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The MET Police have revealed the results of ‘Operation Safeway’, the targetted operation to improve both cyclist and motorist behaviour, with 2,500 traffic officers placed at 170 key junctions in London over the festive period.
Starting with perhaps the highlight stat of the bunch, 900 more London cyclists now have a set of lights on their bikes following 1,598 fixed penatly notices being issued for going out ill equipped after dark.
A sore topic with many driving in London, the number of tickets issued for light jumping tallied at 1,225 notices for cyclists and 1,056 for red light jumping motorists.
Use of a mobile phone while driving was a common offence, with 2,424 tickets issued to motorists not fully in control of their vehicle.
With infrastructure and road safety still a big issue in the Capital, it’s hardly surprising to see just short of 1,000 tickets issued to cyclists taking to the pavement. The MET were tasked with offering safety advice on how to position oneself on the road to avoid danger, but with some junctions still inherently dangerous for cyclists many would perhaps prefer the ticket over the risk.
Detective chief superintendent Glyn Jones of the MPS Road Traffic unit said of the month long stint at key junctions: "The public’s response to the operation has been really encouraging. We’ve noticed that road users are generally behaving in a much safer manner, and we issued fewer notices as the operation progressed.
"However, a lot of people have taken time off over Christmas and we’re really keen to remind them to stay safe on the roads as the resume their journeys. This week officers will once again be at key junctions."
Among other stats:
Motorists were issued 87 tickets for driving without due care
42 tickets were handed out for driving in a cycle lane
Cyclists were handed 274 fixed penalty notices for offences only described as ‘other’
209 arrests were made for unrelated crimes ranging theft of bikes and cars, burglary, being drunk and disorderly and child neglect, among other things.
In total motorists received 9,733 FPNs, while cyclists racked up 4,085.
