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So basically there's shedloads of petty little laws that can be used against you when out on a bike - it must be so dangerous for the general public if a bike is lacking pedal reflectors.
Section 29 of the Road Traffic Act 1988
....yeah but was matey on a 29er?
*gets coat*
can easygirl be banned please. 😉
the size of wheel is irrelevant in the eyes of the law !
laws are only petty to the people comitting them
they are useful tools to law enforcement agencies for hacking trainee solicitors off 😀
If someone wants to be petty then petty the **** out of them.
LOL!
Loving the collective 'keyboard rebellion' against the forces of evil 😆
Lets face it - easiest, quickest response is to be civil/polite and be on your way, ****ting about on the road on a bike isn't really that clever and neither is being a 'cheeky schoolboy' to a Police Officer who catches you out 🙄
how hard is it to bunnyhop a fakenger fixie anyway?
have we established how this fine officer of the law 'caught out' the OP?
easygirl surely upholding the law is more to do with using discretion and applying it appropriately rather than blindly following it to the letter?
And I would argue that 'having a rant' has no place whatsover if you choose to work in the public sector
Ah yess fontmoss - the discretion clause - makes no sense to book people for breaking the law if you can choose not to... 🙂 Personally I'd just ignore them if they called after me (can't claim you definitely heard them, you might be deaf) but if they stepped out in front I'd just point out that bunnyhopping isn't either dangerous, careless or a problem to anyone else. But I would be aware that they could and probably would find a reason to book me!
ban easygirl please 😀 i dont have lights as i dont ride at night and i have no reflectors as i took them all off...... will i go to prison and become bubba's wife?
once got screamed at by the po po's out of their window as they drove along. shouting something unintelligible. got closer and he was shouting.
'oi you lot, ride ON the pavement'
baffling.
can easygirl be banned please.
Too useful a resource for that...
It seems to me that any mountain bike (or any serious road, CX, specialist sports oriented non commute / supermarket bike) is vulnerable to these elements of the law. They are too sports specific.
None of my bikes have a bell fitted - my understanding is that new bikes have to be supplied with one (and that, therefore, cannot apply to frame only build ups), but there is no legal requirement to have one fitted thereafter??
Regarding reflectors - I don't think I have ever had a front reflector on an mtb, and I gave up on rear reflectors on mtbs about 15 years ago as the vibration always causes the plastic mountings to fail.
Likewise with pedal reflectors - I use eggies / candies or DMR flat pedals. No reflectors on any of them - although my clipless shoes do have Scotchbrite on the heel cup.
I do agree with the be polite and politely enquire as to the reason for being stopped and questioned though.
oh god, not again, the posts were tongue in cheek for gods sake 🙂
i dont have reflectors on my bike for the record
mind you , if a bobby stopped me and advised me re my manner of cycling on a road i would not consider telling him to **** off, neither would i get on a forum , id say "Thanks", and ride off muttering under my breath.
posts were tongue in cheek for gods sake
maybe the replies are too 😉
would simply have asked how what you did was breaking what law ..... have him explain what you have been stopped for, so you are no longer guessing.......
And in your example - ask what he would have rather you had done instead - since going through the pothole could have caused you to get a puncture, lose control and get run over (which is what you could explain you were wishing to avoid) ... or some other mis-hap that you managed to safely avoid ..... 'safely' as evidenced by the fact that you did it and no-one else got bothered/injured etc etc.
What training do the plod have for inspecting bikes?
Didn't you just tell him to "go and catch some proper criminals!"
Do you seriously have to have all those reflectors?
I know it's petty, but I cannot remember the last time I actually had reflectors on my bike, or any bike that I own, simply because the dam things keep falling off, getting in the way, or are just shite. I don't have a bell either because having a bell on a mountain bike would be absolutely stoopid.
Who the hell thinks up these things?
Easygirl, can you change these things? Make it o...
I'd just get on with my day and forget about it.
I don't have a bell either because having a bell on a mountain bike would be absolutely stoopid.
I've got a bell on every one of my bikes. Comes in very handy, especially in busy urban areas. Usually gets a smile from walkers on bridlepaths as well.
He's a police-person. That means he can do what he wants. Unless you're very well armed or the Queen, just smile sweetly, call him "Sir" and don't make any sudden movements.
I can't say I much like the idea of people doing whipped bunnyhops over the potholes if they're ahead of me on the road, if I'm totally honest. 🙂
once got screamed at by the po po's out of their window as they drove along. shouting something unintelligible. got closer and he was shouting.'oi you lot, ride ON the pavement'
baffling.
By your use of the "po po's" I would guess you're 5 and he was worried for your safety ? 😆
My son and I were coasting down a pedestianised bit of road last summer and was called out to stop by a PCSO. I carried on but had to stop up the road for my son to catch up. The PCSO swung in front of me all red in the face and wanted to give me a ticket for not stopping and riding in the pedestrianised area. I politely told him that the two coppers I passed on the way down didn't worry about it. He didn't like that and put his book away and rode off!
Now I see him riding his shiny new bike around my estate, on the footpath! One rule for one?
Can't say I've ever had trouble with the police even when riding past them at night with no lights/reflectors on my bmx (no brakes at the time either), hopping from curb to curb and such. I like to think they have more important things to worry about!
If they're on foot it should be easy to get away if shouted at anyway 😆
It does appear with so much time on their hands that all other crimes must be a thing of the past though. Can you request that a police officer arrests themselves for wasting police time?
you could ask a police officer to arrest himself for wasting police time, i know what theanswer would be
I ride on a towpath (only to work i hasten to add) i've encountered bigger A-holes on there than anywhere else. Passed a jogger once, stopped further along to take a phone call to be passed by the jogger ranting and raving about not warning him i was passing. To which i replied "i shouted a warning but you've got headphones stuck in your ears and i dont do telepathy" Another occasion i was whacked across the knuckles by an old boy with a walking stick (thankfully i had my carbon knuckled gloves on) for not using the towpath for its intended purpose, i told him that neither was he cos he wasn't a horse pulling a barge, he just mumbled and shuffled away. Fishermen on the the other hand have always been ok with me, even the ones with those carbon rods that seem to be longer than the canal is wide for some odd reason, but i digress......