Cycling UK Forum

Morning.

It appears that the rounds from the police unit local to Everton Football Stadium leave the station around the time I pass it on the way into the centre. I was passed with about 600mm (appox 2') on Friday morning by an estate (astra?) and about 300mm (approx 1') this morning by a police van.

While the first is nothing too out of the ordinary, I could have easily punched out the wing mirror of the van, an indication they were too close. Not to mention it did make me jump as is was a diesil van which gunned the engine to get passed me.

I've got the reg numbers and am considering emailing a general complaint to the unit with out enough details to identify the drivers. How on earth can we convince ordinary drivers that we need more room if the police can't even be bothered to put their right hand down for long enough to give the clearance recommended in the highway code?



Cheers,

Wes.

EDIT 1: I was riding in a defencive position around about 700mm from the curb as it is a left hand bend which you can't see around, and always get drivers giving me the dangerous squeeze at that point.

EDIT 2: I've seen it mentioned on this site that there is a recommended clearance to leave between cyclists and a car when passing. Can any one give me a link to this, the best I could find was: Highway Code

Just a thought - may well be worth having a word with the local authority to see if they have any CCTV coverage on that stretch of road which (if pointed in the right direction), may have captured the incident . I know CCTV can be instrusive these days, but it does have its uses.

If this is a repeated issue I would certainly send a (friendly) e mail - like that above- to the unit/building in question or the force main contact point.

Although there is a difference between their Basic/Standard and Advanced driver training levels, all Police drivers will have seen their Roadcraft training book and so there is no excuse for not giving cyclists a suitable berth! They cannot plead ignorance!

Whilst an individual may make a mistake - as yet Police are still human, if, as said, this is a trend then you should draw their attention to it.

Good luck.

I had a concrete mixer who was regularly shaving me off. So one day as he passed exceedingly close, I decided he was the "one a year" that I would report to the Police. To my surprise when the Police went to visit him they said that he accepted a warning about his driving.
So if you continue to get this hassle and you go to the Police with a list of recuring offences and say you fear it is set to continue.
However I said that I wasnt sure if the concrete mixer driver was deliberatly harrassing me or not, this lifted him out of the cocoon of immunity granted to drivers for their actions. They are not going to accept that the Police are harrassing you.

The "one a year" policy is that I only go to the Police about 1 motorist a year as otherwise the Police will soon start to think of me as the source of trouble and not take me seriously.

Thanks for the tips. I'll leave it till this afternoon or this evening before emailing, always bad to write an email of complaint when fuming!

I've emailed the council to see if CCTV footage is available, making it clear that the email in itself wasn't a complaint but my concern was that too little space while being passed was a common complaint by cyclists, and I'd hoped that the police would set a better example.

RE the 1 year policy, very wise move! I've been close to reporting a few drivers before, but decided against it as I would be doing it so often I'd be a pest myself! This is an issue bes tackled from the top down with TV adds etc, rather than punishing individual drivers.

Thanks again,

Wes

Yes report it.

Perhaps just informally in a friendly manner. After all, it's just your word against theirs and you're not going to see a resulting prosecution.

A police driver (like all who drive as part of their living) are professional drivers and we should expect a better standard of driving.

So if you were to highlight your concerns in a manner that shows you're just concerned about safety rather than "revenge" you might enter into some sort of dialogue. Who knows, the big wigs might reiterate the responsibility to the public that all police drivers have, in both terms of safety and setting an example.

I know that's sort of what you already said, so I gues I'mm just agreeing.

And yes, report it.

Gazza

I'm considering getting a sports camera, mainly for use on the mountain bike.

However I might use it for recording the bad road surfaces on my commute and to capture the bad drivers.

Something like this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=21518

Cheers.

There's an electronic message sign board that is normally just used to tell drivers that Queens Drive has road works, or to stop using their mobiles. If I get a response from the Council about the CCTV I'll ask if they'd consider putting messages up advising to give cyclists around 1m clearance when passing -sighting this example of the generally perceived acceptable clearance.

Was it in one of the last CTC mags that had the picture of the road sign in France advising of minimum clearance to give bikes? Any links to this pic would also be greatly appreciated.

Wes.

gilesjuk wrote:Something like this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=21518

Gadget show tried several action cameras against each other. As I remember that one didn't get too good a review. I keep looking at the Oregon ATC2000, seems to be the standard entry level with great reviews.

Being a tight sod I'm waiting for the price to drop even further. Generally about £79, but I think the X'Snipe300 at Decathlon is a rebadged version* at £69


(*no proof of this - but comparing the cameras themselves and the spec - it looks more than likely)

[quote="gambatteBeing a tight sod I'm waiting for the price to drop even further. Generally about £79, but I think the X'Snipe300 at Decathlon is a rebadged version* at £69


(*no proof of this - but comparing the cameras themselves and the spec - it looks more than likely)[/quote]

Yes it is. I got mine from Canada Water on Saturday so hoping for good weather over the weekend to try it out. It even says Oregon Scientific on the body.

Woo hoo!!

I'd go out and get one now.


Apart from our lass is now 3 days overdue, so moneys particularly tight!

I would definitely make an informal complaint - you should be able to rely on the driver concerned being 'given advice' ...

As for cameras, don't bother with the Oregon one, it's crap quality and switches off after 20 mins recording. I have a Helmet Hero which is noticeably better quality and doesn't have the cutout.

Ben

Ben Lovejoy wrote:As for cameras, don't bother with the Oregon one, it's crap quality and switches off after 20 mins recording. I have a Helmet Hero which is noticeably better quality and doesn't have the cutout.

Seriously?

You're the 1st I've heard condemning it. Everyone else seems to say how good & tough it is for a cheap camera.

Thinking of a few riders that appear on quite a few forums and have been in the news recently:
Arch, Magnatom and Bentmikey (lsmike)

I think the latter 2 have upgraded recently, but due to other reasons e.g. smaller camera with bigger memory etc

gilesjuk wrote:I'm considering getting a sports camera, mainly for use on the mountain bike.

However I might use it for recording the bad road surfaces on my commute and to capture the bad drivers.

Something like this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=21518

Pot holes have been redefined by some local authorities. They now have to be deeper than 2cm and in many cases deeper than 4cm to warrant immediate repair.

I remain unconvinced by the merits of taking pictures of errant motorists and anticipate an increase in the number of surgical removals of cameras from orifices that were not intended to house them.

The was a minor ripple in the press and a couple of cycling forums caused by a chap called Magnatom who claims that he'd received death threats because of his videoing of bad driving and placing the videos on YouTube. The chap appears to be a raving loonie in some of his own videos when he's confronting people about their 'anti cycling' behaviour. I was gobsmacked to find out that he was a doctor. I hope his intemperence does not transfer to his bedside manner.

Put yourself into the 'victims' position. How would you react if your perceived transgressions were recorded and passed onto a range of agencies. How would you react to being challenged about your behaviour? There's sufficient passive, reactive and active camera based surveillance going on without electing yourself to be an unpaid bicycle mounted PCSO adding to the beaurocratic load of your police force.

No consider your own personal safety. There are lots of nutter out their who take exception to anything that intrudes into their own space and sense of well being. Can you accurately gauge the outcome of any encounter?

vernon wrote:

gilesjuk wrote:I'm considering getting a sports camera, mainly for use on the mountain bike.

However I might use it for recording the bad road surfaces on my commute and to capture the bad drivers.

Something like this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=21518

Pot holes have been redefined by some local authorities. They now have to be deeper than 2cm and in many cases deeper than 4cm to warrant immediate repair.

I remain unconvinced by the merits of taking pictures of errant motorists and anticipate an increase in the number of surgical removals of cameras from orifices that were not intended to house them.

The was a minor ripple in the press and a couple of cycling forums caused by a chap called Magnatom who claims that he'd received death threats because of his videoing of bad driving and placing the videos on YouTube. The chap appears to be a raving loonie in some of his own videos when he's confronting people about their 'anti cycling' behaviour. I was gobsmacked to find out that he was a doctor. I hope his intemperence does not transfer to his bedside manner.

Put yourself into the 'victims' position. How would you react if your perceived transgressions were recorded and passed onto a range of agencies. How would you react to being challenged about your behaviour? There's sufficient passive, reactive and active camera based surveillance going on without electing yourself to be an unpaid bicycle mounted PCSO adding to the beaurocratic load of your police force.

No consider your own personal safety. There are lots of nutter out their who take exception to anything that intrudes into their own space and sense of well being. Can you accurately gauge the outcome of any encounter?

Oh, yes, the poor 'victims' - the dangerous driving lunatics who kill cyclists with their careless driving. How dare cyclists record them breaking the law!

What are you on man?
1) He's glaswegian, he'll always sounds angry to some people
2) When I'm nearly knocked off by some careless driver I'm pretty angry too.
3) After being knocked off myself on a street in birmingham covered in CCTV, the police claimed they were unable to see the licence plate of the driver (who drove off). If I'd had a camera on, I could have done it myself - and video evidence like that would be very handy to show the police/ courts when YOU get knocked off.