Like Cameron, I have experienced resistance for police here in WA to take dangerous driving around cyclists seriously. Sometimes hiding behind technicalities, or just using avoidance (pretending not to be able to look up details, or just refusing to respond).
My most recent experience is to refuse to tell me what action they have taken (I suspect none, as no one took a statement or viewed video footage), and then mess me about, but avoiding my questions or not responding.
So I'd been considering writing to the Police minister.
While out on my ride yesterday, I mulled it over & concluded that I felt strongly that the Qld police are culpable in Cameron's death & that WA police are no different.
I too feel it is an inevitability that I will be hit.
So when I got home I started writing.
Below is my letter to the Hon Michelle Roberts.
I am posting this here, as I hope enough people feel as angry as I do about the situation, & use this as inspiration to write to you own police minister (hopefully Michelle Roberts, as I'd like to see a change).
Dear Hon Michelle Roberts,
I am writing to you regarding my concerns of the WAPOL reluctance to enforce the minimum passing distance law for cyclists.
But first I would like to tell you about a friend of mine, Cameron Frewer.
Cameron lived on the Sunshine Coast. But we had a lot in common. We both enjoyed riding bikes. Neither of us belonged to clubs or ‘trained’, we rode on our own, for our health & enjoyment. We used roads that would avoid conflict with drivers outside of peak times.
We also recorded our rides with cameras & submitted many reports of dangerous driving to our respective police forces.
And we both were met with many excuses of why the police would not take action.
Cameron was a strong & vocal cycling safety campaigner, but very concerned that the lack of support from police put him at risk on the road, & he feared that he would eventually be hit by a driver.
Cameron was right to feel this way, just as I am. Last week (5th Nov) Cameron was hit and killed by a driver. Cameron’s wife & 3 children are destroyed. His son celebrated his 15th birthday just the day before.
Before Cameron’s death, he was drafting an open letter to Police Minister Mark Ryan, Transport Minister Mark Bailey, Police Commissioner Ian Stewart , documenting his attempts to get his local police to take his concerns seriously (attached).
Since his death. The police have announced that they will review Cameron’s submissions. This of course is too little too late.
From my own experiences with WAPOL, I have been told that they will take no action unless I am hit.
If we only ever take reactive steps (when I am already under the wheels of a car) and not proactive steps before it gets to that point, we will never have an effect on the fatality rate on our roads, which is shameful.
This is in stark contrast to many UK police forces who conduct operations with unmarked police riders, & educate drivers on the spot.
We have an appalling road safety record here in Australia. If there were an Australian industry that killed around 4 people every day, there would be outcry.
We would have new legislation by the end of the week, and constant enforcement, & assessment.
Yet when it comes to our roads, we treat the death of people as the acceptable consequence of our convenience of driving.
I’d like to give some examples of my own reports & responses from police;
Ref; 191015 2022 86302
18/10/2015
Footage;
https://youtu.be/y9JgNOXcmNc
100kph road, lots of space, nothing coming the other way.
Response; “The driver did not collide with you, please be cautions, as drivers might not see you” no action.
Ref; 030716 1404 85866.
3/07/2016
Footage;
https://youtu.be/y3Oqg4yTkVY (language)
The driver lined me up & brushed my elbow at 80Kph
Response; Officer Patton of Wanneroo police attributed this to being my fault as I was in their way & “should have been further left”.
Ref; 260116121686302
26/01/2016
Footage;
https://youtu.be/aXC81NwjweI
The driver of a truck pulled alongside, indicated left & squeezed me to the kerb.
Response via voice message; “We spoke to the driver, he believed he gave you enough room, so the matter has been dealt with.”
I tried for several weeks to get in contact with the officer , but they refused to return my calls.
Ref; 211018141288862
21/10/2018
Footage;
https://youtu.be/xWMElna2ri8
Driver shaves my elbow.
Response; I received a call from Bayswater police, who said “we spoke to the driver & the matter has been dealt with”.
They would not tell me what action had been taken or what “dealt with: meant. I was told I would have to submit a FOI.
This has not been the case before, so & queried it.
The response was. “yes you can submit an FOI”. Which was not what I asked. & would not respond to my email.
I have submitted, another query, but this has not had a response.
No one took a statement, and no one viewed the video.
Of course this is just a fraction of the responses I have received. The vast majority of reports get no response at all.
I know I am not alone in the way these reports are dismissed, as I communicate with many other riders here in WA & around Australia, who have identical stories to tell.
So like Cameron, I feel that WAPOL do not take dangerous driving around cyclists seriously, and I too fear for my safety on the road.
This week, Cameron’s death prompted me to show my wife where I keep the records of my reports. Should anything happen to me, these can be made public.
So I urge you to use your position as the minister for the WA Police Force to change this indifference to cyclists safety on the roads, before either myself or others become another statistic on the RSC website. You have an opportunity to make this difference.
What I will not accept is a generic response of ‘we take the safety of vulnerable road users seriously’. As currently, this is quite evidently not the case.
Regards,