Elections

There are a lot of people who cycle do on the pavements as they are scared to go on the roads. So we need a higher profile on cycling safely and have an element aimed at car owners to be more aware of cyclists and to give them space. The other thing is it mandatory to have a bell on the bike and this needs to be gently enforced as many remove them from the bike once bought. I think e-bikes are a wonderful addition and if we highlight the positives to cycling, educate the car drivers we may increase bike usage on the roads and not the pavements

1. I would encourage councils to implement more 20mph areas to make areas safer. Look at the studies to see why accidents have happened and where and see what could be done to reduce risk, this will need to be done alongside Council initiatives.
2. I would like to invest in cameras to catch speeding and people going through red lights. Also encourage communities to speed watch in areas they have concerns and feed back results to the police. This will help the police target their responses to where the public have concerns on speeding.
3. Regular updates on what we are doing to be posted on Social media and into council publications. Also an annual report to be produced. I would also like to spend some time going out into communities to see what they feel is their priority and then feeding back to them what we can do about their concerns.
4. I have answered above a few ways of working with communities. They are the eyes and ears we need to engage with and help us stop the crimes that cause them so many problems. The police are currently making a good attempt to engage with people in areas where burglaries happen. This type of initiative needs to continue.
5. I would Lobby for more money to get police numbers up, get more money for equipment to help the police work better. There needs to be better response to victims of crashes if they survive and support and good feedback to
victims and family. There must be a quicker way of getting cases through the courts if fault for the accident is found. There should also be a family liaison officer for the police working with family's who have been through the crash and need support through the court case too.

Road danger needs intel and then action to deal with the problem areas. hence the need to engage with communities across the force area.

As a driver I do this anyway. Any initiative that has shown to be effective elsewhere should be considered. As I said previously we need to educate the drivers to make cyclists safer.

I spent 4 years living in Holland and would really encourage the use of speed cameras and those that capture number plate too. if we want to encourage people to cycle we as the police and councils need to work together to make it safer. if Council can not make dedicated safe routes then, police need to recommend safer options. The council needs to explore widening some roads or slowing the traffic down.

I know if people get caught going through a red light in Gateshead they are offered training or a fine and points. Many take the training. I see this as a way forward and would investigate how we could capture the information of these drivers that need to be enforced to do the training or pay a fine.

The biggest reason people say they cycle on the pavements is they don't feel safe on the roads. So we have the Chicken and egg situation which happens first. I think a programme of initiatives to advertise safer driving around cyclist then an education process to get cyclists off pavement. This could all be done by the fine or educate programme. Also sessions were cyclists go out with police offers to help them gain confidence. Educate both cyclist and car driver to accept each other on the road and stay safe.