Polish Car Limited. Detailed police response. скачать в хорошем качестве

Polish Car Limited. Detailed police response.

Polish Car Limited, Pingewood Business Estate, Smallmead Rd, Reading, RG30 3UR Police response: "The driver of the van who contravened a traffic sign was given a warning for this offence. He was apologetic and felt given the number of cyclists he was faced with, who were according to him at some points 3-abreast, passing that side of the island was safer than trying to squeeze through on the left. Again, I do not feel this is something that would carry a realistic prospect of a conviction at court and a driving course should only be considered as an alternative to this." I queried this and received the following reply: "Thanks for your email. What we have to consider is the seriousness of the incident and what is proportionate as a course of action. I would say that in this incident we have a driver who has contravened the keep left signs, and he does not dispute he knew he had done that. He stated he did so because the car in front of him, and as we can see, more so the car following him had to squeeze past the cyclists who were at that point 2-abreast. So passing the incorrect side of the pedestrian refuge he felt was the safest option in the circumstances. The silver car coming the other way is quite distant in the footage so it is hard to determine what their viewpoint would have been and if they had to take any action to avoid the van. We have not received any report from them alleging any careless driving. We also have to be aware of what defences might be used to counter any suggestion of carelessness. The driver says traffic had built up behind your group and that the cyclists were side by side. It could be argued that due to the road being narrow due to parked cars, and busy with traffic you should have cycled in single file. The Highway code would support this. It would also suggest that extra care should be taken when approaching narrowings and other traffic calming features. The cyclists in your group went pass the pedestrian refuge 2-abreast. It could be argued greater consideration should have been shown by your group of cyclists. The gaps between each pair do make passing the group problematic for motorists as is shown not only by the van, but by the black Peugeot following. I think what each of the 3 cars that pass you did not anticipate was the pedestrian refuge. We need to be confident that the evidence we has proves beyond reasonable doubt that the offence has been committed. I do not believe this piece of driving is sufficiently careless to confidently expect a court to convict the driver. We also need to consider the public interest and whether this type of incident justifies public money being spent to put it before a court and in the event of a not guilty plea, carry this to trial. As you say, no danger was caused to your group of cyclists, and we have no allegation from the oncoming driver that his manoeuvre caused them to consider his driving careless enough to report to the police. I hope you can see where our decision has to come from. The investigating officer who interviewed the driver recommended a course or a warning. As a decision maker it is for me to make the final decision and the warning for contravening the traffic sign was how I felt this was best resolved. In all likelihood the driver would not have accepted the offer of a driving course. Our option then is no further action or court. So being that I do not believe I am justified in taking this to court, I did not make that offer of education. You have my understanding and empathy as a cyclist. I am a very keen road cyclist, I do a lot of miles a year, commuting and riding for pleasure. I know like you a lot of motorists take chances when passing you, and often lack the merest amount of patience, but unfortunately this is the reality we face. Most of my rides would include being overtaken by motorists when I personally feel it was risky or coming a bit close to me. Ideally we’d have road set ups like Belgium or the Netherlands where cycle lanes are part of all roads, maybe one day?! And as a motorist I also feel it is easy to misjudge overtaking cyclists, especially those of us who can get up a bit of speed. In trying to be careful people often inadvertently end up endangering us. We are vulnerable, I’ve been hit several times by cars and know the consequences all too well so I like to think I have a good appreciation of the point of view of cyclists and motorists. Kind regards,"