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Bus driver close passes cyclist on Edinburgh cycle lane (credit - EdCycleHome, Twitter)Bike lane-using cyclist claims police said close pass by bus driver wasn’t against the law – because “everyone was in their own lanes”
Update: A cyclist who was on the receiving end of a close pass from a bus driver while riding in a painted cycle lane in Edinburgh city centre, only to be later told by the police that the overtake wasn’t against the law because “everyone was in their own lanes”, has now confirmed that Police Scotland have reported the case to the Procurator Fiscal, following an internal review of the incident.
The cyclist, who posted a clip of the close pass on Twitter last week – which can be viewed in the original article below – wrote on the social media platform on Tuesday afternoon: “Following a review (initiated by me putting a complaint in), the police have changed their mind and will be reporting the case to the [Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service]!”
Responding to road.cc’s request for comment, Police Scotland’s Road Policing Inspector Steve Manson said: “It is imperative all road users, including cyclists, are aware of their vulnerability irrespective what mode of transport they are using.
“When passing a cyclist, you should ensure you allow sufficient time and distance to do so without compromising their safety by making sure you can see far enough ahead to know it is safe to complete the overtake. Frustration or lateness are not excuses to risk someone’s safety.
“There is room for everyone on our roads and we all have a right to be there. We encourage all road users to show consideration and respect for the safety of each other.”
Original article below:
A cyclist in Edinburgh, who was on the receiving end of a close pass from a bus driver while riding in one of the city’s painted cycle lanes, has slammed Police Scotland’s response to the incident, after he claimed that officers told him that the overtake wasn’t against the law as “everyone was in their own lanes”.
The cyclist, who uses the handle EdCycleHome on Twitter, where he regularly posts videos of close passes and poor driving, was riding in the cycle lane on South Bridge, near Edinburgh city centre, on the morning of 28 March when a bus driver narrowly squeezed past him.
Police just confirming that the close pass below wouldn't be against the law, since everyone was "in their own lanes"!!
So if you are cycling, DO NOT use @CllrScottArthur's painted cycle lanes for your own sake! I certainly won't be anymore!pic.twitter.com/y3ynZInWYm
— Edinburgh's Finest (@EdCycleHome) April 5, 2023
Posting the video of the dangerously close pass on Twitter, the cyclist claimed that Police Scotland officers who viewed the footage told him that the close pass “wouldn’t be against the law, since everyone was ‘in their own lanes’!”
The cyclist also alleged that officers told him that “if I’d been hit then this would have been a different story”.
He continued: “So apparently in Scotland we need to get killed before the police could raise a finger.”
"At the moment it passed you"... according to Police Scotland!
— Edinburgh's Finest (@EdCycleHome) April 6, 2023
Turning his attention to the City of Edinburgh Council’s transport convenor Scott Arthur, who has been criticised in recent months by cyclists over what they believe to be the local authority’s questionable active travel policies, the Twitter user then warned other cyclists in Edinburgh to avoid using the city’s non-segregated painted bike lanes “for your own sake”.
“I certainly won’t be anymore!” he tweeted.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, the cyclist – who wishes to remain anonymous – said the close pass was “a shocking reminder as to why hitting the council’s declared 30 percent reduction in car journeys would be unachievable with the current non-existing cycling infrastructure.”
In response, Labour councillor Arthur said in a statement: “Changes to the Highway Code include guidance that drivers should give cyclists a car width’s space when passing them, and I would urge all drivers to heed this regardless of whether there is an advisory cycle lane in place, in the interests of vulnerable road users’ safety.
“We take cycle safety, along with that of other vulnerable road users, extremely seriously in Edinburgh. I am certain, however, that segregation is preferable to advisory cycle lanes. That’s why we’re investing in a range of projects to expand cycling, walking, and wheeling infrastructure across the city, as well as improving road safety and raising awareness amongst drivers.”
Lothian Buses, replying to the cyclist’s complaint concerning their driver’s conduct, apologised for the close pass and insisted that they “place great importance on our driving staff displaying professional knowledge, awareness, and skills when behind the wheel of our vehicles, which includes the rights of other road users.
“We have highlighted the problems that cyclists encounter on the roads through our cycle awareness training schemes and placed information notices in our depots instructing drivers to allow for extra space and time when carrying out a manoeuvre involving a cyclist.”
After further prompting from the cyclist, the bus company said that the incident was currently being investigated by the relevant garage manager, but that they are “unable to divulge the outcome or action taken with a driver”.
The close pass in Edinburgh isn’t the first time this year that Police Scotland have been criticised by cyclists when it comes to their alleged indifference to poor driving.
In February, one cyclist blasted what he said was Police Scotland’s “appalling” inaction that enabled a motorist to escape punishment for an alleged hit-and-run, which the rider claims left him with a broken bike and “unable to sit down for a week”.
Cyclist Alan Myles told road.cc that, despite contacting East Dunbartonshire Police around 30 times in relation to the incident, he only received two responses – with one officer even taking over six months to reply to an email containing the crash footage.
Myles also claims that those investigating the apparent collision failed to contact two witnesses, and that an officer told him that, due to the lengthy delay in tracking down the motorist, the offence had been downgraded from dangerous to careless driving because “the driver couldn’t remember the incident”.
The cyclist added that he only discovered that the case had been thrown out after contacting the Procurator Fiscal, who dismissed the police’s report as time-barred – over a year after the alleged hit-and-run took place.
“This was not my first disappointment either, so it doesn’t feel like a one off,” he told us. “Whilst I know that there will always be bad drivers, the lack of action from the police has had a greater and longer lasting effect.
“A different officer who I was giving a statement to about another incident of dangerous driving by a bus driver said, ‘Cyclists boil my piss too sometimes, but this driving is unacceptable’, which doesn’t seem like a level playing field to start a conversation on.”
Myles also joined the growing calls for Police Scotland to adopt an online portal for reporting instances of dangerous driving, along with “dedicated officers and resources that do not allow things like this to happen”.
Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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61 comments
Painted non segregated cycle lanes are also known as 'the murder strip' for a very good reason.
I seem to recall a ride involving Mr Vine and some Police officers, where and artic passed them while remaining in its own tight line.
I seem to recall that the driver was reported for prosecution... what happened to that?
I don't think he ever was actually prosecuted, the officer riding with Vine at the time said that the driver had committed an offence but Waitrose defended him robustly and there was never any report of an NIP being sent.
they werent in a cycle lane though were they ? it was just a regular lane on the road, I thought the police followed up on it whether it amounted to a prosecution or not I dont recall them ever stating
The cyclist is not in the primary position. That's the problem with lots of painted cycle lanes - they are narrow and they encourage the cyclist to stay close to the Kerb when being more primary is safer.
The comment that "everyone was in their own lane" is unfortunately a common point of view, in my opinion, and explains the fundamental problem with painted cycle lanes.
theres absolutely a reluctance I feel for the police to pursue close passes if you are in a cycle lane when it happens, Im not sure where that comes from its certainly not in any laws that driving without due care doesnt apply if youre in a marked "different" lane, but I dont recall anyone posting a video of one that resulted in a nip.
There is a reluctance by Police Scotland to pursue close passes full stop.
It seems most if not all companies (and many other non cycling organisations) are misinterpreting GDPR to not follow up on complaints (it's caused a scandal at unis with harassment cases). It appears to be a HR position that no one bothers running past a lawyer let alone reading GDPR correctly.
You can feedback without revealing any personal information about the driver except the results of the investigation.
A vehicle Registration is not Personally Identifying Information (PII).
Reporting an allegation of an offence to the responsible Police Service enables them to make enquiries to the DVLA as trusted people and get the PII of the registered keeper and possibly the actual driver, where different. So at no time does the witness to the offence hold PII so become a Data Controller.
The Police Service and DVLA are Data Controllers, and CPS, Court too. Again, trusted persons doing the job.
Use of GDPR to justify no further action or reject evidence is an attempt to baffle with bulls##t.
Call it out!
Use of GDPR to justify no further action or reject evidence is an attempt to baffle with bulls##t. Call it out!
I am doing! However, there's a lot to read there so the summary is that Lancashire and, I think, Sussex forces at least are engaged in full scale misuse of GDPR to cover up everything they can think of. They force you to accept that you were wearing some form of notification on your mode of transport (which would be legs, in this case rejected by Lancashire Constabulary) that you were filming vehicles on the road or parked, or the report is rejected. I have never seen such a notification up here, so virtually all reports to OpSnap Lancs require the reporter to lie, and the police know that- the idea is that they can later 'catch out' the reporter for lying and bin the report if they choose to- in practice, it doesn't really matter because they won't be doing anything as a result of the reports anyway.
In addition, if you try to find out by FoI request what the police 'action' was, in the cases before they ceased to respond in any way to reports and where they formerly declared they were 'taking action', they use bogus interpretations of FOIA and GDPR to claim that they can't even admit that Lancashire Constabulary holds any information about what action Lancashire Constabulary took about the offence. That case is now with the Information Commissioner and will probably end up with the Information Tribunal- if it does, and I win, that will be quite important and should stop these particular abuses of the law by the police
Good luck with the ICO. Worse than useless in my dealings as a data protection officer.
You just have to persist with ICO- if you don't give in they eventually have to face the music at the Information Tribunal and then they abandon crap Decision Notices
Even if Police Scotland tried to move forward, they'd drop it as soon as the bus alleged' 'driver" states that they "can't remember the incident".
There really is no point in reporting close passes / dangerous instances (one before last was dangerous overtake followed by a left hook by a vehicle being driven without an MOT.), Police Scotland are going to do nothing.
A Edinburgh buses are fitted with cameras now. So there's no excuse
In a recent video that I submitted to PS, and despite half a dozen witnesses to the event, PS decided not to prosecute a driver when a plastic bottle with liquid in, was thrown from a moving car, which hit one of our group in the face.
PS stated that as the driver couldn't remember the incident, there would be no prosecution.
PS are not interested in any evidence that supports an offence, where said offence is committed against a cyclist.
The left hook, mentioned above, was passed off as "the car isn't registered around here" ... so, despite clear sight lines of the roundabout, and it's signage ... and a HD video to boot ... PS were completely, totally and irrevocably, not interested.
PS are not interested in any evidence that supports an offence, where said offence is committed against a cyclist
ScotRozzer (I copied that from another poster) is not alone in its ability to generously forgive any offence against a cyclist, and the loathsome b******s at LancsFilth did not respond to either of these:
https://upride.cc/incident/yp13jko_cmax_closepassrain/
https://upride.cc/incident/mt13ykn_trafic_closepass/
However, LF has gone one better, and isn't interested in any evidence which supports any offence committed by a motorist, so just ignores all evidence
https://upride.cc/incident/ye10aju_mini_redlightcross/
It's not just RLJs and close-passing cyclist scum which LF disregards. DS13 ATX has had no MOT since failing for 4 serious defects on 21.11.22 (almost 5 months ago)- reported by me on 20th March but LF is so determined to show what tough guys they are in refusing to waste time on any reports from cyclists, that they're quite happy to leave dangerous, uninsured vehicles on the road to 'teach me a lesson'. If there was a collision involving one of these vehicles, they would just cover it up and act in favour of the crim. Bent coppers, eh?
really? I thought those sort of excuses didn't even wash in Primary school
"A big boy did it and ran away!"
I only wish I was exagerating for effect - but unfortunatly I'm not. [Same reason was given to the hit a run victim over the other side of Scotland to me as reported on here]
I don't know if they were a big boy ... they weren't brave enough to stop. But .. they certainly ran away, under the glare of HD cameras (I run with front and back) and that *still* wasn't enough.
They do in Scotland. In fact there's now several precedents in place. The other one I get regularly is that the car is a company vehicle and that the driver forgot to sign the vehicle out. Seems to be forgetfulness is a trait amongst drivers.
probably the result of sitting in a box with exhaust fumes.
Lazy cops will grab any excuse to avoid paperwork..
😥 When I left Edinburgh about 15 years ago that was one of the decent things about cycling in the city; the bus drivers were decent; but that was anything but decent 👎
"So apparently in Scotland we need to get killed before the police could raise a finger."
I think we all know which finger the police service would raise.
The collection of evidence to justify action is reasonable until that evidence is only Killed or Seriously Injured..
How many rational people would accept being Seriously Injured as an acceptable risk!
For Active Travel to succeed #VisionZero is the only acceptable target.
Does it pass the "I'd encourage my Mum to do it" test...
Cycling cannot be for "the bold and the brave".
Narrow cycle lanes like this are only of use to filter past stationary traffic.
That line of painted dashes defines the gutter which you should keep out of at all times, it is full of glass and gravel pushed there by the traffic and is not fit for cycling on!
You're right. I think UK cyclists would be much safer using Dutch cycle lanes and should all just move there.
Are you a new troll or just a recycled one ?
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