A cyclist who has gone to the Garda with his first allegation of dangerous overtaking of a cyclist has gotten a worrying response.
He was
asked by the garda how he proposed to prove the vehicle passed him within 1.5
metres.
Under
the new offence of dangerous overtaking of a cyclist there is no mention of a
specific passing distance.
However,
much of the debate in recent years has focused on a specific safe passing
distances; 1 metre on roads with a speed limit less than 50km per hour and 1.5
metres on any road with a higher speed limit.
However,
the Government decided against the initial proposal of basing safe-pass
legislation on those specific distances.
Its
legal advice, from the Attorney General, was that such an offence would be
unworkable.
As a
result, the new legislation introduced the week before last created a new
offence of “dangerous overtaking of a cyclist”.
Advertisement
One stickybottle reader some weeks back, before the new offence was rolled out, told us how he used video evidence against a driver.
That motorist was issued a fine and penalty points for driving without due care and attention for the driving in this video.
The same cyclist in recent days went back to the Garda with a video of an overtaking incident from last weekend that he wished to present for consideration under the new offence of dangerous overtaking of a cyclist.
It should be stressed the case is only at the allegation stage, nothing is proven against the driver at this point. A front and rear view of the overtaking move can be seen in the Tweets below.
Related News
Me: I'd like to make an allegation of dangerous overtaking of a cyclist
Garda: how are you going to prove that overtake was less than 1.5m away from you
Me: ?♂️ pic.twitter.com/C3lMzcoZfZ
— Alan D (@AlanDub13) November 22, 2019
Yes pic.twitter.com/l1VWZHoAB7
— Alan D (@AlanDub13) November 22, 2019
When the cyclist called to the station the garda he was dealing with informed him that gardai were under instruction that such cases would only progress if it could be proven the overtaking distance was less than 1 metre or 1.5 metres.
This instruction, if it proves to be accurate
rather than confusion within the Garda, runs contrary to the Government
decision.
After initially reporting the overtaking,
which occurred in north Dublin, to Trafficwatch the cyclist received a call
asking him to report at a designated station, which he did.
“I was brought into a room to make a
statement and before I started the garda asked me how was I going to prove the
1.5m or 1m distance,” he told stickybottle.
“I responded that the law wasn't about distance
and explained what I knew. The garda I was dealing with said they were told
that the main thing was the distance and that they needed some sort of proof.
“I went through the whole statement and then
on leaving asked again about the distance to make sure I hadn't picked it up
wrong. The garda confirmed again that proving the distance is what they were told.”
The cyclist is alleging dangerous overtaking on several grounds that do not relate to distance.
He alleges there was oncoming traffic and as a result the driver had to cut in sharply after passing him.
He has promised to keep us updated on progress
with the case. Hopefully this is a teething problem.
If not, cyclists will now have to prove a passing distance that was excluded by Government from the new offence precisely because it was deemed unworkable.
It should be stressed the case is only at the allegation stage, nothing is proven against the driver at this point.
We’ll keep you posted.
Topics
