Close-pass prevention - Well I never!!!

[thirdcrank]

From that "Think" link:-

The THINK! campaign is run by the Department for Transport

Follow the links and reach this:-

This collection was withdrawn on 31 May 2018
This information is no longer being updated.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collectio ... n-activity

"You couldn't make it up" as they say, and they've stopped trying.

[reohn2]

Public awareness campaigns are a main way of achieving change.

It's not work for driving whilst on the phone

It did allegedly work for drink-driving, what is the difference?.....

That was then,this is now.
Then policing was more proactive and had a presence on UK roads,now it's reactive and doesn't.
I'm also convinced there's more drink and drugged driving nowadays than we're led to believe.

Here's an example of current driver behaviour which isn't unusual.
Yesterday at about 4pm turning right through a cross roads TL at sub 15mph,the green light in my favour went to amber juussttt as the rear of my car cleared the white stop line.
Three,that's THREE,cars followed me through the TL
Whilst the cat's away the mice will play,and sometimes play a dangerous game.
There are no police on the streets,and should I have reported that incident to the police,I feel quite sure I would've been told either,it's my word against theirs or "we'll look into it" and promptly forgotten about.

The police are not fit for purpose it is that simple and errant and criminal motorists know that fact all too well.

[reohn2]

https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law

You can get 6 penalty points and a £200 fine if you use a hand-held phone when driving. You’ll also lose your licence if you passed your driving test in the last 2 years.

I image this may have some effect.

http://think.direct.gov.uk/mobile-phones.html

On Tuesday this week on the M55 just after leaving the M6,a fairly compĺex intersection.With a slip road entering from the A6,there was a white Fiat 500 in lane 1 doing about 60mph following a 7.5ton box vans bit too close for my liking.
Both the young woman driver of about 20ish,and her male passenger of about the same age were texting,I was passing them in lane 2 at 70mph.A few minutes later she overtook me doing about 90mph.
This is by no means an unusual occurrence on UK roads,stand at any TL for five minutes and watch carefully.
Whilst the cat's away the mice will play,and play dangerous games.
There is no threat of prosecution.

[Steady rider]

TL generally allow 3 seconds on amber, so probably 2 cars may follow before the red appears. I would prefer 3 seconds for a 30 mph zone, as is, and 3.5 seconds for a 40 mph zone to allow more time to slow down and stop.

[reohn2]

TL generally allow 3 seconds on amber, so probably 2 cars may follow before the red appears. I would prefer 3 seconds for a 30 mph zone, as is, and 3.5 seconds for a 40 mph zone to allow more time to slow down and stop.

I reckon (as I was there)the first car behind me was on amber easily,the other two were definitely on red.

[Steady rider]

You are most likely spot on.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars ... ealed.html

[bikerwaser]

I'm not sure why my fellow cyclists are squabbling about this and say it can't enforced.

This is a step in the right direction and creates awareness.

I've posted and shared this on my FB page.

I would suggest others do the same.

Remember the public information ads ? Although they were a bit corny they got a message out there.

Lots of things aren't very enforcable, especially when the Police force is so understaffed.

I don't think some car drivers even know they aren't giving enough space.

Sadly a lot of drivers haven't been on a bike for years ( Ironically due to how unsafe they feel on the road ) so they have no concept of how it feels.

Instead of whinging and saying it won't be any good and what's the point etc etc , why not look at this as a positive move and see how it may save some lives as it already has done in the West Midlands after the Police force there did something about close passes.

https://west-midlands.police.uk/news/39 ... first-year

http://www.thejournal.ie/cyclists-minim ... 6-Feb2018/

I say SHARE it . . . . excessively.

[Bonefishblues]

Remember the public information ads ? Although they were a bit corny they got a message out there.

I think that a modern version has a place, for sure.

[thirdcrank]

‘However, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg, ...

I see a trend towards more drivers ignoring lights when they can see that doing so will not involve a crash with another vehicle. I'm not talking about amber-gambling or an extension of that but when they know - or think they know that their own manoeuvre doesn't conflict with another.

Near here there's a light-controlled crossroads where the A road gets a two-way run but the minor road's approaches each have a separate run in their turn. I increasingly see drivers on the main road ignore the red to turn left when traffic emerging from that leg has a green. The only thing that seems to stop some of them is that the majority of traffic in their lane is intending to go straight ahead. Does this matter? The lights are on demand, rather than a timed cycle so sometimes, drivers who think they are familiar with the junction are caught out by an unexpected sequence. Also, some drivers have a distorted understanding of turning right at red and will continue to do so if the extended intergreen is caused by a pedestrian activating the pedestrian lights. Cameras, even if they were circulated among a lot of junctions ought to stop this while increasing capacity through shorter intergreens but there's zero will to do this.

[reohn2]

Remember the public information ads ? Although they were a bit corny they got a message out there.

I think that a modern version has a place, for sure.

Whilst I agree,I think we live in a more cynical world and any Public info ads need backing up with action against offenders.
FWIW,the nearest thing I've seen to the old Public info ads are the Police Camera Action type programs on TV.At the end of each program they mention the penalties doled out to the criminals caught,frankly they are no deterrent at all.

[thirdcrank]

Public information may help to dispel misunderstanding.

Spinning depends on ignorance: it fails if it tries to contradict knowledge, especially knowledge through experience. If people know from personal experience that offending will be overlooked then this experience influences both sides. Habitual offenders believe they can offend with impunity and others are increasingly tempted to give it a go. A large part of the population has daily experience of all this: it's not happening somewhere else. Spin is unlikely to con anybody, except those who want to believe it.

[al_yrpal]

...
Personally dont care whether it is or not. If there are so few Police about like around here if a media release results in fewer cyclist deaths and injuries, bring it on…

How does the number of police about in your area affect this?

Well, Police are practically non existent here, so those that exist and do patrols wont want to waste their time trying to catch close passers. My comment concerned the fact that with a camera ordinary cyclists can if they wish send the Police videos which will hopefully prompt warnings to miscreants (hopefully crime prevention) , and even prompt prosecutions.

Al

[thirdcrank]

... Well, Police are practically non existent here, so those that exist and do patrols wont want to waste their time trying to catch close passers. My comment concerned the fact that with a camera ordinary cyclists can if they wish send the Police videos which will hopefully prompt warnings to miscreants (hopefully crime prevention) , and even prompt prosecutions. ...

Earlier you posted

There is a law against murder but the Police spend no time trying to enforce it.

This is IMO one of the main reasons you see few police. The view has prevailed that murder is the tip of of a large iceberg of personal violence and hate crime. Not so long ago, while incident rooms were set up for murder, anything less attracted much less attention. Around here, "domestic disturbances" were routinely written off "RtoJ" (Referred to Justices) meaning that the parties were invited to take their own action and could do so by attending the free advice sessions at the magistrates' court.

Also in those days, even non-injury crashes reported to the police were investigated and somebody was usually prosecuted. Not any more. The CPS and others decided that this was doing the insurance companies' work for them so quite serious crashes are written off "details exchanged." Meanwhile, to use a similar phrase, the police are now doing divorce lawyers work for them. No new people were recruited for this - the priorities were changed. Injuries caused in crashes and the fear caused by bad driving are ** not ** considered worthy of the same attention as those caused by assaults etc.

In recent years, we've had several reports from the RAC about the reduction in the numbers of specialist traffic officers, but IMO it's even worse than a simple headcout might suggest. Increasingly, those specialists are employed on quite routine work but which requires trained drivers. Then, what's left of the uniform patrol no longer has any reason to deal with traffic offences, nor are they trained in the minutiae of traffic offences.

This isn't obfuscation: on the contrary, it's an attempt to shine light on what's happened. The police now only deal with the tip of a different iceberg represented by KSI (Killed/seriously injured) crashes. And most road users are increasingly aware of this.

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Edited to insert the missing ** not **

[Bez]

I love the fact that people are saying "look at the the great results WMP are getting" and then concluding that we should change the legislation that they're using to get those results—when doing so can only undermine their reported 100% success rate. Great logic there.

[Steady rider]

WMP have emphasised the passing distance and used the legal means available.

I think undercover policing with roaming teams that could appear without prior warning in any location may be the most effective way to enforce traffic laws in addition to normal policing.