OPERATION Close Pass is being launched to help increase awareness of road safety in Ceredigion.

The scheme – backed by Dyfed-Powys Police, GoSafe, the county council and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service - is designed to highlight the need to give vulnerable road users, such as motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders, the same amount of room as they would when overtaking a car – this is typically approximately 1.5m.

Operation Close Pass was originally developed by West Midlands Police, who shared information with Welsh colleagues.

It deploys police officers on bicycles fitted with cameras which record the behaviour of drivers who overtake them.

If an offence is detected, the officer radios colleagues further down the road to direct the vehicle into a checkpoint where the driver will be offered roadside education from fire and rescue service colleagues using a specially designed “close pass mats”, provided by CyclingUK, which illustrates the safe passing distance.

Teresa Ciano, partnership manager Go Safe and chair of Road Safety Wales said: “Multi agency partnership working is key to delivering safer roads and behaviour change from drivers. Police forces across Wales are committed to keeping road users safe and reducing the number of casualties seriously injured or killed.

“Operation Close Pass is just one of a number of operations being developed and delivered by the four police forces in Wales to support vulnerable road users.

“In 2017, South Wales Police developed and led the launch of Operation Snap which was also supported by Gwent Police, Dyfed Powys Police and North Wales Police.

“Operation Snap enables digital evidence of dangerous driving to be submitted to police forces and action to be taken against those found to be driving dangerously.”

If you have footage of dangerous driving, you can report online at https://gosafesnap.wales/