This is the moment that cost a driver £1,800 and points on his licence, after he overtook a cyclist on a country road without leaving enough space.

Company director Wayne Humphreys, 77, was captured coming close to a cyclist while passing them in a white Audi Q8 in Pant Hirwaun, Bridgend, in September last year.

Humphreys was forced to pay out a total of £1,887 in a fine and costs. He was also given four penalty points following an Operation Snap submission to roads policing team GoSafe.

GoSafe regularly receives submissions through Operation Snap, which encourages the public to report close pass incidents in order to protect cyclists on the road.

Humphreys, of Tyla Garw, Pontyclun, was offered a course as an alternative to prosecution for driving without due care and attention.

However, he failed to accept the course and later failed to comply with a fixed penalty notice resulting in him appearing in Cardiff Magistrates' Court on 8 June.

He was found guilty of driving without due care and attention and as well as the penalty points on his licence he was given a £1,152 fine and ordered to pay £620 costs to the CPS and a £115 victim surcharge.

A GoSafe spokesman said: "Despite this, unfortunately, GoSafe continues to receive regular Op Snap submissions relating to close pass incidents.

“This outcome shows that these submissions are taken seriously and given the appropriate amount of attention as we continue to work towards ensuring that our roads are safer for everyone."

The Highway Code states that drivers should give cyclists at least as much room as when overtaking a car, leaving at least 1.5 metres when overtaking at speeds of up to 30mph, and more space when overtaking at higher speeds.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/driver-fined-1800-passing-cyclist-too-closely-country-road-072317262.html

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This is the moment that cost a driver £1,800 and points on his licence,
> after he overtook a cyclist on a country road without leaving enough space.

Fined £1800? That’s almost as much as that cyclist was fined for killing
Rhiannon Bennett.

--
Spike

QUOTE: The Highway Code states that drivers should give cyclists at least as much room as when overtaking a car, leaving at least 1.5 metres when overtaking at speeds of up to 30mph, and more space when overtaking at higher speeds. ENDS

Drivers don't read the Highway Code though - ignorance is bliss with these idiots.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> QUOTE: The Highway Code states that drivers should give cyclists at least
> as much room as when overtaking a car, leaving at least 1.5 metres when
> overtaking at speeds of up to 30mph, and more space when overtaking at higher speeds. ENDS
>
> Drivers don't read the Highway Code though - ignorance is bliss with these idiots.

Cyclists don't read the Highway Code though - ignorance is bliss with these
idiots. Just ask Rhiannon Bennett.

--
Spike

On Monday, May 22, 2023 at 11:54:32 AM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> QUOTE: The Highway Code states that drivers should give cyclists at least as much room as when overtaking a car, leaving at least 1.5 metres when overtaking at speeds of up to 30mph, and more space when overtaking at higher speeds. ENDS
>
> Drivers don't read the Highway Code though - ignorance is bliss with these idiots.

Highway Code: 61% of drivers HAVE NOT read new rules, AA survey suggests.

A survey by the AA returned the concerning statistic that 61 per cent of motorists asked admitted they had not read the recent updates to the Highway Code, including advice for protecting vulnerable road users and giving cyclists and pedestrians priority at junctions.

https://road.cc/content/news/61-drivers-have-not-read-new-highway-code-295709

Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:
> swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>> QUOTE: The Highway Code states that drivers should give cyclists at least
>> as much room as when overtaking a car, leaving at least 1.5 metres when
>> overtaking at speeds of up to 30mph, and more space when overtaking at higher speeds. ENDS
>>
>> Drivers don't read the Highway Code though - ignorance is bliss with these idiots.
>
> Cyclists don't read the Highway Code though - ignorance is bliss with these
> idiots. Just ask Rhiannon Bennett.
>

If the did, at least one would still be alive and an innocent pedestrian
wouldn’t be in jail.

A survey by the AA returned the concerning statistic that 61 per cent of motorists asked admitted they had not read the recent updates to the Highway Code, including advice for protecting vulnerable road users and giving cyclists and pedestrians priority at junctions.

The motoring association surveyed 13,327 members, with 8,090 (61 per cent) saying they had not read the changes made in January. Of the 8,090 not to have read the new rules, 6,972 (52 per cent) said they were aware of the changes but had not read them, while 1,118 (8 per cent) were completely unaware of them.

The managing director of AA Accident Assist, Tim Rankin, said the group is "concerned that so many still haven't read the rules".

"While we are pleased that many of the changes can be successfully recalled, we'd like more drivers to know the rules outright so they can keep themselves and others safe," he said.

"It is in everyone's interest to take every measure that helps avoid collisions and remove confusion from the road, so we urge those that still haven't read the updated code to do so as soon as possible."

In January, a wide update of the Highway Code came into force, including guidance on safely overtaking cyclists, encouraging vehicle occupants to use the Dutch Reach technique to avoid dooring riders, and giving cyclists and pedestrians priority at junctions without traffic signals.

The new rules also established a hierarchy of road users aimed at making the roads safer for the most vulnerable, with those road users with the most potential to do harm told to protect those more vulnerable.

The AA survey follows a June study which estimated more than 50 per cent of motorists were unable to even name one new rule. Weeks after that, and six months since the rules came into effect, the government finally launched a THINK! road safety campaign — titled 'Travel Like You Know Them' — to promote the changes.

One of the major criticisms of the government roll-out of the new rules was that they were not properly communicated to the public. Back in January a shadow minister said they will be "totally meaningless" if people are unaware, while the AA's head of roads policy Jack Cousens warned "too many drivers are unaware of the new rules of the road".

At the time, Cycling UK called for a long-term public awareness campaign to help produce a "mindset shift" on British roads.