UPDATE: CLASSIFIEDS section refreshed, redesigned, searchable: Go take a look
Article infers the driver got fined too.
The video is only of the riders close pass.
Thoughts?
... Other than 2 pages, 3 warnings and 1 permaban? 😉
I suppose the rider is less of a risk to others than a cars close pass but...
Edit: I think the video shows both close passes as I'm guessing the silver car with the roof box is the car in question?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cd9w2l2wqvdo
The plod taking the piss with a £1200 fine for that?
edit: oh right £1200 = fine + court costs.
was he pissed? he cuts it pretty fine over taking the parked car!
But it all looks pretty slow speed.
At least that wasn't the close pass he reported 🤣
Drivers will love this.
Hoist by his own petard.
So he rides next to the center line then complains driver on other side of line is too close. That makes zero sense.
Safety wise he should have waited. Or ridden through and not said anything.
What a plonker
£1200 fine though, even with costs which is normally only a hundred at best, if that really.
As fines go though i dont think ive ever heard of anyone getting such a high amount for what is minor action. People speed, break multiple road laws and are probably going to get a fine half that. Couple of points and a couple of hundred.
Maybe the magistrate hates cyclists.
Is this one of those fines linked to income? Otherwise it does seem excessive.
That is poor riding and odd that it was sent to the police complaining about the oncoming car, weird.
£1,200 seems excessive but I'm not an expert in this field.
So this is just a small part of the video he submitted??? Is that right as the text in the report seems to indicate there is more to see? If it's just this I can't really understand what he was complaining about in the first place. Looks like a normal incident".
He submitted the video for an unrelated close pass. Full story on road.cc
Looks fair enough to me it was dangerously riding, should have waited for the car to pass.
Besides if lives in Ilkley they can afford to pay the fine and be outraged at the same time
Can't find it on Road CC but without reading the article I assume this is designed to remind everyone the law changed recently and those pesky cyclists are finally getting what they deserve. He was presumably done for careless driving (hence it went to court) which carries a higher fine than speeding etc
Absolute bollox obvs as even if cyclist was in the wrong, he was only a danger to himself and should have been given £100 fine tops - still the media needs feeding.
should have waited for the car to pass
I would have. But if he’s on his side of the white line, is it “dangerous”?
he was only a danger to himself and should have been given £100 fine tops
Before my reply gets taken as something else i am not saying indisagree with comments about over steep fines or anything like that.
But...
"Because only danger to self" type chat is absolute bollocks. They may be most likely to physically suffer but if their riding results in an incident leading tramatic injuries or death. Thats likely to **** up far more peoples lives than the riders.
Fair point but even so the fine is ridiculous in the circumstances - I wonder how much the motorist got?
The Highway Code suggests a metre gap when passing parked cars.
His riding was a long way short of sensible, so why send something which incriminates you to the Police?
His riding was a long way short of sensible, so why send something which incriminates you to the Police?
I don't believe for a minute that most on here wouldn't have kept cycling past the car in those circumstances. He was travelling at almost walking speed, the oncoming car wasn't going that fast and he was on his side of the dotted line. No it wasn't an ideal situation but when is it ever cycling in the UK? I've cycled down literally thousands of streets over the years where there is a line of parked cars - if you waited for all the oncoming drivers to stop for you or go past, you'd never get anywhere. I've cycled two abreast on similar roads where I've been the same distance from the central line.
Why are cars allowed to block the road like that anyway? Try parking two bikes on kickstands next to each other on a bend and see how long they last.
Fair point but even so the fine is ridiculous in the circumstances - I wonder how much the motorist got?
Agreed. It was merely the concept i dislike than the specifics of this case.
The video on that article is only showing what the cyclist was fined for, not the car close pass...
That's really wobbly, is he holding the phones in his hand?
Besides if lives in Ilkley they can afford to pay the fine and be outraged at the same time
Would confirm my suspicion the fine was related to income...
I would have. But if he’s on his side of the white line, is it “dangerous”?
Well do you know your Highway Code ?
A car passing a cyclist is supposed to leave a 1.5m gap. So only appears fair to do that when passing a car
Thats a ridiculous fine even with court costs.
For various reasons I'm not proud of to say the least, I did a very bad piece of driving at 70mph on a motorway. Wrote mine and the other guys car off during a moment of road rage. Broke lots of highway code rules. Could have ended a lot worse. I was pretty shocked. Sent my own dashcam footage to police so they knew exactly what I'd done and all laws broken.
I got sent on a careless driving course which cost 190 pounds (*not* a conviction for careless driving). Not even any points on my license.
I've always suspected driving incidents are treated too lightly, and the above seemed to validate that. It's weird because as a cyclist I was hoping I'd get banned, but from a selfish point of view wanted a very light punishment. I got the latter.
Proportionally, the above incident seems like almost nothing.
I don't believe for a minute that most on here wouldn't have kept cycling past the car in those circumstances. He was travelling at almost walking speed, the oncoming car wasn't going that fast and he was on his side of the dotted line. No it wasn't an ideal situation but when is it ever cycling in the UK? I've cycled down literally thousands of streets over the years where there is a line of parked cars - if you waited for all the oncoming drivers to stop for you or go past, you'd never get anywhere. I've cycled two abreast on similar roads where I've been the same distance from the central line.
+1
Was it perfect, nope, not by a long way, I'd give myself a bit of a telling off afterwards.
But it's definitely the kind of manoeuvre I've ended up doing wobbling up a hill, looking at front wheel, look up at parked car, look up further at oncoming car, should I stay, should I go, should I trackstand, should I unclip,,,,,, off f*** I'm out of room.
But isn't cyclists passing parked cars by more than one metre an advisory bit of Highway Code?
I wouldn't chose to squeeze through that gap myself, the only danger is to myself.
And that doesn't mean the car close passes should get ignored, not shown in the bbc clip.
But isn't cyclists passing parked cars by more than one metre an advisory bit of Highway Code?
Yes, because the wording is 'you should' rather than 'you must'.
This of the link to the story as i read it this morning. Not road.cc, apologies
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/26408848.cyclist-fined-complaining-driver-menston/
I'm amazed he was fined for that. He had almost come to a stop and could clearly see that there was nobody in the parked car. Plus he only went into the gap once the Volvo was passing, so his action seemingly didn't affect the other vehicle in any way.
When I took my motorbike test we were positively encouraged to take gaps like that in the name of 'progress'. As long as you weren't going excessively fast, or across the white line, then it was fair game.
"Police said the rider passed between the parked vehicle and the oncoming car, forcing the driver to move closer to the kerb to reduce the risk of a collision. "
Have to admit I wouldn't have gone through that gap.
Maybe the lesson is be absolutely sure there is nothing incriminating you before uploading that video?
The badly designed 2.2m wide car which is way too big for small UK roads came round the corner with its wheels on the dotted line. It saw the cyclist and moved 6 inches to the left so it was almost central in the carriageway. It all happened at about 10mph.
We all know that the fine was disproportionate and only issued as a slap on the wrist (well a punch in the face actually) to the cyclist for wasting everyone's time with his pesky dashcam footage. Any sane judicial system would have sent a traffic officer round to have a quick word to suggest he didn't ride round parked cars in that manner in the future or sent him on that 190 quid course one of the posters talked about above.
But that's not what happens here, red lights, charlie alliston, entitled lycra clad tour de france wannabees, 15 minute cities etc etc etc
Using a mobile phone whilst driving is as bad as drink driving in terms of loss of concentration ( apparently), yet the fines are not £1200 or earnings related . Plus the use is endemic and perhaps the cps and police should be pushing for fines of say 1 months take home pay to be an actual deterent . Fining a cyclist for riding through a narrow gap whilst a chelsea tractor had to turn the steering wheel 2' to allow both a wee bit of space is utterly ridiculous and happens every day in most major towns.
