Something different | Vital Football

Something different

Rexn

Vital Champions League
I don't know if anyone has experience of this but I have been the subject of a dash cam submission just after mother in law's funeral. Is 2.25 metres enough room to give a cyclist when driving at about 20 mph and has anyone contested that sort of thing?
 
The laws have changed recently but im not 100% sure as to what it changed to but as far as im concerned they don't pay road tax so it's entirely at the cyclists risk.
 
A delicate issue Rexn. While I feel the majority of cyclists have been given a rough deal for cycle lanes and safety there seems by some cyclists to be a sort of strange stance especially at weekends, I can vouch for that.
 
A delicate issue Rexn. While I feel the majority of cyclists have been given a rough deal for cycle lanes and safety there seems by some cyclists to be a sort of strange stance especially at weekends, I can vouch for that.
It's one of my jobs tomorrow, go into York and measure the cycle lanes. They always look a hell of a lot smaller than the room I gave some muppet.

Being the home of Le Grand Depart a few years ago, as well as the Tour de Yorkshire, we get a load of wannabe Wigginses, Froomes and Thomases, creating peletons that it takes 10 miles to overtake, not to mention horse riders and hunts.

Interesting though that early research on the internet suggests the force that has done me have so many procedural flaws and the guy who made the decision to prosecute is totally unaware of national guidelines. Neither did he have a clue that the road marking in the pics prove that I gave at least 2.25 metres.
 
Thanks, Mac.

I think I came to the conclusion that the easy way is to lie and agree that I wasn't paying attention. Sadly, I can't lie so have to take the risk.
 
It supposedly necessary to give at least 1.5 metres when overtaking at less than 30mph . Then more in poor conditions or greater speeds.
 
Thanks, Keggy. I did float that with the guy who processed the footage and he was completely unaware of it. I suppose that says a lot about Somerset and Avon Police. He was also unable to estimate how much room I gave the cyclist which I would have thought was one of the basics of doing the job. I was able to work out that it was at least 2.25 metres in total from bus stop markings. I am amazed to find that the national standard width of markings for a bus stop are from 3 to 3.3 metres which is wider than country lanes around here so if you end up behind a cyclist, you can't overtake them for miles.
 
Well done Rexn. You reserve the right to challenge and it's a positive outcome for you. I wonder if the claimant has any costs incurred?
 
Cheers, Mac.

It seems no costs at all. Around half of British constabularies use an uploading service and promote cyclists to load evidence. Apparently more are going to. The service was launched in mid 2018.

The standards of evidence can be low, typically from wide angle lenses that obviously give distortions and with no uniform mounting criteria. Prosecutors (police) seem not to have been given training in understanding distortions or (which I find criminal) use of reference points to judge distances.

There are different requirements between forces, from no analysis of cyclist behaviour through to the cyclist having to submit 4 minutes of footage so that their behaviour can be assessed (and charged if appropriate).

It seems that there is a national police conference in March this year to try and establish more normalised procedures.