WMP blog on cycle safety

[thirdcrank]

I hope that a form member living close enough to get there has spotted gaz's alert and is then able to give us a cyclist's view of what's said this evening. Was this a seven-day wonder? Have there been measurable improvements in driver behaviour towards cyclists? etc I'm still hoping that some local rider has experience of how this operated in practice: a rider's eye view.

[thirdcrank]

There's an update here:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=111645

[Ruadh495]

Pity Hampshire police don't do this. I had one this morning that was single digit centimeters (OK probably low double digits) close. Narrow two way, traffic waiting opposite to turn right at lights so right over to the line on their side. My own fault, of course, I was concentrating on the road surface (icy) and had wandered too far to the left, so the idiot though he could get through.

[ianrobo]

I hope that a form member living close enough to get there has spotted gaz's alert and is then able to give us a cyclist's view of what's said this evening. Was this a seven-day wonder? Have there been measurable improvements in driver behaviour towards cyclists? etc I'm still hoping that some local rider has experience of how this operated in practice: a rider's eye view.

now thats a good question, it has been high priority and many would have seen it.

Has it improved matters, I do actually think so but no way to measure it but on certain roads I feel more space and I ride a bit further out than the map suggests.

For me it is not so much about this actual campaign but the police making every user on the road think about each other, it is carrot and some stick.

On twitter I have praised them to the very highest because for once we are not been labelled are we ?

A wrap up of it all here and if only all police were like the WM now then all road users would get a better deal, any surprise the very worse are in the south, like in Hampshire and Kent ?

https://trafficwmp.wordpress.com/2017/0 ... mountains/

[The utility cyclist]

As I've posted on another forum;

With all due respect to the officer writing the piece, why would he suggest that people on bikes should have double the amount of lighting as the "best option"? By saying "Personally I have two front lights and 3 to the rear." anything less than that could be construed as insufficient!

If as he suggested you should have (As best option remember) two lamps fore and aft plus reflectives asunder is he not suggesting same for motorists? What about pedestrians? How would it sound to suggest 'best option' for women going out at night to wear dowdy clothes and a neon sign saying 'rape proof garments worn'?

Actually he's fallen into the offsetting of responsibility and blame culture that we see/hear far too often, is he actually aware of what he has said and potential impact?

"And remember, you could be as easy to see as a supernova exploding in your neighbour’s garden, but if another road user is distracted by their phone, lunch or whatever else they prioritise above your wellbeing they won’t see you because they aren’t looking"

So, it doesn't matter if you're lit up by his admittance like the proverbial, those that will not see you won't see you no matter what, and the others will see you with one light, or indeed no lights (remember all the ninja cyclists that 'you saw') because they are driving at a speed they can stop well within the distance they can see to be clear, that being by their own headlamps and or that they are actually looking AND seeing.

Great work, but please, stop with the suggestions that people on bikes are treated differently with respect to the law and that we should offset responsibility of those causing the harm/creating the dangerous environment when by admittance it makes not a single jot of difference and there's not a scrap of evidence to prove otherwise.

[MikeF]

Two lights to the rear and fore also cater for a light or battery failure. Personally I have two front lights and 3 to the rear.

is the point he actually made. I also have three lights at the rear of one of my bikes arranged to give a larger area of illumination. It's your choice what you use as long as its legal.

[thirdcrank]

The whole thing seems to be seen in context. What was once pretty much the cream of uniform policing - the Road Traffic department, whose officers caps had white tops to identify them - is now a dwindling remainder. Not only have their numbers been relentlessly reduced, but the importance attached to their specialism has reduced. I get the impression from reading the blog that the members of this particular unit have some discretion in deciding which projects they will undertake. It seems that their numbers include a couple of cyclists (possibly only one?) who have decided to give this a go. Social media have given them national publicity.

Now, if you give people the opportunity to publicise things when they have not had the media training, they are likely to reveal their own attitudes with a frankness unfiltered by the niceties.