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Category Archives: Road Justice
OpConsiderate online submission – analysis of 47 cases.
Introduction I have been involved with Operation Considerate for a very long time – since before its inception by Insp Paul Rowe and his team – and was actively involved in helping to get the online submission service off the … Continue reading
Operation Considerate: More feedback is needed.
The Black Hole Something that has concerned me for a long time about the Operation Considerate reporting process is that, a lot of the time, it feels like something of a black hole: lots of stuff going in, but very … Continue reading
A second successful prosecution from Operation Considerate.
Back in January, I wrote an article about the first successful prosecution in court from an Operation Considerate online submission. Since that time, I have been very disappointed with the decisions of the Operation Considerate officers regarding cases that were … Continue reading
Open letter to Otis Elevator Company.
Dear Otis, I am writing to bring to your attention the poor driving of one of your van drivers. At approximately 8.10 AM on 11th July, I was riding a bicycle towards the town centre along Higher Bridge Street in … Continue reading
Does OpConsiderate need Bikeability training?
I have been a very strong advocate for Greater Manchester Police Traffic Division’s Operation Considerate online video submission process ever since the original team in the Serious Collision Investigation Unit started it just over a year ago. Traffic PCSOs Stephanie … Continue reading
My response to the CWIS Safety Consultation
11.45 PM today is the deadline for responses to the UK Government Department for Transport’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Safety Review call for evidence. Like a typical student, I left it until the last minute to do my assignment, … Continue reading
Video evidence: why we need a wide field of view.
This is just a quick blog article prompted by my seeing a post from a twitter user who had a close pass video knocked back after submitting it to one of the police online submission programmes. The video is here. … Continue reading
GM Police online submission results in its first conviction.
On Friday, I attended the magistrate’s court as a witness in a trial for driving without due care and attention. This was the first case to come to court as a result of Greater Manchester Roads Policing Unit’s online submission … Continue reading
Close pass initiatives – setting the standards.
A lot of articles in the past, including many of my own, have been quite disparaging about the way the police handled – or rather didn’t handle – incidents such as close passing and tailgating of cyclists, as well as … Continue reading
A (constructive) message to Arriva.
This morning, I was pleased to see this response from Arriva North-West to a message I sent to them via Twitter on Friday: Their second tweet gave an email address for me to write to. In fact, I’ve had far … Continue reading
Arriva North West, you’ve taught me so much over the years.
Indeed, you’ve been teaching me for years how to ride on Blackburn road when there are drivers such as yours who simply cannot be trusted with my safety. Here are some examples. Bridge Street, passing Topp Way In 2011 and … Continue reading
Concerning video evidence of close passes.
Many police forces are now accepting online submission of reports from cyclists (and motorists) of bad driving – particularly close passes – with video evidence. Although there have been online reporting systems for some time, such as the Metropolitan Police’s … Continue reading
Police action – the next step.
Back in March, I wrote an article about the work that the Traffic Division of Greater Manchester Police were/are doing to address the problem of dangerous driving around vulnerable road users such as cyclists. I mentioned in there that the … Continue reading
Road Injustice – revisiting the vicious circle.
Just over a year ago, I wrote an article called The Vicious Circle, about a self-reinforcing system that maintains a very unhealthy attitude in society and the justice system regarding what constitutes careless or dangerous driving. The general public form … Continue reading
Greater Manchester Police Action Starts Today
I have been extremely critical of Greater Manchester Police in this blog ever since I started it, as you can see from this set of articles. However, today is the start of a new dawn (to steal a phrase from … Continue reading
Getting the message across.
What does it means to “get the message across”? Is it sufficient to make sure that your language is grammatically correct, that you always ensure your statements are truthful and supported by evidence, and that you always say precisely what … Continue reading
Safety and Numbers: the sad case of Bolton.
There has been a report circulating recently about the relationship between cycling safety and the number of people cycling, which uses available data to show the rather unsurprising negative correlation between the rates of injuries and deaths of people riding … Continue reading
What expertise do Greater Manchester police divisions need?
Well, probably lots of things, but I’m referring specifically here to cyclists’ reports about dangerous motorists. After I posted my last article, a discussion ensued, in response to a comment from a Twitter user, in which GMP Traffic division participated. … Continue reading
Yet more police inaction – time for another formal compaint.
This post follows on from one that I did on 29th November in which I wrote about four recent cases in which I felt the Greater Manchester Police failed to address dangerous and aggressive actions of drivers. I’m writing this one to … Continue reading
A shameful lack of interest from Greater Manchester Police
There has been a lot of praise in recent months for the actions of the Traffic Division of West Midlands Police in dealing with driving that puts people on cycles at risk. The initiative, know as Operation Close Pass, is particularly … Continue reading
Back to crappy, lawless England.
I rode my bike for about two and a half hours today. Much of that time was spent practising the key skills of Sustrans cycleway use: dismounting and mounting; lifting my bike over obstacles; dodging glass, potholes and dog muck; … Continue reading
The vicious circle
(Caveat: I Am Not A Lawyer) We see time after time failures of justice at all levels when it comes to dealing with incidents that happen on our roads. We have a poisonous road culture and a uncaring society when … Continue reading
… and lick t’road clean with our tongues.
Four Yorshiremen was always one of my favourite Monty Python sketches (though it actually pre-dated Monty Python). We must all have come across this kind of competition between individuals about who has had it hardest in some area of life, … Continue reading
Arriva bus driver shows how to do it.
After my last article, I was pleased to experience this today: Excellent driving, at exactly the same place that featured in the other article, showing just how much room is available at that spot: I have absolutely no idea whether … Continue reading
Arriva Bus company defends apparent road rage.
At the beginning of November, I had cause to complain to the Arriva Bus Company about this bit of driving: I sent the following message via their online complaints page: I was riding my bicycle home from the shops last … Continue reading
“Jaywalker” – Email sent to Direct Line
Sent this morning to pressoffice@directlinegroup.co.uk. Hello, As a long term customer of yours, I am writing regarding your article at this location: http://www.directline.com/media/archive-2013/news-25042013 [This is the archive version. The email contained the original, which has now been removed from the … Continue reading
Some observations from visiting Oxford
I just spent a few days in Oxford with my wife. We didn’t ride bikes, but did do a fair amount of walking. As we expected in Oxford, we saw lots of people on bikes, mostly with flat handlebars and … Continue reading
Cyclists Dismount: A disappointing attitude from @BoltonCouncil
The picture below shows the approach to some road works that are currently in progress on Moss Bank Way in Bolton: “Cyclists Dismount” signs are often used by ignorant local authorities who claim that they are there for safety reasons, … Continue reading
Yet another GM Police failure.
I have to say that I am absolutely stunned by the Bolton police response to this one. Here is the video: I made detailed calculations of the relevant information from the video and wrote up a statement, which I handed … Continue reading
GM Police Complaint – part 2: local resolution
This short article is an update on the progress of my police complaint, which I first reported in this article. Two weeks after I posted my complaint to the Professional Standards Branch of Greater Manchester Police, I was informed that … Continue reading