Little whinge about mobile cameras

golddustmedia

Just a little moan about something that seems ridiculous.

On way to work today on West Town Lane in Bristol. It's down hill and is now a 20mph road, despite being a main bus route and primary traffic route.

This morning a car coming the other way kindly flashed me to forewarn of a mobile camera parked at the bottom of the hill outside the primary school (closed for the summer holidays).

So there I am doing 19mph, down hill past a closed school due to a motorbike mobile speed camera.... when i got overtaken at speed by a cyclist!

I swear I could get out and run faster than the speed limit allows now. Whinge over.

onomatopoeia99

golddustmedia wrote: »

So there I am doing 19mph, down hill past a closed school due to a motorbike mobile speed camera.... when i got overtaken at speed by a cyclist!

Cyclists can't speed, the law on speed limits doesn't include them so there are no speed limits for them. Apparently (according to cyclists that overtake cars in Bristol - I live there too) this is because they are not dangerous when speeding.

You may be aware of a case going through the courts at the moment where a not dangerous cyclist ran over and killed a pedestrian.

interstellaflyer

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

You may be aware of a case going through the courts at the moment where a not dangerous cyclist ran over and killed a pedestrian.

There was also a case a few years back where a cyclist killed a teenage girl

Aylesbury_Duck

golddustmedia wrote: »

Just a little moan about something that seems ridiculous.

On way to work today on West Town Lane in Bristol. It's down hill and is now a 20mph road, despite being a main bus route and primary traffic route.

This morning a car coming the other way kindly flashed me to forewarn of a mobile camera parked at the bottom of the hill outside the primary school (closed for the summer holidays).

So there I am doing 19mph, down hill past a closed school due to a motorbike mobile speed camera.... when i got overtaken at speed by a cyclist!

I swear I could get out and run faster than the speed limit allows now. Whinge over.

Unlikely. Maybe over a few metres at best.

I don't think the situation is ridiculous. How long is the stretch of road? Looks less than a mile on google maps. How much time are you losing travelling at 20mph instead of say, 30mph? Certainly less than a minute. Less than the time it took you to write your post. That's ridiculous.

golddustmedia

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Cyclists can't speed, the law on speed limits doesn't include them so there are no speed limits for them. Apparently (according to cyclists that overtake cars in Bristol - I live there too) this is because they are not dangerous when speeding.

You may be aware of a case going through the courts at the moment where a not dangerous cyclist ran over and killed a pedestrian.

Oh I'm not claiming the cyclist was "speeding", though if I was doing the speed limit and he shot past me then technically he was travelling in excess of the road speed limit, but I know that nothing can/will be done about it!

I just find it a bit daft that the limit at 20mph is now so slow that most cycles now exceed the posted limit.

As another anecdote, this week I had to visit Calcott road in Knowle. I didn't spot the small one way sign at one end of the road so after making my delivery I turned around to drive back up the way I'd come.
Another driver advised me it was one way so I corrected things and went the right way. However the reason I had concluded it was ok was the 20mph signs they've fitted to the lamp posts face both directions! So when you're in the middle of the street and see both sides of the lamp post have speed signs surely you're going to conclude it's a 2 way street? If not why use twice as many 20mph signs are would be necessary!?

DoaM

golddustmedia wrote: »

If not why use twice as many 20mph signs are would be necessary!?

Maybe there's a traffic order in the works to turn/return that street to 2-way, so the council saved time by putting up the 20 mph signs both directions?

Norman_Castle

What are you whinging about, 20mph limits, mobile cameras or cyclists overtaking you?

Johno100

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Cyclists can't speed, the law on speed limits doesn't include them so there are no speed limits for them. Apparently (according to cyclists that overtake cars in Bristol - I live there too) this is because they are not dangerous when speeding.

Although there are certain royal parks and sea front promenades that do have speed limits for cyclists.

While it may not illegal for a cyclist to exceed a 20mph limit (or any other limit), as the high priest of the 20 is Plenty movement, Rod King, once said "I would have thought cycling at what is above the speed limit for motor vehicles could be considered as anti-social."

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/cyclists-exceeding-20mph-speed-limit-labelled-anti-social-38923/

Norman_Castle

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Cyclists can't speed, the law on speed limits doesn't include them so there are no speed limits for them. Apparently (according to cyclists that overtake cars in Bristol - I live there too) this is because they are not dangerous when speeding.

You may be aware of a case going through the courts at the moment where a not dangerous cyclist ran over and killed a pedestrian.

Speed limits don't apply to cyclists but they are still responsible for their actions as proven by the London cyclist accused of manslaughter although the problem there appears to be the lack of a front brake rather than just inappropriate speed.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/15/crash-cyclist-shouted-charlie-alliston-pedestrian-lay-wounded

Indout96

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

Unlikely. Maybe over a few metres at best.

I don't think the situation is ridiculous. How long is the stretch of road? Looks less than a mile on google maps. How much time are you losing travelling at 20mph instead of say, 30mph? Certainly less than a minute. Less than the time it took you to write your post. That's ridiculous.

Its not just a matter of time though, with all the talk lately regarding pollution there is the effect of the extra fuel and emissions. We also have a 20 mph limit on a main road from Shipley to Saltaire so at 7.00am I am traveling up it at 20 mph (on Cruise control so I dont stray over) display reads 28 mpg - at 30 it would be around 40 mpg (1.6 D)

MikeWhite

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Speed limits don't apply to cyclists....

Quite right as bicycles are not (yet) obliged to have any form of speedometer!