Day of action hailed a success

A day of action targeting inconsiderate driving has been hailed a success after no offences were committed during the four-hour operation in Northampton.

Officers from Northamptonshire Police’s Safer Roads Team joined colleagues from the Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Service and Cycle Northants on Wednesday (June 12) in Moulton.

As part of Operation Close Pass, the team patrolled the area on bicycles between 10am and 2pm looking for drivers who fail to overtake cyclists at a safe distance, which is a minimum of 1.5 metres at 30mph.

During the checks, officers observed more than 140 vehicles as they passed the cyclist and were pleased that on each occasion all of the drivers performed safe overtakes.

PC Dave Lee of Northamptonshire Police’s Safer Roads Team, said: “With so many vehicles overtaking our cyclist, it was very encouraging that none of them came too close.

“Operation Close Pass was set up to promote the message that roads are shared spaces for all who use them. So it is great to see this appears to be getting through and motorists are giving our cyclists the appropriate space.”

Launched last September, Operation Close Pass aims to improve road safety for cyclists and reduce the number of riders killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads. In 2018, there were 127 casualties (two fatalities, 27 seriously and 98 slight injuries) which was up by 10 for the same period in 2017.

Operation Close Pass is part of a range of road safety work being carried out by Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance (NSRA), which aims to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured and make the county’s roads safer.

NSRA is a countywide partnership between the Force, Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Service, The Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and Northamptonshire Highways, which represents the County Council.