Came across this petition . . . .

FSR_XC

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41324

I wonder what the Government would do?

diy

better if they wrote to their new police commissioner as the existing laws are sufficient to prosecute inconsiderate and dangerous driving. Policing priorities are now set by crime and police commissioners.

mamba80

The issue is - how to enforce any change in priorities/law.
Police budgets are being slashed - road deaths are on the up and traffic policing is very expensive - so one of the first things to be cut - the extra costs associated with this are picked up by another dept and another pot of money

diy

Road deaths are not really increasing when you consider all the factors. Otherwise its like saying Economic recession and high fuel costs improves road safety.

mamba80

i dont follow...? where did fuel costs/recession come into it?

Nationally they - deaths - are up and in in Devon and Cornwall by 43% and according to the local cops in my club, road traffic policing budgets are certainly being cut - the entire traffic division disbanded. Governemnt funding cut by a 1/4 and the difference isnt being made up by council tax.

The Petition is about giving cyclists more space, an admirable aim - but without enforcement and that means realistic chance of joe driver getting caught - its meaningless - see driving using a mobile or no insurance - harsh penalties but the chances of getting caught?

stickman

Is it Holland, where they have road signs reminding drivers about passing safely? That would be worth having here. The thing I hate most about riding is drivers passing psycopathically close.

diy

mamba80 wrote:

i dont follow...? where did fuel costs/recession come into it?

Nationally they - deaths - are up and in in Devon and Cornwall by 43% and according to the local cops in my club, road traffic policing budgets are certainly being cut - the entire traffic division disbanded. Governemnt funding cut by a 1/4 and the difference isnt being made up by council tax.

Plod propaganda I'm afraid. their budgets were not cut in 2005 when it increased by the same amount. No doubt they claimed the fall from 02-04 was all due to their hard work too. The stats are on-line and you can see that D&C plod are just manipulating the stats. Recession has a major impact on vehicle journeys, with money being tight and fuel being expensive, people travel less by car. Less vehicle miles = less exposure, less exposure = fewer accidents = fewer fatalities.

There is so much more that needs to be taken in to consideration than just this years numbers vs. last years numbers. A statistician would say this is regression to the mean. Long hot summers are the biggest killers too

Phil Fouracre

Usual old story - lies, damn lies and statistics! helped by the likes of the war on roads between cyclists and cars. Read somewhere that cycling accidents had increased, horrible, but, nowhere near the percentage that cycle use had risen by, so effectively a fall - nobody wants to publish positive news

buckmulligan

I might start a petition to ban the importing of BMWs into this country.

I don't know what it is about that particular brand of car, but it makes normal, rational drivers turn in to psychopathic morons. My mate used to be quite a nice considerate driver when he drove a Puma. Now he's got 3 series and drives like a tw@t.

Every time someone blitzes past me within an inch of my handlebars, I look up and heart sinks as I see that f@cking badge again.

jezzpalmer

BuckMulligan wrote:

My mate used to be quite a nice considerate driver when he drove a Puma. Now he's got 3 series and drives like a tw@t.

That's ironic, I thought only tw@ts drove pumas.
Perhaps the BMW just allowed him to express it.

Reane_Machine

Would sure be nice if this petition even made it to a green paper.

How would you define 'safe' space though, every cyclist has a different idea of 'too close' (unless it's mere inches, of course), and then there's the problem of drivers just not bothering anyway because they won't get caught, as has already been said.

Signs would be good, but in an ideal world so would dedicated cycle paths on every road.

ed_j

Am I the only one that thinks giving a cyclist a cars-width on overtaking is a little OTT?

Idiots will be idiots to be honest. Most drivers give me plenty of room, the few that don't are probably just on the whole bad drivers...