[Closed] Police fine 400 cyclists for 'dangerous and irresponsible' riding

Would it not imply cycling without due care and attention? Does the law specify car or is it while in charge of a vehicle on public roads?

I'd love to know why they named the activity after this bloke;

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The offence of using a mobile phone whilst cycling? It's not an offence to use a mobile phone whilst cycling

It's offence to not have both hands on the handlebars unless you're performing an action such as signalling.

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q604.htm

Using a hand held mobile phone whilst cycling is not illegal per se, however, you could commit an offence of careless riding or riding without due care and consideration. It is also not advisable for the obvious safety reasons.

On that basis just automatically punishing all people using a phone on a bike could land the popo in hot water as it is not an offence and to pressume an offence on the basis of sopmething that is not an offence is legally a near imposibility.

Interesting.

There were a couple of police cars stopping people on Lower Richmond Road in London last night too - they were parked about 100 yards beyond a pedestrian crossing where hundreds of cyclists jump the red light...

Keep 'em peeled!

Nick

I saw the police pulling them over on Oxford Road and laughed.

EDIT: it was the look of mystified incomprehension on the cyclists' faces that did it.

or just abide by the rules of the road?

Yet again the Police target softer crime to get their performance figures up when they are so ineffective against more serious offences.

It's offence to not have both hands on the handlebars unless you're performing an action such as signalling.

According to this (section 66), it's a should, not a must, so no, not illegal in itself.

[url= https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82/overview-59-to-71 ]Linky[/url]

However, the catch-all of dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling appears to cover just about anything the police fancy, I imagine, including mobile phone use. I wonder how many people got done for not having amber pedal reflectors?

[i]Yet again the Police target softer crime to get their performance figures up when they are so ineffective against more serious offences.[/i]

What they tend to do is target offences that cause most public complaints and RLJing cyclists is a biggie in that respect.

IF people don't want to be caught when they're breaking the law they shouldn't break the law?

And what major offences do you think they weren't dealing with whilst this was going on?

Meanwhile, a blind eye is turned to regular law-breaking on the roads

On motorways, [b]48 per cent of cars exceeded the 70 mph
speed limit in 2012[/b], a decrease of one percentage point from
2011. Twelve per cent of cars in 2012 travelled at 80 mph or
faster, continuing the downward trend seen in recent years.
?
Compared to 2002, the percentage of vehicles exceeding the
limit on 30 mph roads has fallen for every vehicle type,
excluding motorcycles which has increased by 3 percentage
points.
?
[b]Between 2011 and 2012, the percentage of cars exceeding the
30 mph speed limit remained unchanged at 47 per cent.[/b]
?
[b]Eighty two per cent of articulated heavy goods vehicles
exceeded their 50 mph speed limit[/b] on dual carriageways and
[b]73 per cent exceeded their 40 mph limit [/b]on single
carriageways.

Wonder if you were riding a fixed gear with the phone in your left hand if you'd still be dangerous, given that you can control the rear wheel with your legs?

Probably they have a new chap in charge and he wants to get himself known, but then again if cyclsits break the law then they should be fined just like the majority of motorists arent caught due to lack of resourses.

Good. I cycle along Oxford Road every day and the number of people riding bikes (I hesitate to call them cyclists) who jump red lights is ridiculous.

Sorry - but it's all wrong and using a phone or running reds SHOULD be crimes, and quite frankly I wonder why cyclists put themselves at risk of injury by doing the above!

Bottom line for me - I'm a vulnerable road user on a bike - so I play by the rules and hope drivers do too. They sometimes don't, I can have a pop at them knowing I've done my part to the best of my ability- no-one wins when it's a tit-for-tat game.

There are careless drivers and careless cyclists - the only difference is that a careless driver can kill with their car, a cyclist will more than likely just harm themselves. We should play by the rules - and the rules should be enforced on ALL road users.

Whether they be drivers or cyclists, seeing RLJers get pulled makes me smile.

Bottom line for me - I'm a vulnerable road user on a bike - so I play by the rules and hope drivers do too. They sometimes don't, I can have a pop at them knowing I've done my part to the best of my ability- no-one wins when it's a tit-for-tat game.

There are careless drivers and careless cyclists - the only difference is that a careless driver can kill with their car, a cyclist will more than likely just harm themselves. We should play by the rules - and the rules should be enforced on ALL road users.

i agree with this.

I've got no problem with RLJs being fined, be they in a vehicle or on a bike.

The thing that I'm having trouble with, is the apparent lack of proportionality here, as I would have assumed a similar 'campaign' against vehicle drivers across Greater Manchester: tackling excessive speed, use of mobile, not wearing seat belt (for all passengers) etc would actually send a message about road safety to a wider audience.

Sorry - but it's all wrong and using a phone or running reds SHOULD be crimes, and quite frankly I wonder why cyclists put themselves at risk of injury by doing the above!

That is all well and good but when the police are punishing people for things that SHOULD be a crime but is not then you get on a very slippery slope. After all what SHOULD happen is just a subjective. That daft bint from twitter last month seemed to thing that motorists SHOULD be able to knock cyclists off the road as they "don't pay road tax".

Why would anyone want to use a mobile phone on a bike on a busy main road? There have been many posts on here rightly criticising motorists for not paying complete attention to their driving .If I were riding on Oxford Rd I'd want to be in complete control and fully aware of what was going on round me ,not sure what phone call is so urgent that it wouldn't wait.

We should play by the rules - and the rules should be enforced on ALL road users.

+1

TBH a light bollocking and a fine for haphazard fools on bikes is a better prevention measure than just telling drivers to "look out" for cyclists...
If that means there are now 400 odd cyclists who won't be RLJing or Yapping on their mobiles while riding then I'd call it positive action.

I'm sure it'll play well with the DM crowd though....

I've got no problem with RLJs being fined, be they in a vehicle or on a bike.

The thing that I'm having trouble with, is the apparent lack of proportionality here, as I would have assumed a similar 'campaign' against vehicle drivers across Greater Manchester: tackling excessive speed, use of mobile, not wearing seat belt (for all passengers) etc would actually send a message about road safety to a wider audience.

See you've made quite a bit of an assumption there, I reckon Greater Manchester Police probably carry out similar campaigns focused on pulling divers for motoring offences too...

Let's not indulge too much in the whole "false victimhood" thing shall we...

what Gavin B said and scotssoutes

Other issues are more pressing but i am not defending RLJ but i see as much of it from cars as from bikes tbh ...it seems everyone does it but only bikes get targetted

Imagine if they had sat there and checked everycar form MOT , tax and insurance
TBH if they enforced all the driving laws we would have about 70% less cars by the end of next week

Just out of interest what do the plod on bikes do when they get a radio call?
I am pretty sure my super rad skillz are better than theirs

Imagine if they had sat there and checked everycar form MOT , tax and insurance
TBH if they enforced all the driving laws we would have about 70% less cars by the end of next week

ANPR already does it for little manpower, and when stopped they get the vehicle seized.and a nice walk home.

or just abide by the rules of the road?

Well, yes. But the police have a limited pool of resources for tackling traffic offences and road safety. What should they prioritise?

Sorry - but it's all wrong and using a phone or running reds SHOULD be crimes, and quite frankly I wonder why cyclists put themselves at risk of injury by doing the above!
Bottom line for me - I'm a vulnerable road user on a bike - so I play by the rules and hope drivers do too. They sometimes don't, I can have a pop at them knowing I've done my part to the best of my ability- no-one wins when it's a tit-for-tat game.
There are careless drivers and careless cyclists - the only difference is that a careless driver can kill with their car, a cyclist will more than likely just harm themselves. We should play by the rules - and the rules should be enforced on ALL road users.

This pretty much sums it up for me.

As a [i]popo[/i] who investigate fatal and life altering collisions I can see why there is sometimes a need for more, seemingly draconian measure than the traditional stern word of advice. Lets face it, we know that speeding, using your mobile whilst driving, drink drive & not wearing you seatbelt are all unlawful, yet the sheer amount of people who choose to do these is staggering.

Do we know if this area has seen an uprise in cycling related collisions, complaints etc? if so, the local commander would be heavily criticised if he ignored an issue like that.

I cycle to work most days and the behaviour of some cyclists still amazes me; I might add that the worst offenders are those who look like fairly serious riders, and not the old bloke on his way to the factory.

There's generally only one person who gets hurt in a collision involving a cyclist; if issuing a ticket/fine makes a cyclist think twice about his or her behaviour then it was probably worth issuing that ticket.

I might add that the worst offenders are those who look like fairly serious riders, and not the old bloke on his way to the factory.

I find that there isn't a particular demographic.

In contrast to this, I've noticed a lot of flyers being handed out this week to scooter and motorcycle riders stopping in the ASL/ green zones at traffic lights. The flyer describes the Highway Code ruling that they are flouting and the fines they could face if caught doing so.

[i]It's offence to not have both hands on the handlebars unless you're performing an action such as signalling.[/i]

I signal at people a lot!

Do we know if this area has seen an uprise in cycling related collisions, complaints etc? if so, the local commander would be heavily criticised if he ignored an issue like that.

not that i know of, but it is the student corridor for both manchester universities and is the busiest bus route by a long way in the whole of greater manchester, if not further.
i don't have to cycle along it on my commute, but even if it were the shortest route for me into the city centre i'd go a different way instead of ride on oxford road. it's crazy at times.

as for the mobile phone part, my phone is in a neoprene cover inside my bag while i'm cycling on roads, and it stays there until i reach my destination or stop somewhere safe to use it.

the part that i'm intrigued by:

The £80 penalty notices were handed out along Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road for offences such as running red lights, [b]not having lights fitted[/b], cycling on footpaths and using mobile phones whilst cycling

is it an offence to not have lights fitted to your bike, even during broad daylight?!

It is rather bloody stupid to cycle whilst on your mobile phone so they get their comeuppance in my book.

I cycle to work most days and the behaviour of some cyclists still amazes me;

Some road users are idiots some of them are in lorries and cars and some of them are on bikes...i dont see the point in targeting ONLY those on bikes- target RLJ but all of it
Targeting dangerous driving ..all of it etc

Its not like the real danger on roads [the bringers of deaths] are cyclist

you now get 'in ride' updates from Strava on your segment times so they're probably just checking their KOM status.

So Junkyard/Gavin B, what you're saying is that because we (cyclists) operate vehicles without engines we shouldn't expect the Police to bother applying the law to us...

From the Article:

Oxford Road corridor identified as a dangerous cycling hotspot on 10 ‘days of action’ between February and June this year.....

....Cyclists were given the chance to escape the fines by attending cycling awareness events at Moss Side and Withington fire stations.

Around 340 of the cyclists handed the fines took up the offer.

GMP say the operation was aimed at educating cyclists about keeping safe on the road.

You seem to think it's disproportionate for a couple of Police officers to spend an average of 2 days a month doing some targetted detection, focused on one group of road users, but then they did catch and fine or educate 400 people found to be commiting offences with what sounds like pretty minor levels of effort, and who's to say they won't spend the remaining 355 days of the year pulling speeding, phone using motorists?

Nah I think you are just getting your knickers in a twist over the rozzers doing their job and applying the law to a a social group you happen to identify with... Not all cyclists are perfect TBH we do need a touch of "proportionate" policing just like anyone else...

I think GMP seem to have gotten a pretty fair balance with that operation TBH...

Oxford Road is an utter nightmare and tbh this sort of thing needs to be done there- it's not a good advert for cycling at all.

I work on Oxford Road and have seen at least three pedestrians pole-axed by red light jumpers when crossing the road. One of them an old lady who looked in a very bad way afterwards. Also lost count of the times I've seen people being rescued from underneath buses.

It's a major student route so there really is a large volume of people on bikes (wouldn't really call them 'cyclists') of the type who give everyone else a bad name. It's also (or once was) the busiest bus route in Europe.

I don't even know why people bother using large parts that route anyway as it's much easier to go through moss-side or several other alternative routes.

is it an offence to not have lights fitted to your bike, even during broad daylight?!

Some of the action was taken in February so lights were needed.

Jeez, some of you would set back the cause of getting respect from motorists if you were allowed out into the community!

The rules of the road are there to keep everyone safe. We can't whine when it is the cyclists turn to get caught. I suspect that those done for petty offences probably just didn't havethe brains to show the right attitude when pulled over.

We all bitch on about drivers getting away with stuff, and then bitch some more if it's cyclists getting done. They got done for breaking the rules of the game. MTFU before someone links this thread to the Daily Wail bike haters thread as justification for their attitudes towards us.

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So Junkyard/Gavin B, what you're saying is that because we (cyclists) operate vehicles without engines we shouldn't expect the Police to bother applying the law to us.

I've got no problem with RLJs being fined, be they in a vehicle or on a bike.

Other issues are more pressing but i am not defending RLJ but i see as much of it from cars as from bikes tbh ...it seems everyone does it but only bikes get targetted

I think the rest of my posts makes it clear what i think and it is absurd to suggest this is what we are saying

Dangerous cycling should be punished but dangerous driving in a vehicle is a greater danger to all so I would give it a higher priority due to risk or i would target bad driving rather than a vehicle type

I'm just gobsmacked that so many people are quite happy to support the police for FINING SOMEONE WHO IS NOT COMMITTING A CRIME.

Talking on a mobile on a bike maybe be silly in your eyes but it is most certainly NOT illegal.

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23093338 ]Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho [/url]

10 days over 5 months... Really I don't think they were spending much time on "unfairly targeting" a single user group TBH...

Plus the vast majority caught, avoided a fine by attending an awareness course, therefore the end result was a greater awareness of road safety issues among Mancunian cyclists...

Hardly a terrible result, a preventative measure for which I think GMP should actually be congratulated by the cycling community...

We are all responsible for road safety, its not a sliding scale based on BHP/Te...

We all bitch on about drivers getting away with stuff, and then bitch some more if it's cyclists getting done.

Illegal behaviour by motorists is likely to be more dangerous than illegal behaviour by cyclists. I don't have a particular problem with the police fining cyclists for rlj etc, so long as they are prioritising their (publicly funded) resources appropriately.

As an aside, I can't remember the last time I cycled to work when a motorist [u]didn't[/u] rlj.

Using a hand held mobile phone whilst cycling is not illegal per se, however, you could commit an offence of careless riding or riding without due care and consideration. It is also not advisable for the obvious safety reasons.

So it is illegal.