one yet.
Sadly they dont let you trial before you buy though and the cost to buy & upgrade to a compatible head unit is just too much for me.
Especially when the benefit of using it feels quite limited, if I was that concerned about what was behind me whilst riding,I could get a handlebar mirror for a fraction of the cost.
I never thought I would disgrace my bike with a mirror. Then I bought one for a mate - but as a bar end mirror it proved unsuitable for their straight bars - so I thought "why not" and stuck it on my drops. It's still there now, bestest cheapest thing I ever got!
Same here (except not buying it for a mate).
Yup - I can still say, in all honesty, hand on heart, I never bought myself a bicycle mirror. Although I did buy it, and it is fitted to my bike! Love it too.
I'm deeply ashamed to admit buying more than one as I tried to find one that is easily adjustable and stays where you put it. They're great once you get used to using them as you can keep aware of anything approaching from the rear and up your pace if it's another cyclist so they don't catch you (except when they do).
It has been noticeable that in the last few months driving standards have dropped significantly. More drivers now with less patience and prepared to risk the safety of others in order to save a few seconds.
The close pass operation the police conducted here will serve as a chilling reminder of how bad the problem is and on this evidence they can expect to be very busy on this issue alone.
It's been absolutely startling and deeply worrying, virtually every day I'm getting texts from London cycling friends saying "what the hell is going on out there now?" Professional drivers particularly bad, I think maybe they got used to much emptier roads during the worst of the pandemic and now are frustrated that traffic is back to close to normal levels; couple that with the DM narrative of all traffic jams are the fault of cycle lanes not, you know, traffic and it makes for a lot of aggression, worst I've ever known it in forty years of cycling in London.
You would get close passes before the pandemic but the thing that has changed significantly for me is the level of impatience amongst driver increasing significantly. In addition, the amount of drivers not performing basic checks before manoeuvres as well. Lots of left hooks and a lot of horn beeping.
What I'm noticing is that cars and vans are giving me far more room but where they are choosing to overtake is nuts.
Bends, brows of hills etc and into oncoming traffic appears to be the new normal.
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