£700 fine for Brighton cyclist.

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This topic has 98 replies, 44 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by TandemJeremy.

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£700 fine for Brighton cyclist.
wwaswas
Full Member

A cyclist has been fined £700 after going through a red light.

Richard Hodgson, 53, of Maldon Road, Brighton, was found guilty of ignoring a red traffic light, cycling without lights, cycling on the pavement and failing to stop for police.

Brighton magistrates fined him £700 and ordered him to pay £215 in costs.

Inspector James Biggs, of the Sussex Police road policing unit at Hove, said: "Our communities in Brighton and Hove are regularly raising concerns about anti-social cycling, where cyclists are cycling on pavements, having no regard for red traffic lights and cycling without lights at night.

"This behaviour puts both the cyclists and other road users at risk and we will respond robustly to anyone found committing such offences."

(working) link to local paper[/url]

I wonder what they'd have got if they hadn't 'failed to stop'?

Posted 14 years ago

HoratioHufnagel
Free Member

Sounds like the actions of a teenager rather than a 53 yr old! link isn't working tho?

Posted 14 years ago

yunki
Free Member

Sounds like the actions of a teenager rather than a 53 yr old!

That sounds really really funny when taken in the context of the STW forum.. especially if you substitute the word 'actions' for 'arguments'

Posted 14 years ago

Three_Fish
Free Member

I'm totally baffled why people think it's OK to go through a red light when they're on a bike. I've had people whizz past me as I've stood in the ASL box and it would appear that they haven't even checked to see if there's anyone coming from either side. I doubt very much that they'd be able to stop if a vehicle was coming at the normal speed.

Posted 14 years ago

PeterPoddy
Free Member

And yet, drive banned, with no tax or insurance, and get fined £200 or so…..

Posted 14 years ago

wwaswas
Full Member

that's what I thought PP – he's being 'made an example of' really.

Posted 14 years ago

Del
Full Member

failure to stop was what did it. one way to really get a copper agitated.
all he would have had to do was stop and give it the full 'yes sir, no sir', and he probably would have been on his way with a flea in his ear. either that or make bloody sure you don't get caught!

Posted 14 years ago

uplink
Free Member

Run away & they take it personally 🙂

no sympathy – I'm afraid

Posted 14 years ago

br
Free Member

The fine is out of all proportion, he should appeal.

Posted 14 years ago

jimbobrighton
Free Member

I've been fined in brighton for riding along the (desserted) esplanade on a rainy october afternoon.

I questioned them why this was such a priority, and basically it's what they get the most complaints from from residents. Ironically there have been three drug related murders within 500 yards of my flat in the past 2 years.

Brighton police have been tasked with getting cyclists to obey the rules, which is fair enough, but I do feel that they get priorities wrong while they try to appease the complainers of Brighton.

To be fair I should really put in a complaint about the drug related murders in the area and something might get done!

Posted 14 years ago

Ti29er
Free Member

Red lights are for car users only surely?

Posted 14 years ago

dmiller
Free Member

uplink – Member

Run away & they take it personally

no sympathy – I'm afraid

Indeed 😀

Posted 14 years ago

dickydutch
Full Member

Haha. Serves him right. I wish they'd do that to all red light jumpers.

Posted 14 years ago

MidlandTrailquestsGraham
Free Member

So it's a £700 fine and "serves him right" for riding harmlessly through a red light or a £500 fine for "careless driving" and killing a cyclist.

Posted 14 years ago

Talkemada
Free Member

He deserves to be fined for allowing himself to be caught by the police, ffs… 🙄

Posted 14 years ago

dickydutch
Full Member

MilitantGraham. I said nothing about the proportionality of the fine. Im just glad he actully got pulled up for it. And yes, it does serve him right in my eyes.

Posted 14 years ago

MidlandTrailquestsGraham
Free Member

dickydutch, although I quoted you, my reply wasn't aimed at you personally.
I just don't get this idea, that is common amongst cyclists, that if cyclists stopped RLJing, motorists would somehow magically stop killing cyclists, as if the one provoked the other.

Posted 14 years ago

GSuperstar
Free Member

MilitantGraham – 'riding harmlessly through a red light'

on this occasion…

Posted 14 years ago

TandemJeremy
Free Member

The big fine is not for the red light jumping – its for failure to stop

Posted 14 years ago

MidlandTrailquestsGraham
Free Member

GSuperstar – fined £700

on this occasion…

Posted 14 years ago

tracknicko
Free Member

ha ha. have a mental image of the fella sprinting away from the po po's at full tilt!

You'll never catch me!

ahh balls.

Posted 14 years ago

GSuperstar
Free Member

MilitantGraham – Sorry, i wasn't arguing with the point you were bringing up, obviously his actions dont outweigh your example of a lower fine, it was more the impression that his Red Light action was harmless.

Posted 14 years ago

dickydutch
Full Member

MilitantGraham. No problems. And I can sort of see your point. I'm just glad someone has been made an example of at last. NExt time they run a red light, they may well ruin somebody elses life, not least their own.

Posted 14 years ago

dickydutch
Full Member

EDIT – No idea why theres a double post?!

Posted 14 years ago

MidlandTrailquestsGraham
Free Member

GSuperstar, I get what you mean now.
It's just that there's no mention in the article about causing injury or damage, so £700 seems away out of proportion for the original offences. Like TJ says, the failing to stop bit must have had something to do with that.

Posted 14 years ago

GSuperstar
Free Member

Definitely. It would make for an interesting watch if it made it's way to Watch Dog or such 🙂

Posted 14 years ago

cookeaa
Full Member

found guilty of ignoring a red traffic light, cycling without lights, cycling on the pavement and failing to stop for police.

I think the £700 really comes down to the number of offences he managed to commit in quite a short space of time, He’s lucky really he didn’t fail a breath test too….

Does he deserve the Hefty fine? Well he’s not helped the image of cyclists, he has actually broken the law 4 different ways, and risked causing an RTA, the cost of scraping his stupid arse off the tarmac treating him and diverting traffic around the scene had he caused one could well have exceeded the amount he’s been charged, so yeah why not?

But round my way (Reading) that sort of twattery is generally ignored by the Rozzers…

Posted 14 years ago

Jerome
Free Member

Brighton rider here.
Quite a few busy roads with lots of buses.
Is slightly jumping a light to maintain speed and keep up or ahead of traffic acceptable ?
Lots of tw$$ts out there riding witin the law but dangerously..

Posted 14 years ago

Woody
Free Member

Fine seems totally disproportionate to the crime and isn't 'being made an example of' intrinsically unfair and unjust ?

Similar to drunk drivers being given more severe penalties if they are caught over xmas. Is it really worse to d&d then, than at any other time?

Makes a mockery of a 'fair and just' system, when quite evidently it is neither.

Posted 14 years ago

Jerome
Free Member

£700 seems high, the Argus article has little details, would suggest the crim was not very co-operative.
J.

Posted 14 years ago

coffeeking
Free Member

He’s lucky really he didn’t fail a breath test too….

He doesn't have to give a sample, it's not enforcable for cyclists amazingly.

Quite frankly I'm sick of RLJers both when I'm on a bike and in the car, so I'm glad he ran and was caught.

Posted 14 years ago

uplink
Free Member

There's lots of fines/sentences that appear unfair but AFAIK the magistrates have to stick to guidelines

Wasn't there that cyclist that killed a pedestrian as a result of dangerous or furious or whatever cycling gets a 2k fine?
Like the £500 one linked above – it doesn't appear fair or just but I guess it's within the guidelines for the offence

Posted 14 years ago

Colin-T
Full Member

I was once accosted by a PC in Brighton for jumping a red light. I stopped and explained reasonably how the road works, significantly narrowing the junction made it extremely dangerous for me to start out at the same time as the busses lined up behind me (cycle lane but no ASL) so I was getting away in the few seconds before the light changed to enable myself to take up a more central position in the road.

She accepted my explanation and took no further action. In all honesty, at that time the juction was leathal and even if she'd hit me with a spot fine I'd have still done the same thing the next day.

Sorry, not relevant to the OP at all. 😳

Posted 14 years ago

coffeeking
Free Member

Colin-T, that's all well and good if you observe properly and are very slow and careful in your crossing but not everyone is and that can result in danger to everyone else not just you, which isn't acceptable. Red lights are there for everyones safety. If you can't cope with being in a junction with other traffic maybe you should reconsider using that road.

Posted 14 years ago

Jerome
Free Member

Brighton is supposed to be one of the government cycling towns.
Planning of the cycle lanes is an absolute joke..
Oh and there is no parking in town
Rant over
j.

Posted 14 years ago

molgrips
Free Member

they try to appease the complainers of Brighton.

Democracy works…

Re the original cyclist – if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. To be honest trying to evade the rozzers is stupid and he deserves to have the book thrown at him.

Colin-T – could you not have positioned yourself in front of the lead vehicle in the middle of the lane and waited for green? It's what I do. Equivalent to what you'd do if an ASL was there.

Posted 14 years ago

cookeaa
Full Member

Is slightly jumping a light to maintain speed and keep up or ahead of traffic acceptable?
Lots of tw$$ts out there riding witin the law but dangerously..

Sorry you've lost me, are you suggesting it’s a straight choice between riding Illegally and riding dangerously but Legally? I can't see why it's impossible to do both…

RLJing in a Car is not "acceptable", and it's believing that Cyclists are a special case that gives all those Clarksonite, Mail reading, road ragers Ammunition to campaign against cycling on the roads, jump a Red or do a bit of Amber gambling if you want, but just remember the filter timings are set for cars not bikes, and I'd have minimal sympathy for you if you get T-boned and pinged across a junction….

If your journey is that important then leave 5 minutes sooner, That’s most likely what any car driver would get told while the Plod print out his ticket for RLJing, Can't see how the same doesn't apply to a cyclist myself.

If we want truly fair and equitable access to the Roads (Which Cycling in this country does not really have at the moment) then it’s right that we abide by the rules and legislation as they apply to us, and accept the penalties for transgression, otherwise you’re asking for “rights without responsibility”; effectively the manifesto of a 4 year old…

Posted 14 years ago

TandemJeremy
Free Member

Molgrips – doing that where there is no ASL is red light jumping as well.- and I have some of the same issues as Colin and there are times when it is definitely safer to go thru the red light than it is to wait for green.

If by going early you get past a pinch point before the cars catch up with you you are improving your safety. Badly designed roads can make RLJing the only safe way to proceed

Posted 14 years ago

Woody
Free Member

From Inspector James Briggs

This behaviour puts both the cyclists and other road users at risk and we will respond robustly to anyone found committing such offences.

That's all well and good but I trust he is responding equally 'robustly' to the myriad of 'serious' crimes, not to mention the Brighton portion of an estimated 2 million uninsured car drivers in the UK. 🙄

Posted 14 years ago

jimster
Free Member

Red lights are for car users only surely?

Think you'll find they apply to all road users.

I'm afraid I have no sympathy with the fella, he jumped a light, got caught, failed to stop when instructed to – fair enough IMO. Trouble is though, with other crimes seemingly on the increase the feds are doing themselves no favours in this instance.

Posted 14 years ago