Category Archives: Article

Items that are articles rather than just normal short blog posts and comments.

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 →

Quiet Beelines and River Valleys

The strategy adopted by Chris Boardman’s team for planning the Beelines walking and cycling network places a lot of emphasis on quiet routes, and this is reflected in the methodology used, which is very well explained in Nick Hubble’s article … Continue reading →

Beelines commenting: it’s not only about minutiae.

Minutiae (n.) The small, precise, or trivial details of something. (OED) After a recent workshop about the Beelines consultation, I have to admit that I came away rather depressed by the amount of negativity that seemed to exist about the … 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 →

Flying the flag for increased passing distances.

It is clear that GM Police’s Operation Considerate is not going to change the toxic culture on the roads any time soon; in fact it seems to be going backwards rather than forwards. It is also clear that, whilst the … Continue reading →

Low Emissions APPG Inquiry

I was prompted this morning, by an email from the organisation Fair Fuel UK, to write to my MP about the Low Emissions All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry. Naturally, I felt that this was too important an opportunity to miss, so … 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 →

Bolton to Radcliffe off road route

Almost 3 years ago, I posted an article about an off road cycle route from the centre of Bolton to the boundary with Bury at Bradley Fold using a newly created shared path. A couple of days ago I followed … Continue reading →

On when Boardman’s team met Bolton Council

In December of last year, Chris Boardman, who last summer took on the role of Walking and Cycling Commissioner in the office of the Greater Manchester Mayor, published his report, Made to Move, in which he sets out ambitious plans for … 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 →

Bolton Transport Interchange – an exercise in missed opportunities.

Last week, Bolton Council opened the new transport interchange, consolidating bus and rail transport on the same site. Apparently the project cost £48 Million. Further money will be spent on a multi-storey car park to allow people to drive to … Continue reading →

Spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar: NCR55 again.

I have been generally pleased to see the work on National Cycle Route 55, especially the Bolton branch, which was upgraded a couple of years ago. (Notwithstanding the unfortunate stone chip surface that was added to the nice tarmac.) So, … Continue reading →

A ride down Oxford Road, Manchester

The Friday before last, I had a bit of time to spare before the start of the World Naked Bike Ride in Manchester, so I decided to have a ride down Oxford Road and back to see what the new … 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 →