Life Cycle: Closing In

Police close-pass initiatives are vital for encouraging new cyclists.

- Rob Ainsley

JFK airport; a hostel in Rosario, Argentina; the B6164 into Knaresborough... I’ve had near-death experiences at all of them. 

JFK involved a lightning strike on our plane and horrendous landing in a violent storm. I still hate flying. The hostel was the target of an armed raid – I was hauled out of bed and held hostage at gunpoint. I still don’t like Argentina. And the B6164? Oh, you know, just another close pass where I cheated death again by diving into nettles. The sort of thing we all put up with several times a year. At least I still like cycling.

The thing is, we shouldn’t put up with it. Every month, since the West Midlands started the ball rolling last year, it seems another police force comes on board with a campaign to target close-passing motorists – over a dozen now, and growing. Indeed, much of the enthusiasm for the scheme is coming from cyclist officers themselves.

In Southwark, London, for example, after consulting local cyclists about the worst areas, plainclothes coppers rode around Peckham Rye for an hour. Police vans were conspicuously placed, to self-select the worst drivers, and perhaps rebut allegations of ‘war-against motorists’ entrapment.