[Cycloid]

My cycling club has arranged for a local Police Officer to give us a talk on Road Safety in January, I’m told he is also a cyclist.
He has aked us to submit a few questions beforehand
I’m concerned that if the questions are too difficult he may cancel the talk.

Any Suggestions?

Topic

[Ride On]

I think you need to ask about
I think you need to ask about consistency in decision making around prosecutions particularly around things like giving drivers the benefit of the doubt because the cyclist wasnt in the cycle lane?

Also what steps are taken to.ensure footage is reviewed in time to comply with prosecution time limits.

Your police officer will be local and should.have a good.understanding of local procedures and cant be expected to answer questions about poor performance in other force areas.

[GBurch]

No question should be too

No question should be too difficult or unworthy of asking if this officer truly cares about enhancing safety in the community. And if they’re a cyclist, I would guess that would make them even more open to answering questions. 

Please let me know how this meeting goes, and if for some reason you don’t feel like any progess was made, reach out to your local government representatives! Most people forget that city/county councils have control over police and public safety budgets in most American cities. They have the power to change or enact new policies when it comes to road safety. 

Hope you get all the answers you’re looking for! 

 

[ktache]

Attempt to conceal your overt

Attempt to conceal your overt criticism of various police services’ racism, misoginy and corruption.

Remember, he might be one of the good guys…

[Cycloid]

You are correct in what you

You are correct in what you say, it’s probably just me being paranoic

I’m scared he may turn up and tell us all to ride single file in the gutter while wearing Hi Vis and helmets
In which case it will be an early finish and down he pub for a moaning session

[Bungle_52]

Here’s the one I’d really

Here’s the one I’d really like answering.

Do you treat footage from the public in the same way as footage from a close pass operation?

[Cycloid]

Thanks

Thanks

[Captain Badger]

Mungecrundle wrote:

Mungecrundle wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

 

As Steve K says, there’s also a lot of support here for the police that are trying to improve road safety (commenters seem to fawn over Insp. Kevin Smith when he posts).

Insp Kevin meets Road.cc.

[Blush], it’s just how I dreamed it….

[Mungecrundle]

hawkinspeter wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

As Steve K says, there’s also a lot of support here for the police that are trying to improve road safety (commenters seem to fawn over Insp. Kevin Smith when he posts).

Insp Kevin meets Road.cc.

[hawkinspeter]

Cycloid wrote:

There is a great deal of dislike for the police on this forum.
Some is justified, but the individual copper cannot be held responsible for the failings of other Police Forces (Lancashire gets a lot of stick)
Often the Police are held responsible for the failings of the CPS and the Justice System. I reckon that in this respect we may actually both be on the same side.
I think we should give the copper a fair trial

As Steve K says, there’s also a lot of support here for the police that are trying to improve road safety (commenters seem to fawn over Insp. Kevin Smith when he posts). I’d guess that police are very experienced in dealing with criticism from the public, so I’d be surprised if they shirk away from awkward questions.

However, cyclists and the police are definitely on the “same side” and both want safer roads, so I’d recommend going for questions about their intentions and recommendations rather than highlighting any failings.

You could throw in some questions about cyclist road positioning (taking primary) and also about riding two abreast when in groups as that should be easy for them to answer and hopefully won’t be controversial at all.

[Steve K]

Cycloid wrote:

There is a great deal of dislike for the police on this forum.
Some is justified, but the individual copper cannot be held responsible for the failings of other Police Forces (Lancashire gets a lot of stick)
Often the Police are held responsible for the failings of the CPS and the Justice System. I reckon that in this respect we may actually both be on the same side.
I think we should give the copper a fair trial

I think the flip side of what you say is there is a great deal of respect on here for the police when they engage with cyclists – whether that’s the Surrey Road Cops twitter (except for Nigel, of course) or Inspector Kevin who has posted on here.

[Tom_77]

I think the way you ask

I think the way you ask questions can make a difference e.g. “Why don’t you ever prosecute close passes?” vs “What are the barriers you face in bringing prosecutions for close passes?”

As well as the not getting run over type of questions it might be interesting to ask about road rage (e.g. how to de-escalate a situation).

[Captain Badger]

Get some questions from the
Get some questions from the group and see what they are. Don’t submit the ones that are out and out hostile. Make sure the questions pertinent to the topic.
Also discuss with the officer beforehand, and see what kind of talk they’ll present. They might need some feedback if it’s going to be standard drivist victim blaming – it’s not in their interest either to alienate their audience straight, or yours to waste the club’s time.

If they’re just going to give the wear a plastic hat, happy colours and pretty blinky lights BS I’d question the point of having it at all.
If they’re going to discuss riding primary, don’t string out, this is what we’re doing to protect you from psychos, AND take feedback on the issues you’re facing it might be interesting.

[Awavey]

I doubt that theyd cancel for

I doubt that theyd cancel for that kind of thing at all, its just so they dont waste time in the talk on stuff you arent that interested in, road safety is a big topic to cover even if you focus just on the cycling bits and there will be obvious hot topics you are going to be interested in that theyll want to cover, to make it feel like they are engaging properly with you.

IME most of these sessions, they are usually very positive and well received, even if you can debate ultimately they dont lead to like a sudden sea change in anything, its very much a this is how it is talk, not a tell us what youd like us to change talk, but theyll have a knack of shutting down even the harshest of critics in the Q&A.

[Hirsute]

In that case, why don’t you
In that case, why don’t you (or the chairman if you have such a thing) moderate the questions before being passed on?
Presumably there will be open questions in the meeting, so the officer must feel they are up to that to volunteer. Or there could be a strong chairman in the meeting to keep things civilised.

[hawkinspeter]

Ask about submitting videos

Ask about submitting videos for close passes and what they would want from statements and which kind of offences they’re most interested in seeing. Also some follow up questions about whether they’ll be undertaking any close-pass schemes.

[Author]

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