The Bugle | Blast 355

Friday 5th October 2018
Close Pass Edition



 

QUOTE  OF THE WEEK

"Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car" - Highway Code Rule 163

BICYCLIST OF THE WEEK

John D who took a tumble when a car gave considerably less space than above causing him to swerve, hit the kerb and take a tumble. The grass verge may have softened the blow but not the shock and terror of the close pass.

 

BICYCLE OF THE WEEK

An American approach to the problem?


 

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Last year, Cycling UK successfully fundraised to provide ‘close pass mats’ to every police force in the UK, enabling forces from Scotland to Surrey, Wales to West Yorkshire and Belfast to Bristol to carry out close pass operations to tackle dangerous overtaking.

To build on this success, Cycling UK has now developed an innovative 360° VR ‘Too Close For Comfort’ film which will put drivers ‘in the saddle’, experiencing a close pass from a cyclist’s perspective and ensuring that every driver understands the dangers close passing poses to cyclists, even if they never cycle themselves.

More about their Kickstarter appeal to 'end close passes': https://www.cyclinguk.org/campaign/toocloseforcomfort

A bit optimistic. Meanwhile click YouTube video of the West Midlands Police in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhRri5PK3-g&feature=youtu.be

ENFORCING THE LAW

A sign one sees more often overseas than in the UK and with an explicit minimum distance. Moreover it is observed by nearly all motorists in France or Spain. Whereas the Highway Code image at the top of this email has been dismissed [in a UK court] as being too idealistic [sun shining ... etc] and an excuse to cut much closer.

There is no minumum distance in the UK and as long as they miss you its OK with many drivers. Would a 1.5m rule help?

There is a practical difficulty. You can't accurately measure the distance between a moving cyclist and a passing motorist without specialist calibrated equipment that would stand up in court. It's a lot harder than, say, measuring speed.

It relies on judgement. A recent dangerous driving case where the motorist was doing over 50 mph in a 30 mph zone  and came very close was dismissed because it was felt the burden of proof fell at the hurdle of proving

"A person is to be regarded as driving dangerously if (and only if) the way he drives falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver and it would be obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that way would be dangerous."

The trouble is the jury were probablly mostly drivers and 80% of drivers believe they are above average and see this as nothing special. Half are not, on average, competent or careful drivers hence probably unable to objectively judge one. That's enough to fail a verdict. Its the blind judgeing the blind.

Two terrific commentaries on the CTC proposals and the Martin Porter case can be found here:
https://beyondthekerb.org.uk/passing-laws/
https://beyondthekerb.org.uk/an-obvious-problem/

 

SO WHAT CAN I DO?

Don't wear a helmet and be a girl was the headline of a famous 2006 study by Ian Walker at the University of Bath who measured the passing distances experience with different appearances: http://www.drianwalker.com/overtaking/overtakingprobrief.pdf

But has something changed? A later study by the same reasearcher appears to negate this claim and indicating that wearing a police video jacket was the only effective way of influencing motorists behaviour: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/18428979.pdf

Confused? You aren't the only one!

 

RIDE REPORTS

Saturday 29th September: Hensfold Lakes rediscovered. Bigger, better and bicycle friendly: https://anerleybc.org/saturday-ride-29th-september-2018/

Sunday 30th September: Karen writes: At the start there were five of us including myself Maggie, Barry, Jim, Miles sadly Barry had been poached by his ex pro Brazilian friend Leena so there were four of us.

Everything went well no problems to report Maggie was stung by a dying bee but was fine as I took the sting out for her.All had a great days ride around 60 miles 4000ft of climbing average speed 13.5mph. Sadly no-one took any photos.

UPCOMING RIDES

FINALLY