Give me some space
Posted on Tuesday 5th June 2018 in About Us, All Road Users, Cyclists, Drivers, Education and Training, Motorcyclists, Pedestrians, Safety Cameras, Speed
Sussex Safer Roads Partnership launches “Safe Pass” to highlight the dangers of passing cyclists too closely.
Safe Pass is a new road safety initiative to Sussex which has been running successfully in the West Midlands for a while. Safe pass aims to identify drivers that pass cyclists too closely and putting them in danger. Sussex Police officers will be on patrol on unmarked bicycles in the Hove area of Sussex on Wednesday the 6th of June 2018 looking to identify vehicles that overtake them too closely. Identified vehicles will be stopped by supporting Roads Policing Officers who will escort the vehicles to a nearby site, where drivers will be offered the opportunity to receive educational information – as opposed to enforcement action.
The Highway Code sets out in Rule 163 the recommended clearance to give cyclists when overtaking.
In Sussex between January 2017 and January 2018, there were 685 pedal cycle collisions recorded, including 180 serious injuries and 2 fatalities.
Since May 2017, it has been possible to report ‘Close Pass’ incidents in Sussex via Operation Crackdown. Between then and April 2018, “Close pass of a cyclist” has been recorded 406 times in the county. We are using those statistics to localise where this operation will be of most use in Sussex.
Sgt Phil Badman, who is the Sussex Police lead in this initiative said “The safety of all road users is paramount. There are a significant amount of cyclists being injured on our roads and this initiative seeks to raise the awareness of this issue and influence driver behaviours. I would encourage all road users to give a little more time and space for each other. Where there are instances of bad driving they can be reported to Operation Crackdown online or if it is dangerous driving happening now, dial 999.”
Hove has been chosen for this specific as it is where there have had a number of close passes of cyclists.
This will be an ongoing initiative across Sussex using collision data and also reports made to Operation Crackdown to guide where future locations should be.
See our leaflet below, or download a copy here.
