{"id":147152,"date":"2017-03-10T09:20:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T09:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=147152"},"modified":"2017-03-10T09:20:30","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T09:20:30","slug":"close-pass-mat-designed-put-end-reckless-road-behaviour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/03\/10\/close-pass-mat-designed-put-end-reckless-road-behaviour\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Close Pass\u2019 Mat Is Designed to Put an End to Reckless Road Behaviour"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no sufficient excuse for driving too close to vulnerable road users, which also includes people riding motorbikes and horses, but mostly concerns people on bicycles. As motorists are safely encased in a vehicle that can allegedly protect them against hitting a brick wall at 50 km\/h, they tend to relax behind the wheel, speed, and stop paying attention to their environment. Or they are simply unaware of the distance cyclists need to feel and be safe, as we had shown in the fitting infographic\u00a0below. But where driver\u2019s safety begins, cyclist\u2019s ends.<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BBDAVUuillv\/<\/p>\n

Inspired by the UK West Midlands Police Traffic Unit\u2019s \u201cOperation Close Pass\u201d, Cycling UK created a Kickstarter<\/a> campaign that will equip every police force in the UK with a safe pass mat that is supposed to be laid on the ground and instruct drivers on the safe distance they should adhere to when overtaking a person on a bike. The West Midlands police created a prototype mat of their own a year ago, pictured below.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BLvps3whbra\/<\/p>\n

The Operation Close Pass was almost an overnight success and had an immediate impact. Within a week of the police stopping the offenders and demonstrating them what they did wrong and sending the repeated offenders off with a fine, things were already getting better. Cyclists were reporting a huge overall improvement of the situation and dangerous driver behaviour seemed to be rare rather than commonplace. And the mat played its major part in this happy change of events.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Cycling UK decided to help the UK police forces out, when their funding is being constantly cut. They\u2019ve created their own version of the mat to distribute among officers because the idea has been very well received. \u201cWe\u2019ve already been speaking with police forces across the UK to gauge the attraction of having a close pass mat, and have the support of the officers behind West Midlands Police original initiative,\u201d says UK Cycling\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a> According to the campaigners, close passes account for around 1\/3 of life-threatening incidents when biking on the road, and there\u2019s no reason why should police not prosecute this life endangering behaviour. \u201cEvery single police force in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland needs a safe pass mat like this. By bulk buying, we can cut costs and help police keep our roads safe,\u201d says UK Cycling spokesperson. They are raising \u00a312,000 for manufacturing and even distributing the mats to all parties interested. We are keeping our fingers crossed!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no sufficient excuse for driving too close to vulnerable road users, which also includes people riding motorbikes and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":147155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329,335],"tags":[909,910],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-147152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","category-safety","tag-close-pass-mat","tag-operation-close-pass"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Close Pass\u2019 Mat Is Designed to Put an End to Reckless Road Behaviour - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is no sufficient excuse for driving too close to vulnerable road users, which also includes people riding motorbikes and horses, but mostly concerns\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/03\/10\/close-pass-mat-designed-put-end-reckless-road-behaviour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Close Pass\u2019 Mat Is Designed to Put an End to Reckless Road Behaviour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is no sufficient excuse for driving too close to vulnerable road users, which also includes people riding motorbikes and horses, but mostly concerns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/03\/10\/close-pass-mat-designed-put-end-reckless-road-behaviour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-10T09:20:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/03\/opener1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frantiska Blazkova\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/03\/10\/close-pass-mat-designed-put-end-reckless-road-behaviour\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/03\/10\/close-pass-mat-designed-put-end-reckless-road-behaviour\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Close Pass\u2019 Mat Is Designed to Put an End to Reckless Road Behaviour - 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