West Midlands Police in the UK have reported that the number of cyclists killed or seriously hurt on the region’s roads has dropped by a fifth since the force launched an operation protecting them from ‘close pass’ drivers.
#OpClosePass was introduced by West Midlands Police a year ago and sees plain clothes police officers cycling busy roads on the lookout for motorists who pass too close to cyclists.
Almost 200 offenders have been pulled over during close-pass operations. Most have been allowed on their way after being given an on-the-spot educational input on safe overtaking using a specially designed floor mat. The number of cyclists involved in serious road smashes in the last year has dropped by 20 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
PC Mark Hodson, from West Midlands Police’s Force Traffic Unit outlined the success of the inititive at a Close Pass Conference on Tuesday (19 September) as traffic teams from across the UK look to mirror the success of the West Midlands scheme.
UK Cycling described #OpClosePass as the “best cyclist road safety initiative ever”.
Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s Senior Road Safety officer, said: “Cycling UK knew West Midlands Police were on to a winner when they rolled out their “Give Space, be Safe” campaign. That’s why we backed it from the start. It’s a cost effective initiative that has proved highly effective at changing dangerous driving behaviour.”
In Ireland, Phil Skelton has been continuing to increase awareness of the Stayin’ Alive at 1.5 campaign to pursue the adoption of a law that requires motorists to give cyclists 1.5 metres clearance when passing from the rear.
Phil has also had a floor mat designed to help educate people on what constitutes a close pass and he has been attending the Ploughing Championships in Tullamore, Co. Offaly during the week where nearly 300,000 visitors attended. This weekend, he will be raising awareness of the campaign at the Great Dublin Bike Ride.
Such a shame that one of the biggest forces in the country with some if the most aggressive roads in the country haven’t bothered to take this up despite a number if fatal crashes.
You can’t relate the two together! It’s a great campaign but there’s no evidence to say that because the campaign started casualties decreased.
Think about it objectively. A very small scale operation versus thousands of different factors that decide if a collision occurs and is then reported to the police. Then throw in random fluctuations in annual collision numbers.
I think this should be in the Highway Code but don’t believe for one minute if all drivers passed at 1.5m we would see zero casualties. Most injuries happen at junctions.