The English current affairs programme Inside Out South is set to feature an investigation into close passes of cyclists by motorists. The programme will be shown on BBC1 this Monday at 7.30pm in the South region.

The presenter Jon Cuthill took to the roads of Southampton with a modified Oxford safety reflector arm to highlight the space drivers should allow.

According to a tweet from the BBC Inside Out South account: “Research shows regular riders will experience one closepass or near miss a week.”

The description of the feature entitled “How much room do cyclists need?” is as follows:

“The risk of close encounters of the potentially dangerous kind is rising as more of us take to the roads on our bikes, with some motorists failing to leave cyclists enough room when overtaking. So the ever inventive Jon Cuthill has come up with an eye-catching adaptation to his bike that makes the safe passing distance crystal clear to everyone on the road – with varying reactions.”

6 COMMENTS

  1. As a regular cyclist, commuting 20 Miles a day, and clocking up 10,000 Miles a year … I wish it was only one close pass a week. Over the last 5-6 years the standard of driving seems to have gotten a lot worse and now i’d say i’m lucky if it’s only one close pass per ride (or day) and several dangerous overtakes by cars/buses/lorries overtaking on blind bends and solid white lines being very common. Most of my riding is out of town too … I’d hate to think what it’d be like riding those distances in town, probably bad enough to make me give up riding I suspect.

  2. I ride each day on a piece of road which is wide enough that a bus can safely pass me, but because there is the option of a nearby cycle path people actually attack me. I mean literally aim their vehicles at me or shout out of their window. But yet literally I am nowhere near in their way. It’s insane!

  3. Can you watch it if you don’t live in the South? Or record it somehow…. looks interesting. Far too many close passes – most rides have one or more incident. Keep safe ‍♀️

  4. I feel that over the last few years the situation got worse, in many/most cases I would bet those are Polaks driving – not hating just an observation.

  5. One per week…I’d be lucky! Try one per mile on average. Cyclists are often seen as an obstruction to traffic rather than part of it. It’s time people were educated about the law and obligations regarding vulnerable road users

  6. I agree with Steve, I ride once a week and turbo the other days due to a hit and run incident I can’t cycle much outside its far too dangerous…. When I do over 100miles I have 3-4 close passes every time at least. Shared cycle paths are not useful I wont use them as they are full of debris its ok with a MTB but bit out a road bike averaging 19mph its far too dangerous as I may hit a pedestrian. We are allowed to use the roads too. Legally

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