{"id":24897,"date":"2016-10-31T22:36:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T22:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145710.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=24897"},"modified":"2016-10-31T22:36:37","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T22:36:37","slug":"best-cyclist-road-safety-initiative-ever-cycling-uk-west-midlands-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/best-cyclist-road-safety-initiative-ever-cycling-uk-west-midlands-police\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBest Cyclist Road Safety Initiative Ever\u201d \u2014 Cycling UK &#038; West Midlands Police"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Every bicyclist knows that feeling of relief as a car passes a bit too closely. Although, there are too many injured bicyclists who do not. The West Midlands Police are determined to put those injuries and deaths in the past, and one of the police agency&#8217;s new initiatives is gettng props now as the \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyclinguk.org\/press-release\/2016-09-16\/cycling-uk-hails-west-midlands-police-%E2%80%9Cbest-cyclist-road-safety-initiative-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">best cyclist road safety initiative ever<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A\u00a0press release in mid-September via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyclinguk.org\/press-release\/2016-09-16\/cycling-uk-hails-west-midlands-police-%E2%80%9Cbest-cyclist-road-safety-initiative-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cycling UK<\/a><em>\u00a0<\/em>states: &#8220;Cycling UK is delighted to support a ground-breaking initiative by West Midlands Police to proactively target drivers who ignore Highway Code rules on passing distances when overtaking cyclists.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bikocity.com\/best-cyclist-road-safety-initiative-ever-cycling-uk-west-midlands-police\/bicycle-safety-initiative-west-midlands-police\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-24931\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"604\" height=\"341\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24931\" src=\"http:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police.png\" alt=\"bicycle-safety-initiative-west-midlands-police\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police.png 604w, https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At best, close passes of cyclists, sometimes called near misses, put riders at risk. For others, the intimidation whether intentional or not is a risk\u00a0that is simply too high. They would like to do so, but they don&#8217;t cycle for this reason.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">David Cox, Chair of Cycling UK\u2019s Board of Trustees, who lives in the West Midlands, said: \u201cClose passes by motorists are hazardous for cyclists and extremely intimidating. This may be due to ignorance of the Highway Code and carelessness but sometimes it is done deliberately and aggressively.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Cycling UK, a national cycling charity, thus chose the West Midlands Police as \u201cthe best cyclist safety initiative by any police force, ever.\u201d Here are more comments from the charity:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>West Midlands Police is the first force in the country to fully appreciate this and commit to a bold and intelligence-led enforcement operation to protect vulnerable road users.<\/li>\n<li>Highway Code rules clearly state that drivers should allow vulnerable road users as much room as they would a car when overtaking \u2013 but many people seem not to know this, and many who do ignore it.<\/li>\n<li>Now West Midlands Police has launched an operation that sees officers saddle up on some of the region\u2019s busiest routes looking out for motorists who put cyclists at risk.<\/li>\n<li>Police cyclists will radio the details of close-pass drivers for in-car colleagues to intercept at a designated holding point.<\/li>\n<li>Drivers will be offered a road-side educational input on safe overtaking but repeat offenders \u2013 or anyone deemed to have driven dangerously close to a cyclist \u2013 can expect to be prosecuted and taken to court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Cycling UK continues by quoting Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK\u2019s Senior Road Safety and Legal Campaigner:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\">\u201cCyclists have been campaigning about close passes for years, with limited success. The priority is given to tackling close passes, and the appreciation of the danger they present for cyclists, has varied between police forces.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\">\u201cThis is the first time a police force has come forward with a plan to prioritize enforcement against close pass drivers. It is quite simply the best cyclist safety initiative by any police force, ever.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify;\">\u201cWest Midlands Police plans to combine enforcement and education to make sure drivers get the message that cyclists need space when being overtaken, and those who don\u2019t give them space risk prosecution for careless driving. It is a simple but effective way to combat a long-standing concern and we hope other police forces around the country will follow their ingenious lead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As further background on how serious a problem lack of safe routes for bicyclists is, the charity also notes that, &#8220;Between 2010 and 2014 there were 530 KSI incidents (killed or seriously injured) in the West Midlands involving bicycles \u2013 84% of them saw riders colliding with cars.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Related Stories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bikocity.com\/bike-sharing-protected-bike-lanes-cycling-reduced-risk\/\">Bike Sharing + Protected Bike Lanes = More Cycling, Reduced Risk<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bikocity.com\/fully-charger-ebike-fully-charged-show-lovely-perhaps-safer\/\">Fully-Charger-eBike &amp; Fully Charged The Show \u2014 So Lovely, And Perhaps Safer<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/2015\/04\/08\/slow-streets-advocates-for-greater-bicycle-safety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slow Streets Advocates For Greater Bicycling Safety<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Image via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyclinguk.org\/press-release\/2016-09-16\/cycling-uk-hails-west-midlands-police-%E2%80%9Cbest-cyclist-road-safety-initiative-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cycling UK<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every bicyclist knows that feeling of relief as a car passes a bit too closely. Although, there are too many injured bicyclists who do not. The West Midlands Police are determined to put those injuries and deaths in the past, and one of the police agency&#8217;s new initiatives is gettng props now as the \u201cbest &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/best-cyclist-road-safety-initiative-ever-cycling-uk-west-midlands-police\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">\u201cBest Cyclist Road Safety Initiative Ever\u201d \u2014 Cycling UK &#038; West Midlands Police<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,7],"tags":[1368,1722,234,1724,389,1723,1742],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police.png",604,341,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police-300x169.png",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police.png",604,341,false],"large":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police.png",604,341,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police.png",604,341,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Bicycle-Safety-Initiative-West-Midlands-Police.png",604,341,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Cynthia","author_link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/author\/cynthia\/"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"Every bicyclist knows that feeling of relief as a car passes a bit too closely. Although, there are too many injured bicyclists who do not. The West Midlands Police are determined to put those injuries and deaths in the past, and one of the police agency&#8217;s new initiatives is gettng props now as the \u201cbest&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}