Police in Birmingham responded to a string of hit-and-run incidents in the city by undertaking a day of action targeting dangerous driving, with more than 70 motorists stopped, including one allegedly watching a video on their phone behind the wheel.

The operation came following the deaths of two cyclists in hit-and-runs in May, a third killed in a collision on June 8, a week before a fourth incident saw two pedestrians, a boy and a woman, seriously injured, and sparking a roadblock protest in Kings Heath.

West Midlands Police yesterday carried out a joint road safety op alongside Birmingham City Council. At Belgrave Middleway, the scene of the collision which killed Hussien Nur Teklise on May 16, more than 40 drivers were stopped on suspicion of a number of offences, the BBC (link is external) reports, including having visibility-reducing tinted windows, as well as driving without insurance or with dangerous defects.

On the Hagley Road, more than 30 motorists were stopped, one of whom was disqualified and another who did not have documentation, while officers also advised motorists on safe passing of cyclists.

West Midlands walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter had responded to the hit-and-run deaths by writing a letter calling for a meeting with police and council colleagues to bring about accelerated action to protect vulnerable road users.

Yesterday, Tranter described the police action as "like shooting fish in a barrel, but the fish are really quite dangerous".

"I don't want to be walking or cycling with my kids with these people when they can't see out of their windows properly or they don't bother with insurance," he added.

Commenting on West Midlands Police's work, supt Gareth Mason said his force was "investing heavily" in road safety and had put 23 extra officers on road policing, with plans for further operations in the future.

"Angry and frightened"

Two weeks ago hundreds of locals lined the road through Kings Heath to protest the hit-and-runs and the dangerous state of the roads in the city.

"It was extremely poignant, we went there because of the hit-and-run on Thursday, but opposite the railings where we were, there's a memorial to Hope," Paul Manzotti from Better Streets for Birmingham, the campaign group behind the protest told road.cc, referencing the memorial to Hope Fenell who was killed in a collision involving an HGV driver in 2011.

"It's been 12 years, and very little has changed. People are angry and frightened about the state of our roads. There's a real determination and a lot of people have reached the point of 'enough is enough'. We have been at the words stage, now we want action."

https://road.cc/content/news/road-safety-operation-following-cyclist-hit-and-run-deaths-302261

Note that ‘having no documentation’ IS NOT A CRIME…

Mswldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Police in Birmingham responded to a string of hit-and-run incidents in
> the city by undertaking a day of action targeting dangerous driving, with
> more than 70 motorists stopped, including one allegedly watching a video
> on their phone behind the wheel.
>
> The operation came following the deaths of two cyclists in hit-and-runs
> in May, a third killed in a collision on June 8, a week before a fourth
> incident saw two pedestrians, a boy and a woman, seriously injured, and
> sparking a roadblock protest in Kings Heath.
>
> West Midlands Police yesterday carried out a joint road safety op
> alongside Birmingham City Council. At Belgrave Middleway, the scene of
> the collision which killed Hussien Nur Teklise on May 16, more than 40
> drivers were stopped on suspicion of a number of offences, the BBC (link
> is external) reports, including having visibility-reducing tinted
> windows, as well as driving without insurance or with dangerous defects.
>
> On the Hagley Road, more than 30 motorists were stopped, one of whom was
> disqualified and another who did not have documentation, while officers
> also advised motorists on safe passing of cyclists.
>
> West Midlands walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter had responded
> to the hit-and-run deaths by writing a letter calling for a meeting with
> police and council colleagues to bring about accelerated action to
> protect vulnerable road users.
>
> Yesterday, Tranter described the police action as "like shooting fish in
> a barrel, but the fish are really quite dangerous".
>
> "I don't want to be walking or cycling with my kids with these people
> when they can't see out of their windows properly or they don't bother
> with insurance," he added.
>
> Commenting on West Midlands Police's work, supt Gareth Mason said his
> force was "investing heavily" in road safety and had put 23 extra
> officers on road policing, with plans for further operations in the future.
>
> "Angry and frightened"
>
> Two weeks ago hundreds of locals lined the road through Kings Heath to
> protest the hit-and-runs and the dangerous state of the roads in the city.
>
> "It was extremely poignant, we went there because of the hit-and-run on
> Thursday, but opposite the railings where we were, there's a memorial to
> Hope," Paul Manzotti from Better Streets for Birmingham, the campaign
> group behind the protest told road.cc, referencing the memorial to Hope
> Fenell who was killed in a collision involving an HGV driver in 2011.
>
> "It's been 12 years, and very little has changed. People are angry and
> frightened about the state of our roads. There's a real determination and
> a lot of people have reached the point of 'enough is enough'. We have
> been at the words stage, now we want action."
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/road-safety-operation-following-cyclist-hit-and-run-deaths-302261
>

--
Spike

Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:

> Note that ‘having no documentation’ IS NOT A CRIME…

The police must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel if they had to
use that reason for making drivers look bad.

> Mswldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Police in Birmingham responded to a string of hit-and-run incidents in
>> the city by undertaking a day of action targeting dangerous driving, with
>> more than 70 motorists stopped, including one allegedly watching a video
>> on their phone behind the wheel.

>> https://road.cc/content/news/road-safety-operation-following-cyclist-hit-and-run-deaths-302261

--
Spike

eburtthebike | 4484 posts | 19 hours ago
13 likes

"Yesterday, Tranter described the police action as "like shooting fish in a barrel....."

Well said Mr Tranter, and as we all know, the number of illegal, dangerous, callously indifferent drivers is huge, so catching them isn't difficult. Good to hear that in your patch, traffic police numbers are increasing, and a pity that it isn't happening everywhere. Given that a road collision is the most likely incident to cause harm or death, and it is so easy to find and prosecute the offenders, I find it astonishing that more emphasis isn't put on it, especially when from reading police reports, dangerous drivers are often wanted for other crimes.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> eburtthebike | 4484 posts | 19 hours ago
>
> Well said Mr Tranter, and as we all know, the number of illegal,
> dangerous, callously indifferent drivers is huge, so catching them isn't
> difficult. Good to hear that in your patch, traffic police numbers are
> increasing, and a pity that it isn't happening everywhere. Given that a
> road collision is the most likely incident to cause harm or death, and it
> is so easy to find and prosecute the offenders, I find it astonishing
> that more emphasis isn't put on it, especially when from reading police
> reports, dangerous drivers are often wanted for other crimes.

Or you could follow the suggestions by British Cycling:

“The sad reality however is that when these spikes in violent crime occur,
and while we try to understand the pattern of incidents better, it is
prudent for individuals, clubs and groups to discuss these concerns
together and think carefully about the rides they have planned.

With the rise in incidents showing few signs of abating, British Cycling
has advised that members in affected areas should plan rides and events
carefully, be mindful of privacy settings on devices and contact its
incident helpline (link is external) as well as the police to report
incidents and/or threatening behaviour.”

In other words, don’t expect the task of cycling safely to fall on others,
but take some responsibility yourselves.

--
Spike

Sriracha | 3926 posts | 3 hours ago
11 likes

"Like shooting fish in a barrel", ... I believe I made the same comment in the same context here not so long ago. It's about bloody time - these offences are in plain view, flaunted by perpetrators. Blacked out front windows, absent numberplates, and a whole parade of drivers on their phones. People don't even try to hide it, so confident are they that the police will not look their way. It is trivially easy to catch these offenders, get on with it plod.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sriracha | 3926 posts | 3 hours ago
> 11 likes
>
> "Like shooting fish in a barrel", ... I believe I made the same comment
> in the same context here not so long ago. It's about bloody time - these
> offences are in plain view, flaunted by perpetrators. Blacked out front
> windows, absent numberplates, and a whole parade of drivers on their
> phones. People don't even try to hide it, so confident are they that the
> police will not look their way. It is trivially easy to catch these
> offenders, get on with it plod.

A recent video exercise by road.cc showed 50% of cyclists at the junctions
monitored were RLJing.

These offences are in plain view, flaunted by perpetrators, so confident
are they that the police will not look their way. It’s trivially easy to
catch these offenders, get on with it, plod. It’ll be like shooting fish in
a barrel.

--
Spike

IanMSpencer | 1841 posts | 22 hours ago
18 likes

Finally, people getting killed and the initiative is against potential killers, not getting pedestrians to use the Green Croos Code and cyclists to wear hi-viz.

Certainly is fish in a barrel. I reckon the majority of motorists I see commit offences, speeding (how many drivers slow before limits and accelerate out of them before the end - how many older people don't drive to the limit on rural roads but then maintain speed through villages - the permanent 40mph drivers), running red lights, creeping over the stop line, failing to give way, van drivers incapable of driving without a phone in their hand, and that's before we get onto cycling incidents.

Driving has a lot of herd behaviour and when motorists believe that others are setting the example of appropriate behaviour, poor parking, speeding and other behaviours soon escalate. It probably wouldn't take much rumour-mongering on FaceFriends to get drivers nervous about traps to make them more risk averse.