Police 1 - Cyclists 0

The Badger · 14 Sep 2009 at 10:50

If you are over 12 and are riding on the pavement you are able to be fined for it.

[DOD]Asprilla · 14 Sep 2009 at 10:53

Pauliee said:
If you are over 12 and are riding on the pavement you are able to be fined for it.

Are you sure there is even an age limit?

Ross1234 · 14 Sep 2009 at 10:54

[DOD]Asprilla;14882651 said:
Are you sure there is even an age limit?

Are they really going to fine a small child?

The Badger · 14 Sep 2009 at 11:04

Yea, if your under 12 you are legally allowed to ride on the pavement, when your over 12 technically your not allowed and can be fined £30. If you want the code, i will look it up.

[DOD]Asprilla · 14 Sep 2009 at 11:04

Ross1234 said:
Are they really going to fine a small child?

That's not what I asked. I've heard it said before that you can ride on the pavement if you are under a certain age, but I've never seen any evidence of it in the highway code or assocated documents.

A quick google shows the DfT says FPNs can only be issued to those aged 16 or over and that those below 10 are under the age of criminal responsibility. This doesn't mean they should do it, it means thay can't be held responsible for doing it.

Not sure where the age of 12 come from.

Phal · 14 Sep 2009 at 11:29

I personally dont have a problem with bike riders :\ been driving for about 7-8 years and never had a serious problem with anyone on a push bike. I had a guy on a moped almost come through my back window but thats about it lol

Theres seems to be a lot more dangerous drivers out there imo :/ I cant help but agree with the people who think this is a bit of a waste of time. Maybe a waste of time isnt quite the right term... but Im pretty sure theres other things which are higher priority.

Freefaller · 14 Sep 2009 at 11:44

[DOD]Asprilla;14882626 said:
Ones that dismount or ones that ride on the footpath? If they dismount, then what's the problem? If they ride on the footpath then they should have the book thrown at them.

Most cyclists are actually pretty good. Travel from Waterloo to Tower Bridge by car (or bike) one morning, or join the Embankment Peloton, and you'll see that the vast majority of cyclists are actually good about these things, it's jsut a minority that let us down.

I agree with teh first point - if they dismount, no problem.

The second point, well I notice just as many burning the lights rather than not - but I can appreciate the generalisation is possibly a little disproportionate. I ride a motorbike and we are typecast, yet we're not all the same.

However the point of the thread was just to share my evil joy at some justice taking place on those who think they can get away with it.

[DOD]Asprilla · 14 Sep 2009 at 11:45

Freefaller said:
However the point of the thread was just to share my evil joy at some justice taking place on those who think they can get away with it.

Agreed and wish it would happen more often.

Phal · 14 Sep 2009 at 12:12

[DOD]Asprilla;14882969 said:
Agreed and wish it would happen more often.

Yeah... because everyone here is a perfect citizen who follows all the rules lol... nobody here ever speeds Im sure!

I can understand the sadistic pleasure in watching other people get in trouble

but Id much rather see more serious crimes getting solved instead of stopping a guy who may or may not kill himself by riding out into traffic...

Natural selection!

[DOD]Asprilla · 14 Sep 2009 at 12:24

Phal said:
Yeah... because everyone here is a perfect citizen who follows all the rules lol... nobody here ever speeds Im sure!

I can understand the sadistic pleasure in watching other people get in trouble but Id much rather see more serious crimes getting solved instead of stopping a guy who may or may not kill himself by riding out into traffic...

So if they do jump a red light and get killed by someone coming out of a junction you have no car for the person driving the car? This is the thing that always gets me about this argument; the whole 'he's only hurting himself' case, which is a load of codswollop.

I nearly cleaned someone up not too long ago when he came out of a left junction and thought he could beat the traffic to his right as their light went green; he didn't see me coming up the second lane of the DC at 40mph. He came off his bike when he saw me an scraped along the ground enough to slow down and pass behind me rather than under me. If I'd hit him, yes it would have been his fault, but I don't doubt that I would have gone though a great deal of trauma and pain and that killing someone would have changed my life for ever.

I have been known to speed, but I'd also prefer it if the police patrolled and stopped those speeding, or driving dangerously rather then relying on cameras to enforce the law. If I get caught then I accept that it's as a result of my actions.

Do you happen to have a list of the laws that it's ok to break and as such should be ignored by the police?

Freefaller · 14 Sep 2009 at 12:45

I'd rather not kill a cyclist by having one fly across the junction as I am. Even though it's his fault, I'll still get grief over it and also have to live with someone's death on my hands - I've seen enough of that for more than one liftetime.

They were traffic cops - their speciality is road/car/bike/vehicular based crimes and related misdemeanours. If they can drill it into a handful of people and stop them from doing it, and they save just 1 life as a result than IMO it's worth it.

I don't have anything against cyclists, I do have something against the cyclists that believe they are "untouchable".

Even if I knew I'd be 100% innocent and that I wouldn't have to deal with anything else, I still wouldn't want to knock over a cyclist.

Though I have been run into by a cyclist jumping the red lights: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17918134&highlight=startername_Freefaller

So I guess I have a bit less sympathy for the situation.

Phal · 14 Sep 2009 at 13:04

I know that nobody wants to kill anyone accidentally :/ and knowing it was their own fault is little comfort if that ever happens to you but... Stopping cyclists from killing themselves should be pretty low down on the priority list.

I get what youre saying about traffic cops... Its their job and everything but if theyve got time to sit around fining cyclists, I would rather they were retasked to some other department where they can be used for something more useful! If youve ever been on the receiving end of a more serious crime... Im sure youd be in the same frame of mind as me and wishing there was more manpower in other departments.

Maybe its because I dont drive in London but I have nothing against cyclists at all :/ Ive got more of a problem with drivers who drive too slow or tractors on the road

lol Cyclists are pretty low down in my priorities :|

snowdog · 14 Sep 2009 at 14:37

Freefaller said:
Well everytime I've been (several hundred times), the cycle lanes have their own traffic lights that are timed with the main road. The number of cylist death in holland is low - so they must be doing something right.

Errr, what has that got to do with cyclists ignoring em ?

Phal · 14 Sep 2009 at 14:53

I dont see anyone here whining about pedestrians either! Maybe they should be taxed and licensed too? I mean they use the road occasionally too dont they?

lol

Freefaller · 14 Sep 2009 at 16:02

snowdog said:
Errr, what has that got to do with cyclists ignoring em ?

Err nothing, the thread has moved on.

Do keep up old chap.

Gaijin · 14 Sep 2009 at 16:15

Freefaller said:
Err nothing, the thread has moved on.

Do keep up old chap.

Well you did quote his post

McBain · 14 Sep 2009 at 16:34

Sound. If I run a red light, i'll be fined... should be the same for everyone using the road.

al123 · 14 Sep 2009 at 17:57

I saw a cyclist get pulled by an unmarked police car near the Barbican today, hopefully it was for running a red light

Freefaller · 14 Sep 2009 at 19:13

snowdog said:
Errr, what has that got to do with cyclists ignoring em ?

Gaijin said:
Well you did quote his post

Good point I kinda missed the answer to my own question!

Snowdog, my point is exactly that, because in holland they don't jump the lights and they have their OWN lanes with their OWN lights the deaths have decreased in spite of there being a higher percentage of cyclists there. They are enforced much more stringently. If they can do it why can't we keep to the rules here?

Draeger · 14 Sep 2009 at 21:08

McBain said:
Sound. If I run a red light, i'll be fined... should be the same for everyone using the road.

^^This.

I cycle to work most of my shifts, it's a 36 mile round trip which I usually manage to do 4 times a week, so I would class myself as an experienced cyclist/commuter. On the route there is one particular set of traffic lights ( on my way home ) that I sometimes end up mounting the pavement at and riding past, then dropping back down onto the road, if they are at red.

Reason being is it's on of those sets of traffic lights that if you want to go straight ahead ( which I do ) then you have to sit in the right hand lane of the road when they are at red. The left hand lane is for turning left only, into a large retail park.

I've tried a few times to sit in the right lane and then what happens when the lights go to green is you have to start to pedal and clip back into your SPD's and then try and safely move back over towards the left hand side of the road once you get through the junction. You end up with traffic flying past you on both sides. This is compounded by impatient idiots in cars who crawl past in the left lane, past the cars in the right lane and then try and beat the cars in the right by driving straight ahead and jumping the queue. The second time I tried this out I nearly got flattened by some complete idiot in an Audi Q8.

When I mount the pavement next to the lights over the dropped kerb, I only ever do it if there are no pedestrians stood there. If there are any peds, I unclip and get off the bike to walk it.

On a related note, someone posted earlier that a half decent cyclist can be travelling along at @30mph. Believe it or not I have had some complete berks in cars pull out in front of me whilst I have been sat at @25-30mph and they have accelerated so slowly from their standing start that I have had to overtake them.

The upshot of it all is that there are idiots out there in cars and there are also idiots out there on pushbikes. Such is life. :cool:

The key thing that we have all still not managed to do as road users of whatever type, is respect and live with each other.