How We Help to Make Our Safe Passing Law Work

Firstly, I wish to say a huge thank you to Phil Skelton of the Stayin Alive at 1.5 campaign and to the following TD's - Ciaran Cannon and Government chief whip Regina Doherty - for working so hard to get a private members bill through and hopefully – a new law created and passed. A question that has been on my mind for the last number of weeks since the fantastic announcement that we should hopefully have a 1.5 meter passing law in effect soon, has been 'how do we enforce this and make it both workable, successful, efficient and policable'?

This law is to be welcomed by all and hopefully enforced competently. For too long, cyclists and drivers have had both the unfortunate legal ambiguities of our Road Safety Authority advising motorists to give cyclists 1.5 meters but with no legal clarity and media outlets advising motorists to provide "some space" (how generous) so as (I assume) not to get cyclist splatter all over your waxed bonnet and windscreen. 

My firm belief is that we're going to have to do a lot more than merely pass this law to truly make it a success. Luckily we have working examples in other countries that we can take and add to our new law to make this successful. 

To make this law workable, successful, efficient and policable, we need to overhaul the traditional method in how we report crimes and have a change in mindset from those supposed to be enforcing our laws. 

If you are using the roads and witness bad driving, we currently have the option of calling the Garda Traffic Corps and the steps are as follows:

“Members of the public can report traffic-related incidents using the Traffic Watch lo-call number 1890 205 805. These calls are answered and logged by civilian personnel at the Garda Information Services Centre, Castlebar, Mayo F23 D303. The incident is then forwarded to the relevant District Officer (Superintendent) for investigation.”

This is certainly a positive but in terms of a streamlined process, it doesn't provide ease of reporting for cyclists and for the purpose of this post, cyclists are my main concern. 

We all lead busy lives and not all of us have the time or the energy after a long day to head to our local Garda station (if one even still has a functioning local Garda station) to file a complaint regarding a dangerous overtake. The problem here is twofold: A dangerous overtake is not caught and registered and the driver not informed that their driving caused danger to the cyclist they overtook.

Imagine if there was a medium the public could use to quickly and efficiently and clearly report a dangerous overtake?

For example…. Twitter?

But in Ireland, we can’t:

It’s annoying because the Gardaí use social media to good effect for missing persons or for giving people instant ability to view recovered stolen property 

So it is very possible to change and use social media to enable better policing of this new law.

But across the water in the UK, police forces are not only embracing the readily available technology, they are changing attitudes:

“"Within a week cyclists were contacting us to tell us things had had not only improved, but improved considerably. There were still close passes, always will be, 'can’t get them all', but they have become a rarity rather than commonplace." says PC Chris Brock.” 

More and more cyclists are wearing cameras for this reason. After a cycle to the office, the shops, the school run, a person using the Cycliq Fly12 can access their videos via an app, find the dangerous overtake and use (on an iPhone) iMovie to edit a video. But in Ireland we have to bring this evidence to a Garda Station and present it. Why can’t we streamline this process and provide cyclists, or anybody who captures dangerous driving or cycling, a monitored email address or a Garda Twitter account where a simple provision of evidence can be documented and acted upon. Swiftly. The dangerous driving is nipped in the bud and the driver is immediately aware their behaviour needs to change.

Enforcement of road traffic laws seems to be a big issue here  and this process change I’m suggesting could mean renewed motivation for the law enforcers when they see their effort and work rewarded. Trust in the enforcers grows when people see their concerns and reports acted upon. The benefits are wide ranging.

Further opportunities for police on the streets is a side effect too. People have asked “how is this going to be enforceable?” Well, in urban areas, West Midlands Police are leading the way again with undercover policing.

In rural areas, ease of reporting for cyclists or people via social media or email would help to speed up and enable the new law to work to its intended way. And that is the minimum that we both want and expect from our laws: that they just work.

When word gets out that prosecutions are occurring, it enables changing of attitudes and behaviour. Check out this tweet  - that’s 250+ prosecutions via 3^rd party video.

To those that argue about time, cost or use of resources, I give you this: “Op Closepass has been a success, that’s all you can say really. It was cost neutral, just part of our everyday patrols. We have used officers own bikes, equipment and also Cycliq kindly gave us Fly cameras to test, so it cost nothing.” 

Until cycling starts to be funded properly, which means actual, proper cycling infrastructure being built and receiving more than the peanuts it currently receives here in Ireland, the onus is on all of us to share the roads and be respectful to each other. And if some believe they’re entitled to use the roads that they pay road tax for. . . *cough* . . . and others insist on being dangerous and ignorant drivers, this safe passing law is exactly what we need. It should be the catalyst for change on our roads, to our attitudes towards safety and enabling those who want to cycle, feel safe on our roads. We can do this. But it will take more than the mere passing of a law. It will take some forward thinking and reorganising of a policing force that currently seems difficult to modernise. But with the passing of this law, it can be the catalyst for change. 

Before I leave you, I give you a comparison in policing attitudes and the placing of responsibility:

Police Force Number 1: “The 1% have left with a piece of paper that is titled “Traffic Process Report”, no further explanation is needed, they failed to show not only the driving skills necessary but also the aptitude to guarantee belief they won’t endanger a vulnerable road user again.” 

Police Force Number 2: “If a new offence of failing to wear hi-vis clothing and helmets was introduced, the Garda could initially give a verbal warning to those cyclists in breach of the legislation. He hoped that would encourage most bike riders to comply with his proposed new measure.”

“If you are cycling around the city centre . . . you see people daily stepping out and trucks taking corners short and so on. So you need to protect yourself – and fluorescent jackets and helmets are the way to go.” . . . you read that correctly. You can protect yourself from being crushed by “trucks taking corners short” by wearing an auld “fluorescent jacket and helmets. 

I know which I would have confidence in knowing them to be on my side.

To conclude, the West Midlands Police explain it best in this article:

“Intended to educate, not prosecute.
Overall, the response from offenders was very positive. This campaign did not have the intent to prosecute as many drivers as possible, but rather educate them. Awareness is necessary to be able to assess the situation around cyclists and then decide on safe overtakes. Only 1% of the offenders were actually given 'Traffic Process Reports', and quite often this was due to other violations (i.e. on the phone while driving, driving without insurance)”

Education. Not prosecution. This is not about attacking motorists. This is about educating motorists as to the dangers cyclists face on roads we share.

What’s so bad about keeping cyclists safe and alive by allowing them 1.5?