C Frank is petitioning the Government to make the police take the close passing of cyclists by motorists more seriously. I agree with him and have signed his petition. My experience is that some police officers do take this problem seriously but many do not. My account here of a morning with the Metropolitan Police Cycle Task Force includes the defeatist sentiment expressed to me by a police sergeant that close passing was all too subjective to take any action.
It is very difficult to know how often close passing results in tragedy and I have a sneaking suspicion that when it does many motorists would prefer to claim they had not seen the cyclist than to admit that a close pass went wrong. Whatever the figures though, close passing is unquestionably precisely the sort of subjectively terrifying experience that drives a lot of potential cyclists off our roads.
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Change.org Petitions allow a person to give a reason for signing , thus reinforcing their opinion !
ReplyDeleteThis one , disappointingly does not allow people that opportunity , thus , cases , such as the " Wool death Event" do not get the recognition they deserve .
With 235 Members on this Blog , i hope there will be many more people following Martin's example and broadcasting the PETITION so that it has a chance of becoming VIRAL , thus getting the result , WE , the Cycling Community need !
According to wikipedia the ctc had in 2008 60,000 members. With petitions such as these if they carefully choreographed their membership (each member approaches a friend/family member and urges them to sign a petition to legislate a measure that could save their life), the 100,000 requirement for it to be discussed in the commons would be easily reached.
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