‘How close is too close?’ asked last night’s Inside Out South. The segment, which looked at factors influencing the number of close passes and near misses involving cyclists, is available to watch via the BBC iPlayer.
The programme spoke to club cyclists about their experiences and also sought out insight from Dr Rachel Aldred, who launched The Near Miss Project in 2014.
Aldred’s view is that there is a road culture of ‘might makes right’ in this country whereby people in larger vehicles feel that they have a right to be in front.
As you might imagine, the close pass operations that have arisen in the wake of West Midlands Police’s initiative get some attention, while Dr Ian Walker, a traffic psychologist with the University of Bath, discusses the ‘woolly’ wording of the Highway Code and advocates a presumed liability law.
The segment finishes with the presenter riding the streets with an unwieldy 1.5m safety reflector arm protruding from the side of his bike.