Pudsey cyclist attaches sign to bike asking drivers in Leeds to keep their distance

Yorkshire Evening Post

Pudsey cyclist Tim Devereux, 75, has spent the last month riding around with a giant sign on the back of his bike asking drivers to keep their distance when overtaking – and it seems to have worked.  The retired maths teacher attached the eye-catching poster to the back of his bike on January 1.  Despite some close passes, he claimed the sign has brought out a politer side of drivers in Leeds.

Transcript

00:00 Hi, I'm Tim Devra, I live in Pudsey, I've been a bike rider since I was 10, which is

00:06 a long time ago. Recently I've been passed far too close by some motorists so I thought

00:13 I'd do something about it. I don't think all that many people know about the change of

00:17 rules in the Highway Code, Rule 163, give a bike, or a vulnerable person, the same space

00:24 you'd give a car. That's at least 5 feet, 1.5 metres, and since I've been riding around

00:31 all January with this on the back of my bike, it seems to work. I've had some close passes,

00:37 but far fewer than before.

00:46 One day just before New Year I was cycling up Rickardshaw Lane and three cars, one behind

00:52 the other, all cut far too close, a couple of feet away from me. You can imagine, that's

00:57 scary on a bike, that's not going to encourage bike riders to actually use active transport.

01:05 I thought I'd do something about it. I cycle, I've done 800km on this bike since July, I

01:14 cycle a lot around Pudsey, I want it to be safe for me, I want it to be safe for everybody.

01:23 What surprised me was how lorries, buses, cars have hung back far more than they would

01:31 have and been really nice and careful, hanging back where it wasn't very safe and then giving

01:39 me a nice wide berth when it was. And I give them a wave because I want to say thank you

01:43 for that. Thank you for looking after other people on the road.

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Transcript

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