Oh dear, indignant lycra lout fined £400 for speeding in Richmond Park

[st13phil]

Once again, a cyclist who thinks the rules don't apply to him.

But they do...

 

[John]

That's a reasonable turn of speed though albeit down hill.

I managed 30mph on a mountain bike going down quite a steep hill in Biggin Hill (Salt Box Hill if anyone knows it!).

 

[Hawkwind]

"The amount of money it must cost to pay a magistrate and have a court case I'm sure the £620 fine I received does not even come close to covering it!"

Whatever the cost, it's still great value for money and to hear (read), him bleating on about it just makes it all the sweeter

Welcome to the world of the motorist Paul

 

[boxbrownie]

Magistrates do not get payed.............if he was that clever he might have known that.

 

[st13phil]

...if he was that clever he might have known that.

He's not clever, but he does have RIGHTS!!!!


(apparently)

 

[merc85]

Speed limits do not apply to cyclists on a public road, But through a park they will.

Cyclists can’t be booked for speeding, but might be fined for ‘cycling furiously’ or ‘riding furiously’ which is an offence under the 1847 Town Police Clauses Act. However, cyclists can be convicted for ‘wanton and furious driving’ under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 ( amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1948 (. 58), s. 1()) if they cause bodily harm to any person. They are then guilty of a misdemeanour and could, at the discretion of the court, be imprisoned for up to two years.

 

[Wheelsnuts]

Best news I have read today.

 

[merc85]

always seems alot of insecure peeps on here lol

 

[st13phil]

Cyclists can’t be booked for speeding, but might be fined for ‘cycling furiously’ or ‘riding furiously’ which is an offence under the 1847 Town Police Clauses Act.

That's my understanding, too.

It's interesting to remember that speed limits for motorised vehicles were introduced as a proxy means of encouraging / enforcing desired behaviour, i.e. not driving like a d*ckhead in an area where you were likely to cause injury to someone. A speed limit gave a constable an easy, absolute, proxy which he could use to lay a charge and secure a conviction for inappropriate behaviour by a driver rather than arguing a subjective assessment.

The same law has never been enacted for cyclists, perhaps because they weren't seen to be a problem(?), but maybe now would be a good time to do so?

It's also instructive to think about the origin of speed limits when some self-righteous loon bangs on about "travelling at 1-mph above the limit" being "the height of irresponsible behaviour"

 

[merc85]

The same law has never been enacted for cyclists, perhaps because they weren't seen to be a problem(?), but maybe now would be a good time to do so?

Yes but i dont think it will ever happen due to the whole "Green" issue and im not talking about Richmond green lol, same as wearing Cycle helmets too.

 

[Red C220]

Best news I've read all day, why does his attitude/response to the charge not surprise me?

 

[219]

Magistrates do not get payed.............if he was that clever he might have known that.

And , indeed , he might have been able to spell PAID .

 

[219]

Perhaps a solution would be to pass a bye law permitting any pedestrians troubled by speeding or aggressive cyclists to deal with them by means of a brolly or walking stick through the spokes

 

[boxbrownie]

And , indeed , he might have been able to spell PAID .

Yes, I thought it looked odd as I tieped

 

[ss201]

There are idiots everywhere. This one just happened to be riding a bike. I have no sympathy whatsoever for this numpty, who should know better. Last week I just missed mowing down a pedestrian who stepped off the pavement directly in front of me without looking - whilst riding mybike in town. I was probably doing about 12-15 mph at the time - fast enough to cause both me and the pedestrian some damage. The good thing about riding a bike on public roads is it teaches (or should) teach you to be constantly aware of what others are doing. Sadly the increase in cycle use in recent years means there are more and more inexperienced, inconsiderate and inept people riding bikes than ever before - or maybe more people in general are exhibiting these traits?

 

[Druk]

Perhaps a solution would be to pass a bye law permitting any pedestrians troubled by speeding or aggressive cyclists to deal with them by means of a brolly or walking stick through the spokes

Do we need a bye law for that? I consider "oops, sorry" to be more than sufficient without having to trouble our legislators.






.

 

[Mike Walker]

The voice of sense and reason ^^

 

[Deleted96908]

Last week I just missed mowing down a pedestrian who stepped off the pavement directly in front of me without looking - whilst riding mybike in town. I was probably doing about 12-15 mph at the time - fast enough to cause both me and the pedestrian some damage.

I was going downhill in Guildford town centre and rode straight into the side of a car reversing out of a nose in parking space. I flew over the top of the car and landed a good ten feet the other side. Luckily unharmed apart from grazes everywhere.

We were both to blame. Her for being totally unaware that other people might be on the road and me for riding downhill without a hope in hell's chance of stopping in the types of distances needed in town centres.

Once again, a cyclist who thinks the rules don't apply to him.

But they do...

38 mph downhill is not that quick, I regularly do 10k in just over fifteen minutes on the flat. Although have to concede it's on an Olympic Watt Bike Ok, ok, I'll put my hands up to my very own Flight of the Phoenix moment - "What? You mean you don't design real aircraft?"

I do think however, that this points to some bigger issues. On the appropriate use of facilities, I've long thought Richmond Park should be closed to motorised vehicles. It's primarily used as a short cut between the A3 and over the river towards Chiswick/M4 etc. Take the cars away and there'd be no need for Plod and his pocket full of Double As.

Not wishing to divert this thread along a cycle path - but if we invested in Dutch like infrastructure and attitude, these issues might surface less frequently. Plus of course introduce other benefits including speeding up journeys in built up areas (bike is already the quickest form of transport in most big cities), make some of us fitter (just sayin...) and create tens of thousands of jobs across the country... Probably best to leave the last point there.

 

[cb1965]

I was going downhill in Guildford town centre and rode straight into the side of a car reversing out of a nose in parking space. I flew over the top of the car and landed a good ten feet the other side. Luckily unharmed apart from grazes everywhere.

We were both to blame. Her for being totally unaware that other people might be on the road and me for riding downhill without a hope in hell's chance of stopping in the types of distances needed in town centres.

Glad you were unhurt, but I would say you're being quite generous with your blame apportionment. At the end of the day it is up to people manouvering, particularly in reverse, to take account of the likely hazards and it seems she didn't.

Same thing if a pedestrian steps off the road in front of you.... their fault 100%! Cyclists get a raw deal a lot of the time from motorists and people in general and while there are some complete tools on bikes for the most part the majority cycle pretty sensibly... self preservation and all that. I think it's easy to demonise them as only the stroppy ones out to make a point seem to have a voice on YT and the likes or get noticed by us on the road (and I am as guilty as anyone here for this) so it seems they are worse than they are.

Not wishing to divert this thread along a cycle path - but if we invested in Dutch like infrastructure and attitude, these issues might surface less frequently. Plus of course introduce other benefits including speeding up journeys in built up areas (bike is already the quickest form of transport in most big cities), make some of us fitter (just sayin...) and create tens of thousands of jobs across the country... Probably best to leave the last point there.

100% this ^^^^

As for the speeder in the park.... was he really doing anything that was worthy of the police being there and 'doing him' for speeding.... we keep hearing how stretched they are manpower wise .... well I would say if they have time to do that they need further culling!!!

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Also worth keeping in mind that these sorts of stories come out of London and the SE where they're all packed in like sardines, hence the tension. So while these stories do whip up conflict they aren't indicative of what's going on in the rest of our island.

Thinking about it, I can count on one finger the incidents I've had around my locality and not a GoPro in sight...