- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Yorkshire cyclist hit by driver"Drivers like this are going to kill or seriously injure someone": Cyclist knocked off bike claims police "completely unwilling to prosecute" drivers who hit cyclists
A cyclist has questioned West Yorkshire Police's approach to investigating roads incidents, concluding that he fears the force is "completely unwilling to prosecute drivers" who hit cyclists, after he was knocked off his bike in a collision two weeks ago.
road.cc reader George was hit by an elderly driver near Leeds on the 13th November, the 87-year-old woman turning across his path and knocking him from his bike in an incident captured by his front camera. The footage (below) was viewed by the police and the driver referred for a Fitness To Drive Assessment as an alternative to proceedings in the Magistrates' Court for driving without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other road users.
Following an official complaint, the cyclist believing the driving crossed the threshold for prosecution for careless or dangerous driving, West Yorkshire Police stood by the decision and said it had "no issue" with the outcome and is "more than satisfied that there is no evidence whatsoever of an offence of dangerous driving".
"I don't think that West Yorkshire Police take the safety of vulnerable road users seriously, and at times this turns into victim blaming," George said. "I work with the police on other aspects of public safety, and they take those much more seriously and are keen to avoid victim blaming there. I feel that gross negligence in charge of a heavy vehicle is not seen as a serious issue, but as a simple unavoidable, unforeseeable accident.
"I simply cannot see how such gross incompetence is treated so trivially, or what the threshold might be for treating it more seriously. Drivers like this are going to kill or seriously injure someone — and it could have been me if I wasn't cycling relatively slowly uphill at the point of impact.
"A key problem is that police officers, even specialist roads officers, very rarely have any experience of cycling on public roads, and so they have no empathy or understanding of cyclists. This is an important issue of safety, as well as law and order.
"Further to this, I'd add that it seems that a key part of the problem is that the police are treating driver-cyclist incidents in the same way as they treat driver-driver incidents, without any adjustment for the fact that cyclists are more vulnerable. So a collision with a cyclist in these circumstances is treated in the same way as if the driver had driven into another vehicle, without any consideration of the hierarchy of vulnerability. This reflects a kind of institutional lack of understanding, or perhaps even prejudice, towards cyclists."
When road.cc contacted West Yorkshire Police for comment on the allegations, we were told that the force would not comment on individual cases, but a spokesperson insisted that the force is "committed to casualty prevention" and employs "a range of possible options in our aim to improve behaviour on the road and prevent the likelihood of them being involved in future collisions".
And while there was no comment specific to this case, we've seen the response the cyclist received regarding his complaint, where the decision-making process behind the case was explained further.
During that response, an officer from the force's Service Review Team explained they previously served as a Roads Policing Officer for five years and "developed a certain level of expertise within the role based on years of experience in dealing with and managing serious collisions, primarily fatal road traffic collisions".
The response went on to state that the officer is "more than satisfied that there is no evidence whatsoever of an offence of dangerous driving" and that they have "no issue" with the decision to refer the elderly driver for a Fitness to Drive Assessment as an alternative to proceedings in the Magistrates' Court for driving without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for other road users.
When West Yorkshire Police was contacted for comment, a force spokesperson said: "We are unable to comment about individual cases. West Yorkshire Police is committed to casualty prevention and works with partners across the county to reduce road risk and deliver our Vision Zero ambition to prevent all road deaths by 2040.
"Where driving offences have been committed, we employ a range of possible options in our aim to improve driver/rider behaviour on the road and prevent the likelihood of them being involved in future collisions.
"These options include Approved Driver Retraining Courses for eligible lower-level offenders as an alternative to prosecution, a Fitness to Drive assessments where it is believed that the cognitive ability of a driver/rider may have been a factor in a collision, or the full weight of prosecution at court in the case of more serious and repeat offending."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 20 min 35 sec ago
Presumably their intervention is in favour of "but they were cycling where they weren't legally allowed to do (pedestrian danger!)" and "but coach...
- chrisonabike 36 min 27 sec ago
I was kind of waiting... there was already a wobble due to her rightful criticism of the operator of P & O ferries (although Starmer gave her...
- the little onion 39 min 17 sec ago
If the Ventoux wine doesn't do it for you, they also grow very respectable wine on the slopes of the Puy de Dome....
- jamesha100 9 hours 45 min ago
I have been in Belfast for work this week and have been shocked by the congestion around the city centre. There are lots of frustrated drivers...
- David9694 10 hours 7 min ago
Cyclists should be made to have insurance etc https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/24757516.four-vehicles-seize...
- matthewn5 11 hours 4 min ago
A friend in my cycling club has a new Ribble Allroad, I think the model with 105, and when I asked how he was finding it (before reading this...
- check12 12 hours 31 min ago
Get them back? They've never gone away for me, cheap tdf winning bikes on eBay with rim brakes and cheap rim brake aero wheels, just don't tell...
- Simon E 13 hours 14 min ago
It used to be called Buy Nothing Day as a protest against the the Black Friday discounting madness. The constant BF adverts, promos and stuff...
- chrisonabike 15 hours 29 min ago
Apologies - you're quite right! Something about presentation and comprehension...
Add new comment
58 comments
It is quite possible that the driver was suffering from dementia to some degree. In such cases, a sufferer may not be aware they have a problem. I think the fitness to drive assessment could prove to be the correct one in this case.But the assessment should include some reference to the accident - "What was your thought process at this junction."
To be fair to plod they are asking the DVSA to carry out a "Fitness to Drive" assessment on the elderly driver. This will involve a thirty-minute-ish assessment by a senior examiner and the failure rate is high. It is a distinct possibility the result will revoke the driver's licence which is surely a better outcome for everyone than a £400 fine and a slap on the wrist?
Someone else here suggested at 30% fail rate. Not sure if that is high or not.
Why not both - why not a fine, bucketload of points, and not being able to drive until you can prove you are safe via a practical test?
My figures are about ten years out of date but I doubt if they have changed much since I retired. The overall PASS rate at that time was 28% and diminishes with age. The driver in this case was described as elderly and is probably facing a car-less future.
Sometimes the wisdom of a copper is based on experience and turns out to be the best option.
I had a similar "accident" but i was in the position of the red car coming up to the junction.Massive 4*4 turned in on my side of the road and struck me more or less head on.
Police called,cctv from house adjacent showed the car turning in on the wrong side of the road.80 year old driver with Parkinsons(severe shake down one arm).
Police called me that evening after i returned home from hospital and told me that i must have been in his blindspot and no further action. They ballsed up the report by giving me the registration number for a Royal Enfield Bullet !
Massive 4*4 turned in on my side of the road and struck me more or less head on
The police will go to amost any lengths to forgive drivers offending like that, if the victim is a cyclist. My own headcam campaign against Lancashire Constabulary, which has had no success because the odds are so stacked in favour of the police, began after a Freelander hit me with his offside mirror while I was stationary on the Sainsbury's exit road- he came down the wrong side of the road and 'didn't see' me. I narrowly escaped a very serious injury but the police promptly NFA'd it because "it was only a momentary loss of concentration". I realised then that they would have deployed the same labour-saving dodge if I had been left with life-wrecking disabilities like our own OFG.
That's pretty blatant institutional slopey-shoulders reckless attitude by the North Yorkshire police.
It needs to be an instant suspension of licence, and could have been a child or pensioner crossing the side road.
There is currently a Parliamentary "Active Travel and Social Justice inquiry".
Please submit evidence.
Police failure to deal with careless and dangerous drivers is one thing that needs addressing. Here the attitude of West Yorkshire Police is the issue.
https://appgcw.org/2024/11/12/active-travel-and-social-justice-inquiry/
Carbon copy of what happened to me a few years ago in Greater Manchester area. Police didn't prosecute then but sent the elderly female driver on an awareness course. I didn't expect otherwise. But it is definitely a postcode lottery and I am sure there are certain geographical areas where police forces will prosecute in those circumstances.
If it's any consolation, the driver in the video will now find her next insurance premium will skyrocket.
If it doesn't count as "dangerous driving" then have the police given the DVSA test examiners a new lower bar to clear to pass a learner driver who would otherwise have immediately failed their driving test by a "dangerous fault"...?
The grey menace strikes again. There are calls every year to have driving licence reviews implemented for elderly drivers, but nothing seems to change:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0gpgjdxepo
I had an elderly driver close pass me yesterday. Claimed he'd waited patiently for ages to pass me and it was my fault for 'wobbling' into the 'middle of the road'. I reviewed the footage and I was in a steady primary position as he approached, then he hesitated for a second before pushing past with oncoming traffic. Unbelievable.
At least I had space to the left to swerve out of the way. Of course I caught up with him a minute later when he pulled into a parking space. He seemed confused and not with it at all. Shouldn't probably be driving.
Probably worth submitting the footage to the police and DVSA so there is a record of the driver's mental state and standard of driving.
That way, if there is a subsequent collision involving the driver (where he is at fault) then it can be shown that the authorities had prior evidence and did nothing.
It would be the Thames Valley area and I've had a poor response from them recently. Basically, there's not really any point reporting this. I was able to swerve out of the way and whilst the driver pushed past, it was slow enough that I had plenty of time to react.
I've told them their driving was terrible, they were too close and they need to leave at least 1.5m when passing. That's more than the police are likely to do and perhaps this driver will consider whether they are competent to keep driving or at the very least, not push past a cyclist like that again.
I think TVP have improved their response in
recent months. They definitely had a problem with staffing this time last year. I'm getting some feedback again and even had one go to court and, I am led to believe, another in progress.
Also they should be dealing with it as a priority
https://www.thamesvalley-pcc.gov.uk/news/pcc-launches-plan-for-safer-roads/
Probably like everyone - I've always done it so why should I change? We just don't notice (or don't want to notice) that we can't do things as well as we used to.
Plus the (often justified) fear of "losing independence" or just "I can manage without but what if I need to do x"?
Unfortunately most people in this position (and indeed probably many of us not even retired) will likely be dead long before we have the better non-car options that are available to these people:
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/who-else-benefits-from-the...
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/elderly-people-on-a-cycle-...
Did you report the close pass to the police? I'm not a big fan of dealing with drivers as a group, in this case old drivers, but I am a fan of the police taking action with poor driving and getting the drivers that need it to be educated, punished or even taken off the road.
I realsise reporting is often a fruitless exercise but if we don't keep the pressure on nothing will change. Sooner or later a driver who has previously been reported will hit a cyclist and then the police who took NFA will have a good deal of explaining to do.
Will they, though? Would there be any kind of retroactive analysis at all? Who would know about the previous NFA incident? I'm afraid I have low expectations.
In Gloucestershire I've been having an email dialogue with Robert Vestey who has recently decided that close passes will get an advisory letter rather than NFA which has been the case from when I started submitting until now. The roadcc article link is below,
https://road.cc/content/news/close-pass-isnt-offence-says-police-officer...
In the comments you will see that I followed it up and sent him the link to NMOTD 674
https://road.cc/content/news/nmotd-674-driver-inconveniences-cyclist-288521
He admitted that it was obviously a mistake and that training would be given.
It will be a long struggle to get all police forces to deal with incompetent and aggressive drivers consistently but we have to start somewhere. This is one example of where having the near miss on record was a help. We'll see if any more progress can be made. It is my belief that many officers want to help but are hamstrung by a combination of the law not matching the highway code, poor guidance from the CPS and poor training. Other commenters have different views.
Other commenters have different views
True!
I've had the same discussion with so many drivers at red lights after a close pass when riding primary in a narrow lane "But you were in the middle of the road!!" Preferring to risk my life rather than gently steer into the adjacent empty lane.
PS Guess who gets the blame if I get doored "Why were you cycling so close?!!"
Marking one's own homework will always get a result that's convenient.
The system for elderly drivers in the UK is insane. Basically, once you hit 70 years old, you have to re-apply for your driving licence every three years. And what hurdles do you have to clear to remain operating a two-tonne potentially lethal vehicle in the public highway? Oh yes, declaring yourself fit to do so.
Even in Greece, hardly notable for its driving standards, elderly drivers have to pass a full physical, including eyesight and reflexes assessments plus a practical driving test, if they want to stay on the road.
Yes ... but (just due to the large numbers of people affected) this likely would only proceed in the UK at a very ... cautious ... pace.
First - we haven't even yet got the (very well evidenced) changes to "graduated licences" for younger drivers passed - who I believe numbers show are involved in far more damage, deaths and injuries. Although that's in motion at least.
Second - as mentioned there are lots of older folks and (problem of success) their numbers keep growing. And they vote, and have time to write sternly-worded letters to media and MPs! Or know who to have a word with. And they have seen a general increase in priveledges for motorists over their lives (while absorbing "but war on the motorist!"), so are likely to be ... unenthusiastic.
Third - in the UK overall there are fewer alternatives to needing a car than ever e.g. not having to travel far in the first place *, good public transport, adequate facilities for active travel (or mobility vehicles) etc.
* Technology pops up to offer support here but this is often more difficult for older people to use, and in the UK getting tech working e.g. for health services we have as good a record there as we do for building good active travel infra (but at immensely greater cost).
surely a fitness to drive assesment should be in addition to not as an alternative to prosecution. this seems to put the cart before the horse.
either that or failing such a course should lead to an additional charge of sriving while unfot to do so.
And as for the surrendering your licence nonsense, have we really got to the point where you are allowed to drive into your dotage, right up to the point when it all goes totally wrong and you are caught.
I can see the Fitness to Drive assessment should come first to inform the approach to prosecution, but it shouldn't be an alternative per se.
Not fit to drive? They shouldn't have been driving, so certainly potential prosecution there - although if this outcome means they are never allowed to drive again then I'm quite content not to bother with prosecution in relatively minor cases such as this one.
Fit to drive? In that case there's no "excuse" - they were just careless/dangerous and so should be prosecuted for the original incident in the same way as any other driver.
I agree with that approach. If they are deemed unfit to drive then they are never driving again, and any points become irrelevant. If they somehow pass that test, then a full prosecution should proceed.
But even if they are deemed 'unfit' or hand in their licence there should be some formal declaration that it was dangerous. People who deep down know they are unfit to drive should know that they ought to stop driving BEFORE they almost kill someone.
I do, however, feel obliged to point out that as a society we have made it harder for older drivers to stop driving. We continue to build housing that is poorly served by public transport, and promote driving as much more convenient.
For anyone interested here is a link to more information on the fitness to drive assessment. It says 70% are found fit to carry on driving 30% not.
https://www.drivingmobility.org.uk/for-professionals/services/police-fit...
That means there is a 30% chance in this case that the driver will not be allowed to drive again. Points and a fine would allow the driver to carry on. I suppose what you think of this would depend on your view of those odds.
My argument would be that this driver has already demonstrated unfitness to drive and another assessment would be superfluous.
Thanks for the informative link. I thought we already had a 'fitness to drive assessment' administered by DVLA, called an extended retest. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison. Can retests only be ordered by a court as a condition of a ban or other sentence? And what of the 70% who pass? Are they deemed fit to drive and also fit to be prosecuted for their original infraction?
The extended retest is just the same as the standard test but with half as much driving again, covering more of the manouvres (and also costing twice as much). it doesn't attempt any sort of fitness assessment (beyond what might be revealed by chance during that hour).
The article I gave a link for seemed to imply that the fitness to drive test is not the same as an extended retest and that it was tailored to the needs of "vulnerable drivers" whatever that means. I'm no expert and I may be wrong but it does sound like a reasonable alternative. I think @pockstone's question about those who pass then receiving points and a fine is a good one though.
Yes - that's what I was saying. The extended retest is just a longer (and more expensive) version of the standard test. It's attempting to assess your knowledge and skill when it comes to driving. It doesn't do anything to assess underlying fitness, that the fitness to drive test does.
Pages