Police crackdown on people cycling on the pavements

[ovaltina]

I got caught cycling along a pavement in Battersea last week (towards Latchmere Road) by two cycle-mounted police. They were hiding behind a hedge and shouting "Oi! Stop!" at people going past, and there were already about five other cyclists waiting for their tickets.

Last night, I got off and walked past the same hedge, and one of the two police was there again, giving a ticket to another cyclists.

He was friendly both times, especially when he saw me walking the bike a week after getting nicked, and the ticket didn't come with a fine, just a warning not to do it again or I'd get a £30 penalty. Fair enough I reckon.

A woman at work has also been done for cycling on the pavement.

So there's some sort of crackdown on at the mo. Thought I'd let you know

 

[bluestreak]

Fuck 'em!

 

[ovaltina]

Fuck 'em!

He was quite cute actually

 

[Kanda]

Good, don't cycle on the fucking pavement!!

 

[ovaltina]

Good, don't cycle on the fucking pavement!!

Yes i know - but in my defence I was going really really slowly, like walking speed...

 

[christonabike]

I don't

It's full of, quite rightly, arsey pedestrians, who get in the way

There is no leeway in this country on this

Even if you cycle at walking speed or less, some twat ain't, and so, you going at walking speed is just as scary to a ped as a nutter who don't give a shite

 

[Crispy]

Yes i know - but in my defence I was going really really slowly, like walking speed...

You know what I'm going to say next, don't you...

 

[ovaltina]

Gah! Yes! I KNOW!!!

And I've paid my debt to society.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I expect those officers hate doing that particular duty. They are probably on a punishment for failing to keep their paperwork up to date or not getting enough arrests.

They must be traffic police. They will be missing their high-powered cars with blue flashing lights and sirens quite badly. Were their bicycles the old fashioned green painted Raleigh bikes made of cast iron and with 4 foot diameter wheels? I remember those as a child. Or perhaps they have mountain bikes made out of titanium with 35 gears, blue LED flashing lights, two-tone air horns GPS navigation and handlebar mounted tasers.

 

[jusali]

Better than stopping the kids from kids from stabbing each other! Must have a good detection rate too! Good on them, looking after the community, I say jolly well done! Pesky cyclists

 

[Crispy]

There are dedicated cycle police. They have lycra uniforms and special police bicycles with paniers full of kit. Not sure if they have flashing lights. I've seen them pulling red light jumpers on Borough high st. before.

 

[ovaltina]

There are dedicated cycle police. They have lycra uniforms and special police bicycles with paniers full of kit. Not sure if they have flashing lights. I've seen them pulling red light jumpers on Borough high st. before.

I think that's who they were. The police bikes looked pretty smart. I dunno if they get sirens though - that'd be

 

[zoltan]

the community copper lot lurk at the bottom of London bridge station and catching people rising down to the Xing beside the Evans Bike shop at London bridge - they were ticketing tons of people the other day

dont ride on the pavenment ( unless its short cut/ traffic busy ) but never stop for the community coppers anyway - they shout a bit and dont bother coming after you

 

[maomao]

They have lycra uniforms and special police bicycles with paniers full of kit.

They're not that fast though. I've outrun them twice after being OI!ed.

 

[Crispy]

Permission to get all indignant and prissy when you tell me what you were being OI'd for?

 

[maomao]

Permission to get all indignant and prissy when you tell me what you were being OI'd for?

Jumping red lights. Both times on Bishopsgate. It's okay, I've pretty much hung up my SIDIs for the moment because I know I'm incapable of cycling sensibly.

 

[editor]

I nearly got in a scrap with some fuckwit pavement pounding cyclist who nearly knocked Eme flying a couple of years ago.

What's the fucking matter with the road, dickwad?

 

[Thora]

I cycle on the pavement if I've got the kids in the trailer, or if I'm a bit pissed, or it's a really busy road (only when there's no cycle path though) but no one seems to give a shit here.

 

[ovaltina]

I nearly got in a scrap with some fuckwit pavement pounding cyclist who nearly knocked Eme flying a couple of years ago.

What's the fucking matter with the road, dickwad?

Um... well I was pretty much going at walking speed and there was nobody on the pavement... but yes it's a selfish thing to do. Like I said, it was a fair cop. That's why I was walking with the bike last night instead.

 

[tarannau]

Y'see I don't really have a problem with cyclists using the pavements once in a while - anything that encourages cycling is ok with me and the pavements often provide a safety valve on some ridiculously badly designed and downright dangerous roads.

I do, however, think that those cycling dangerously and without care for others should be fined/prosecuted/tarred and feathered etc. I can't see why there can't be a bit of common sense and discretion applied, rather than officers lurking around corners and jumping out to penalise everyone cycling past, regardless of speed. There was a particularly fine example of officers fining every cyclist who went through the Brixton PO cut-thru, despite crackheads lighting up just round the corner and a heavy fug of crack smoke. And I wondered just where the priorities should lie

And no, before anyone starts, I haven't cycled for over 10 years.

 

[beeboo]

I keep expecting to get caught cutting off the the corner at the Stockwell Rd/Brixton Rd junction by going over the pavement and down a one way street the wrong way

But pragmatically I'd sooner take that risk than dodge the buses at the junction.

 

[christonabike]

Y'see I don't really have a problem with cyclists using the pavements once in a while - anything that encourages cycling is ok with me and the pavements often provide a safety valve on some ridiculously badly designed and downright dangerous roads.

Agree

It's the dickheads going full speed everywhere that ruin this scenario

They even do it in Brockwell Park, bombing around corners
Will it really take them going full speed into someone/thing for them to stop?

 

[tarannau]

I keep expecting to get caught cutting off the the corner at the Stockwell Rd/Brixton Rd junction by going over the pavement and down a one way street the wrong way

But pragmatically I'd sooner take that risk than dodge the buses at the junction.

I think that's the exactly the same location I saw that police 'trap' situated at. Take care.

if these officers could have looked any more smug and jobsworth when they were dishing out their fixed penalty fares then i'd have been surprised. I half expected them to shout 'A Ha!' as they jumped out and fined the next unsuspecting victim pootling down the street at snail's pace.

 

[editor]

I haven't a problem with cyclists occasionally using pavements when they're going slowly and giving pedestrians total priority. It's the fuckspuds who hurtle along at high speed and expect peds to jump out of the way I have a problem with.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

...I've seen them pulling red light jumpers...

What a good idea, red light jumpers. They would be ideal to wear when it is both cold and dark. Motorists could see you crossing the road and cyclists could see you on the pavement.

<puts new batteries in red lights on jumper>

probably

 

[Crispy]

I was going to make a red light jumpers joke, but decided against it on grounds of public safety.

 

[harpo]

Well at last!! It's about time this subject was taken seriously, then maybe the message will get through to the arrogant cunts who bomb down the pavements and fuck the rest of us. They clearly can not be trusted to do the right thing on their own. The fine should be heavier.

Oh and, odd this, the police do not keep statistics of pedestrians injured by cyclists on the pavements. I wonder what those stats are...?

 

[harpo]

I haven't a problem with cyclists occasionally using pavements when they're going slowly and giving pedestrians total priority. It's the fuckspuds who hurtle along at high speed and expect peds to jump out of the way I have a problem with.

Me too, this is precisely how I feel.

 

[Herbsman.]

I don't

It's full of, quite rightly, arsey pedestrians, who get in the way

There is no leeway in this country on this

Even if you cycle at walking speed or less, some twat ain't, and so, you going at walking speed is just as scary to a ped as a nutter who don't give a shite

Totally. I've actually had peds jump out of my way when I've been going a bit faster than walking pace, in quite a large paved area.

Foot cops cracked down on cyclists coming down the pavement on hagley road in brum last year. bit hypocritical since the cycle cops razz around on the pavement themselves

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I have stopped getting angry at cyclists passing me on pavements. It is so common that I suspect many cyclists don't know that it is illegal.

If they come past at speed it is frightening, especially if there are 2 of them passing on both sides.

The problem I have with cyclists on pavements is when you see them swapping from being a road user to a pedestrian. When the lights are against them they hop on to the pavement and may even ride across a level crossing as if they were a pedestrian.

There is a different mental set in being a road user in a car, motorcyclist or cyclist. It requires an awareness of your responsibility to other road users, including signalling and being in the right position on the road. Pedestrians can just walk along the pavement and only need to switch into road user thought processes when they want to step off the pavement to cross a road. Cyclists who are on the pavements are likely not to be in road user mode and hence not be sufficiently concerned with other travellers.