Close passes
In January I changed my commute to work after a couple of nasty close passes in Barnet, too fast for me to get numbers to be reportable. Closes passes are covered by The Highway Code rule 163, which states that driver should;
“give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car” ( https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/using-the-road-159-to-203#overtaking-rules-162-to-169)
This is generally taken to mean 1.5m, which has led to the mats being sent out to police forces by Cycling UK and which has been championed by West Midlands Police with great success. After all, if you catch bad drivers and take them off the road, that benefits everyone, not just cyclists.
In Hertfordshire you can report close passes and other anti-social driving on this form: https://www.herts.police.uk/Report/Report-Shared/Report-anti-social-driving. This covers:
- driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- driving with no insurance or without a licence
- speeding or careless driving
- driving an unroadworthy vehicle
- driving whilst using a mobile device
If you have used this to report bad driving, do please let us know the outcome.
WelHatCycling at local stations
We’ll be out at Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield stations on the evening of Monday 26th March 2018 to raise awareness of our group amongst cycle commuters. Look out for our feather flags and do say hi to us. This is the first day after the clocks change, so we are hoping for daylight and no snow!
Alban Way litter pick
Please keep Saturday 28th April 2018 10:00 to 12:30 free and join us in our annual litter pick along the Alban Way. As usual we will be joined by the local Sustrans Rangers and as this is part of clean up Hatfield, we may have other volunteers too. Full details in the next newsletter.
Next ride: 14th April 2018
Our next ride will be on Saturday 14th April 2018 when we will ride the Cole Green Way to Hertford for lunch and then on to Ware to visit Scott’s Grotto. More information in the events section.