Lincolnshire Police stopped 27 motorists in total for driving too closely to a cyclist as part of their Operation Safe Pass project today.
Their aim was to highlight just how many drivers fail to leave the 1.5 metres required distance when passing their officer who tested drivers on Dixon Street.
Drivers were pulled over and educated in the need to keep to the requirement. If they don’t, motorists could face prosecution for driving without due care and attention. The penalty for this is between 3 and 9 points on your license and a fine of between £100 and £5,000.
This was part of a project called Project Tandem and was timed to coincide with Road Safety Week.
It’s all part of Road Safety Week
Assistant Chief Constable Shaun West said “Essentially we want to get away from the thinking that you can just squeeze through. That is potentially a life and death decision. Whether you are the cyclist cutting through queues, or the driver passing too close, we want you to think twice.
“We have a lot of traffic, a lot of bends to negotiate and a lot of lives lost every year due to bad decisions. With Operation Safe Pass we want to get the phrase keep them alive at one point five to leap into the mind of any road user who is about to overtake a cyclist.
“Cyclists and drivers are sometimes seen as opposing groups but with Project Tandem, we send a clear message that we need to use the road safely, alongside each other. It doesn’t matter if you are on two wheels or four, we can all make changes to improve safety. Patience, sound judgement and respect are what we want from anyone using our roads.”
