2022/24822 - Cyclists that have been close passed by a motor vehicle

REQUEST

I’m writing to you to make a request under the freedom of information act relating to incidents reported in your region where cyclists have been close passed by a motor vehicle such as those made as part of Operation Snap or similar. Please could I receive the information broken down by calendar year from 2016 onwards in order to establish trends? I’d like to know how many close passes involving cyclists have been reported and how many of them were accompanied by supporting video evidence. I’m also interested in the outcomes of the reports. What are the outcomes and what is their split amongst the reports? E.g., how many reports result in no further action being taken, how many resulted in the driver being written to, how many resulted in the drivers being asked to attend an awareness course, and in how many instances were drivers prosecuted etc.? Also, in how many of the reports did the cyclist receive a warning or prosecution relating to their part in the incident? Having submitted many videos to different regions, highlighting what I believed to be obviously dangerous close passes that have resulted in different outcomes, I’d also like to understand how the level of outcome is arrived at and how the consistency of the evidence review is ensured? For example: Is there a minimum level of training required for each person reviewing evidence? Is it ever acceptable for a vehicle to pass close within 1.5m of a cyclist? If not, how is the proximity assessed from video evidence? If so, how is the speed of pass or risk presented assessed from video evidence? What are the documented guidelines/standards that those reviewing the video evidence follow? Finally, with respect to the changes in the Highway Code concerning a hierarchy of vulnerable road users, will this be acknowledged in your regions budget spend and what will I notice as a cyclist?

RESPONSE