West Midlands Police Initiative - Hooray!

[SoreTween]

Thanks Matthew, that was the one I saw too

[Kim]

@Trafficwmp is making some interesting reading.

https://twitter.com/Trafficwmp/status/794230209641910272

https://twitter.com/Trafficwmp/status/794234626785083392

https://twitter.com/Trafficwmp/status/794242218143973378

[Cudzoziemiec]

I wonder how big a factor defective eyesight is? You do hear of some horrendous incidents (like the one where a driver drove through a red light at a pelican crossing, knocking down several pedestrians, did not stop or even slow down, other people ran into the road (!) to stop him, he only stopped when he got to a traffic queue; he genuinely hadn't seen any of the people or the red light – no sight at all in one eye, very little in the other, now registered blind) but I wonder how big a factor it is compared to just not paying attention (or just not giving a shit)? Good that they can do something so decisive about it on the spot though; and that brumcops at least are actually doing it.

[Kim]

I expect an alarming number of people are getting away with it, probably because they're mostly going to be experienced older drivers and manage to avoid serious accidents for a long time until they don't.

I've been driven by someone whose vision I suspect was not road legal.  Quiet country road, in the dark, at about double the speed that I'd contemplate driving at in those conditions.  I assume they were familiar with the road and mostly using dead-reckoning.  Not good.

[Butterfly]

I've been driven by someone whose vision I suspect was not road legal.  Quiet country road, in the dark, at about double the speed that I'd contemplate driving at in those conditions.  I assume they were familiar with the road and mostly using dead-reckoning.  Not good.

My cousin was the same. He used to drive with his wife reading ALL the road signs. At the time he held the newspaper right up to his face to read. I have no idea why his wife didn't learn (I don't know if she does now). He subsequently had a cornea transplant which has since failed leaving him virtually blind. Fortunately, he seems to have stopped driving now.

[T42]

Whereas here the flics are out on shared urban paths with hand-held radars, dealing out 35€ speeding tickets to cyclists who exceed 10 kph.

[Feline]

It would be great if other areas were to copy this initiative.
What would be the best way of trying to get that to happen? Would petitioning local force police chiefs help do you think?

I have a friend who crashed into the back of a bus while trying to drive round it when it stopped at a bus stop, because she had just collected her new glasses 
It does seem very random that you have to pass the number plate reading thing during your driving test at 17 years old or-so, then no-one checks whether you can actually see again for over 50 years.

[Veloman]

I believe 70yr is the trigger for checks.

But what else gets checked after you have passed your test?

Seems to rely either on enforcement or a Darwin Award.

[Si]

Seems to me that what they are doing out on the road is great - actually stopping people for offensive driving. 

But my worry is that this is a West Midlands initiative, I live in the West Midlands and I've heard nothing about it apart from on cycling forums.  Thus as a deterrent it doesn't yet seem to have got out there and made itself known to those who don't cycle and read forums.  This is the big hurdle if we want to see wide scale driving improvement.

[hatler]

It did make it on to the local West Midlands Beeb evening telly slot.

[Kim]

It did make it on to the local West Midlands Beeb evening telly slot.

And various local papers.  And the BBC national news website.  So it's not been without publicity, given the relatively small scale of the initiative.

The best thing is that other police forces are following suit.  That could generate some momentum.  As could some "We went out to book drivers for overtaking too close, you'll never believe what we caught!" articles, once the data comes in.  That dog thing, for example...

[spindrift]

And the One Show.

[Si]

Must just be me being very unobservant then!   

As yet though I'm not sure it's sinking in.  But there again, it took the anti-drink-driving campaign many many years to start to have an effect.  And we are constantly bombarded with people saying how dangerous mobile use while driving is yet it's still happening everywhere. I guess many people only take notice of what suits them.

[Feline]

The 'drip, drip, drip' of victim blaming, helmet compulsion thinking and anti-cycling can be countered though by a gradual drip of the opposite message. This initiative is a push back in the other direction. What's not to like?

[Kim]

http://road.cc/content/news/211510-west-midlands-police-if-poor-driving-makes-people-too-scared-cycle-its-police

[benborp]

Camden are getting serious!

https://twitter.com/MPSCamdenTnSgt/status/798927259285344256

There's a report on road.cc that reveals the thinking behind using the S59 notices to improve safety even in the areas where they can't run the operation.

[Kim]

https://trafficwmp.wordpress.com/2017/01/11/climbing-mountains/

[Little Jim]

Thanks for posting that Kim, positive stuff.  Perhaps they ought to send the link to South Yorkshire police...

http://road.cc/content/news/215391-was-south-yorkshire-police-right-not-follow-west-midlands-polices-%E2%80%98close-pass%E2%80%99

[spindrift]

SYP come out with baffling bum gravy after a punishment pass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7lUJx4aNnY&t=1s

[mattc]

https://trafficwmp.wordpress.com/2017/01/11/climbing-mountains/

That's quite a long first paragraph. Will try to read properly later ...

[jsabine]

https://trafficwmp.wordpress.com/2017/01/11/climbing-mountains/

That's quite a long first paragraph. Will try to read properly later ...

It's quite a long page ...

Interesting stuff, an astonishing amount of common sense, and would benefit immensely from a resupply of paragraph breaks.

[Kim]

It's the police.  You're doing well to get accurate spelling.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The numbers of close pass due care offences we receive have dropped by about 50% since the #GiveSpaceBeSafe initiative took effect on our regions roads, we still get the same amount of red light, mobile phone and other offences via third party footage though, no change there yet!

There could well be other factors for this (maybe fewer cyclists around cos it's winter, so fewer opportunities for close passing) but such a large drop would seem to indicate some impact at least. Amazing what a bit of enforcement can do. 

https://trafficwmp.wordpress.com/2017/01/11/climbing-mountains/

That's quite a long first paragraph. Will try to read properly later ...

It's quite a long page ...

Interesting stuff, an astonishing amount of common sense, and would benefit immensely from a resupply of paragraph breaks.

Paragraph breaks make their chocolate biscuits crumble.

[Kim]

The numbers of close pass due care offences we receive have dropped by about 50% since the #GiveSpaceBeSafe initiative took effect on our regions roads, we still get the same amount of red light, mobile phone and other offences via third party footage though, no change there yet!

There could well be other factors for this (maybe fewer cyclists around cos it's winter, so fewer opportunities for close passing) but such a large drop would seem to indicate some impact at least. Amazing what a bit of enforcement can do. 

At the recent cycle forum they expressed surprise at the drop in incidents in Coventry, when they haven't been anywhere near Coventry.  It could be due to media attention, I suppose, but I also suspect it's some unrelated factor..

[spindrift]

How do they receive these offences? If that's how they measure success do they mean detected or reported?