Motorists, what to do about cyclists who constantly break the high way code???

trinidadone

helo fellow moterists, did anyone see traffic cops on Dave?

I just saw the tail end after tv surfing. Two traffic cops spoted a cyclist on the road, in Brighten, in the middle of the night, with no lights or reflectors and dark clothing. Officers said they were simply going to talk to the cyclist, and ask him to walk home with the bike.

As the police car got closer, one of the officers asked the cyclist to stop. The cyclist ignored the officer, drove through a red light, and then mounted the pavement.

Officers again asked the cyclist to stop. eventually the cyclist stopped. The cyclist was very uncooperative, and the officers suggested, as there was a strong smell of alcohol, the cyclist was drunk.

The officer informed the cyclist, he had used his cycle on the public carriageway with no lights of reflectors. he also cycled on the pathway, cycled through a red light, and failed to stop for officers.

The cyclist became more abusive. The officers presented the cyclist with either a £80.00 penalty charge notice, or a day in court. The cyclist chose to go to court.

The program reported, the magistrates court made an example of him, and fined him £700, plus £250 costs.

I was speechless by this, as these are the sort of penalties given to motorists, wow i thought, a good idea fellow motorists, or a waste of public money???

custardy

trinidadone wrote: »

helo fellow moterists, did anyone see traffic cops on Dave?

I just saw the tail end after tv surfing. Two traffic cops spoted a cyclist on the road, in Brighten, in the middle of the night, with no lights or reflectors and dark clothing. Officers said they were simply going to talk to the cyclist, and ask him to walk home with the bike.

As the police car got closer, one of the officers asked the cyclist to stop. The cyclist ignored the officer, drove through a red light, and then mounted the pavement.

Officers again asked the cyclist to stop. eventually the cyclist stopped. The cyclist was very uncooperative, and the officers suggested, as there was a strong smell of alcohol, the cyclist was drunk.

The officer informed the cyclist, he had used his cycle on the public carriageway with no lights of reflectors. he also cycled on the pathway, cycled through a red light, and failed to stop for officers.

The cyclist became more abusive. The officers presented the cyclist with either a £80.00 penalty charge notice, or a day in court. The cyclist chose to go to court.

The program reported, the magistrates court made an example of him, and fined him £700, plus £250 costs.

I was speechless by this, as these are the sort of penalties given to motorists, wow i thought, a good idea fellow motorists, or a waste of public money???

What else was on the episode for comparison? fellow motorist.

Car_54

trinidadone wrote: »

helo fellow moterists, did anyone see traffic cops on Dave?

I just saw the tail end after tv surfing. Two traffic cops spoted a cyclist on the road, in Brighten, in the middle of the night, with no lights or reflectors and dark clothing. Officers said they were simply going to talk to the cyclist, and ask him to walk home with the bike.

As the police car got closer, one of the officers asked the cyclist to stop. The cyclist ignored the officer, drove through a red light, and then mounted the pavement.

Officers again asked the cyclist to stop. eventually the cyclist stopped. The cyclist was very uncooperative, and the officers suggested, as there was a strong smell of alcohol, the cyclist was drunk.

The officer informed the cyclist, he had used his cycle on the public carriageway with no lights of reflectors. he also cycled on the pathway, cycled through a red light, and failed to stop for officers.

The cyclist became more abusive. The officers presented the cyclist with either a £80.00 penalty charge notice, or a day in court. The cyclist chose to go to court.

The program reported, the magistrates court made an example of him, and fined him £700, plus £250 costs.

I was speechless by this, as these are the sort of penalties given to motorists, wow i thought, a good idea fellow motorists, or a waste of public money???

Magistrates generally follow their guidelines, and fines are income-related. Unless we know how many offences were charged, and his salary, we can't know whether it was harsh. Costs for a contested trial normally start at £620, so maybe he got off lightly at £250.

A motorist in a similar position would have been breathalysed.

trinidadone

Car_54 wrote: »

Magistrates generally follow their guidelines, and fines are income-related. Unless we know how many offences were charged, and his salary, we can't know whether it was harsh. Costs for a contested trial normally start at £620, so maybe he got off lightly at £250.

A motorist in a similar position would have been breathalysed.

Interesting, he is the first cyclist i am aware of, to be fined alot of money.

very true regarding the breathalyzed!!

dacouch

Car_54 wrote: »

Magistrates generally follow their guidelines, and fines are income-related. Unless we know how many offences were charged, and his salary, we can't know whether it was harsh. Costs for a contested trial normally start at £620, so maybe he got off lightly at £250.

A motorist in a similar position would have been breathalysed.

I remember(ish) the episode and the cyclist appeared to be middle classed and gave the police a lot of (Middle class) attitude and if I remember correctly the narration at the end of the program said the guy either did not turn up for court or did and continued contesting it at court.

trinidadone

dacouch wrote: »

I remember(ish) the episode and the cyclist appeared to be middle classed and gave the police a lot of (Middle class) attitude and if I remember correctly the narration at the end of the program said the guy either did not turn up for court or did and continued contesting it at court.

Hey Decouch, thanks for providing more information, shocked to learn he may not of attended court, or wanted to contest !!

Mercdriver

trinidadone wrote: »

Interesting, he is the first cyclist i am aware of, to be fined alot of money.

very true regarding the breathalyzed!!

I'm sure there are more but that wouldn't fit your slanted view of reality.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Of course the whole premise of this thread does not account for the range of cyclists, scenarios and experience and I can think of circumstances in the urban environment where arguably it is sensible for a cyclist to scoot across a junction rather than interact with an HGV lurking next to them, for example, or going ahead because car drivers deliberately ignore the rules of advanced stop zones as they consider them in someway unfair and they don't apply to them.

Interesting though that there are whole forums full of posts about motorists wanting help for being "unfairly" caught speeding, "unfairly" done for being in box junctions, "unfairly" caught jumping traffic lights because they didn't try and stop on amber, and then there are the dozens I see every day on their hand held mobile phones - somehow many motorists in general seem to have a relaxed attitude to the application of law for them and want a draconian implementation of guidelines to be treated as law for cyclists.

And what of pedestrians who ignore the red crossing lights, or pedestrians who decide that they will cross anywhere they fancy rather than at a marked crossing? I've been driven at by a motorist who felt that I should have not started crossing near a junction on a road he wasn't even visible from when I started crossing - they only braked when they realised that a) I wasn't going to run out of the way and put my partner at risk b) they realised there was also an old couple a few feet behind also crossing. Mind you clearly it was a mum on the after school club dash so clearly a motorist who is exempt from traffic laws.

Norman_Castle

^ All very true, but unless you are both confirmed as a moterist and you're finding fault with cyclists you will be disregarded.

boliston

IanMSpencer wrote: »

...
And what of pedestrians who ignore the red crossing lights, or pedestrians who decide that they will cross anywhere they fancy rather than at a marked crossing? I've been driven at by a motorist who felt that I should have not started crossing near a junction on a road he wasn't even visible from when I started crossing - they only braked when they realised that a) I wasn't going to run out of the way and put my partner at risk b) they realised there was also an old couple a few feet behind also crossing. Mind you clearly it was a mum on the after school club dash so clearly a motorist who is exempt from traffic laws.

A lot of motorists fail to give way to pedestrians who have right of way crossing side roads - I've been honked at a few times when crossing a side road when a motorist decides that they have priority just because they are bigger. I have often seen pedestrians literally run for their lives when a motorist fails to correctly give way!