Laws That Don't Really Matter

Technically, at an indicated 85, you’re doing 74.5, so hardly ‘speeding’

On my car, doing an indicated 85 is a true 82. It’s different on every car, obviously. They don’t just design cars so that every one is exactly 10% over true speed 🙂

Pretty sure that’s not a law,

I’m afraid it is.

Thus,

64
You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.
Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A 1984, sect 129

https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82

> Our village successfully petitioned to become a 20 limit.
That 20mph limit in Wylam is just ‘suggested’, though.

Yeah that annoys me too – there was a petition signed by a large majority in the village to get a 20mph limit put in. The council agreed but then put in an advisory limit instead because it was easier 🙄

You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.

The interesting point about that one is that the police actively acknowledge that it’s often not in the public interest to enforce it!

The introduction of the fixed penalty is not aimed at responsible cyclists who sometimes feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of traffic and who show consideration to other pavement users when doing so.

Chief police officers, who are responsible for enforcement, acknowledge that many cyclists, particularly children and young people, are afraid to cycle on the road, sensitivity and careful use of police discretion is required.

http://www.bikehub.co.uk/news/sustainability/roads-minister-tells-police-let-cyclists-go-on-footways-when-roads-look-dangerous/

Car speedos are a lot more accurate than people think nowadays. I did a check of a 50mph average speed limit motorway on my GPS and it was only 1mph out at the most.

95% I get tailgated, sometimes very dangerously, when I do 30mph. So I slow down a bit, that always cheers them up. 😉

+ 1 for speed limits – esp 30 limits. Have you ever tried driving in a 30 zone at 30 and not had someone tailgating?

I find 20 ones are even worse for this. There’s a 20 zone around my daughter’s (primary) school, which is also a “rat run” avoiding a busy junction. I invariably get tailgated if I do anything less than an indicated 30 mph, often by parents traveling to / from the school…

I get tailgated, sometimes very dangerously, when I do 30mph. So I slow down a bit, that always cheers them up.

That’s what cruise control is for – set it to 25 and really hack them off !

I get tailgated, sometimes very dangerously, when I do 30mph

I said in another thread, tailgating is now so commonplace that folk have no real idea what the correct gap should be.

(i.e. roughly one car length for every five mph – so six lengths at 30mph? Yeah right!)

Middle lane driving

I’ll see your middle lane driving and raise you outside lane driving!

Neither of those are laws, sadly.

(i.e. roughly one car length for every five mph – so six lengths at 30mph? Yeah right!)

I always went for the “2 second rule”

2 seconds at 70mph is 63 metres!

Thus,
64 You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.
Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A 1984, sect 129

That is true but the government seem to think it is ok if you are sensible

I always went for the “2 second rule”
2 seconds at 70mph is 63 metres!

Yeah it works out roughly the same.
Average car is just over 4 metres long, so 70mph = 14 car lengths = ~56 metres.

The Highway Code actually says “leave enough space between you and the vehicle in front so that you can pull up safely if it suddenly slows down or stops. The safe rule is never to get closer than the overall stopping distance“. For 70mph it gives a stopping distance of 96 metres!

Good luck with that.

Mobile phone use is still totally fine it seems.

I saw someone on her bike swerving all over the shop this morning. On her phone.

I ran her over.

Sorry John, no (specific) law against using a mobile while cycling 😉

When Labour got into power in 1997 one of the first things they did was to make it illegal under British law to cause a nuclear explosion 😀

Sorry John, no (specific) law against using a mobile while cycling

Didn’t say it was a law, I was just commenting on the comment I had copied above.

But it did piss me off because it was a busy road, right outside a school (on zigzags ironically, but she didn’t stop on them) with traffic islands everywhere and all the motorists holding back wondering just what/where she was going to do next.

It’s no wonder some motorists hate us cyclists.

all the motorists holding back wondering just what/where she was going to do next.

Sounds like an excellent tactic then – I might try that myself.

Speed limit. Had someone overtake me on the Strines Road waving their arms about and shouting some abuse because I had the nerve to stick to the speed limit, on a notoriously dangerous road, whilst I had my kids in the car.

Just set week, I was in front at the temporary traffic lights on the same road. Some pollock, three cars back, ran the red light then someone else started beeping their horn at me because i wouldn’t run the red. We hadn’t been waiting an age, just impatience.

I love it that people will happily abuse me and get frustrated because I follow the rules of h road. I am not super slow, I just don’t want a fine and points on my license. Some folk don’t seem to care.

all the motorists holding back wondering just what/where she was going to do next.

Sounds like an excellent tactic then – I might try that myself.

in my case, the cyclist girl on the phone was riding no handed the “wrong way” along a one-way street, cars parked both sides, with gaps for driveways/entrances, so I had little choice but to hold back wondering if she was going to crash in to the front of a parked car, the front of my car, or attempt to wedge herself between mine and a parked car, assuming the brakes were lever operated and not pedal-back.

NB bikes *are* allowed to go both ways here, so not really the wrong way.

Zig-zags are diagonal parking bays outside schools aren’t they? 😉

Yeah I stick to the limits in my van but most don’t and most car drivers are unaware that the limit is slower for me, so I get tailgated, beeped at and fists waved in my direction. I reckon they put it down to being one of those ‘female drivers’, rather than not wanting points or fines (plus my bike is usually in the back and I like to make sure she is happy and not skittling about the back!)

Though cigarette butts can obviously be dropped anywhere.

Same category as banana skins these days apparently.

we’ve got some fairly new (<1 yr) 20mph speed limits round here – I stick to them if driving and people soon get behind you and go apoplectic. Love it.

all the motorists holding back wondering just what/where she was going to do next.

I ‘wobble’ when approaching a particularly bad pinch pint on my ride home. It’s a great tactic to prevent pointless MGIF overtaking.

Speaking of pinch points…

The “oncoming vehicles have priority” signs can be ignored if the oncoming vehicle is a bike. Apparently.

How about- pedestrians have right of way if they are crossing a road onto which you want to turn.

Indicating at junctions seems to be going rapidly out of fashion, at least in my area of S London. Really noticed it in the last year.

How about- pedestrians have right of way if they are crossing a road onto which you want to turn.

After a few nearly-getting-run-over-by-idiots moments near work, I discovered the little publicised codicil that a driver blasting their horn reverses the right of way in such circumstances.

Interestingly that law also applies to cars, which is another routinely ignored one (given you have to drive on the pavement to park on the pavement unless you own a crane).

the cyclist girl on the phone was riding no handed the “wrong way” along a one-way street,

She sounds awesome. Was she fit?

“Technically, at an indicated 85, you’re doing 74.5, so hardly ‘speeding’; no cop is going to pull you over for that, as you’re still within the 10% speedo variable.
Even at an indicated 90, you’re actually only doing 81.”
Tecnically not really true as its a rather sweeping generalisation that encourages people to ignore their speedo. My landrover shows 31 at a GPSed 30, my Suzuki 32.
what really pisses me off is that people feel that these laws are silly. they have a reason and it is not for those who are less than 100% correctly informed to question them just because they don’t like them.
In the spirit of the thread I like to split laws into those which affect other by my breaking them and those which don’t. Ie speeding is disgusting. full stop. How ever me carrying an Opinel knive harms no one.
all example are for the purpose of illustration rather than any admission of guilt or opinion.

When Labour got into power in 1997 one of the first things they did was to make it illegal under British law to cause a nuclear explosion

That’s a pretty good law if you want to e.g. slow the proliferation of nuclear weapons (conspiracy and attempt would also be covered).

Does it cover building your own nuclear reactor?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10385853