....And they moan about cyclists

squired
squired Posts: 1,153
edited May 2008 in Commuting chat
I sometimes take in the Purley Way in Croydon as part of my commute to work, so this article made me smile. We always hear car drivers moaning about cyclists, but the total caught in the early stages of what was a pre-advertised crackdown is pretty impressive:

http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/dis ... K=20689827

Comments

  • Parkey
    Parkey Posts: 303
    Haven't you heard? It's all a money making scam to fleece the honest motorist. The police probably take all the money they've raised and have a big party or something.
    "A recent study has found that, at the current rate of usage, the word 'sustainable' will be worn out by the year 2015"
  • Bassjunkieuk
    Bassjunkieuk Posts: 4,232
    OMFG!
    That stretch of road is right in my neck of the woods :-) That is an incredible amount tho, by those number it's well over 100 people a day for the first week! Maybe they should extend it for the rest of the A23 up into London and they'll be minted then :-)
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  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,120
    That's all very well, but it's easy targets - good rewards for minimal inputs. But of more concern is where you get MaxPower nobheads driving at 60mph down residential roads, like they do round my way. The cops will never put up a speed trap because they won't catch enough people. But it's 60mph in a 30, FFS, and there are kids, oldies and daft tw :!: ts like me on bikes around there.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in favour of the law being upheld in such a public manner, but it would be nice to be surprised down a 'quiet' road every now and then.
    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    SecretSam wrote:
    That's all very well, but it's easy targets - good rewards for minimal inputs. But of more concern is where you get MaxPower nobheads driving at 60mph down residential roads, like they do round my way. The cops will never put up a speed trap because they won't catch enough people. But it's 60mph in a 30, FFS, and there are kids, oldies and daft tw :!: ts like me on bikes around there.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in favour of the law being upheld in such a public manner, but it would be nice to be surprised down a 'quiet' road every now and then.

    I agree, however, you have to admit, catching such a large number of people if nothing else pronotes the public perception that you could be caught anywhere and may make some folks calm it down a bit.
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

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  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,120
    cee wrote:
    SecretSam wrote:
    That's all very well, but it's easy targets - good rewards for minimal inputs. But of more concern is where you get MaxPower nobheads driving at 60mph down residential roads, like they do round my way. The cops will never put up a speed trap because they won't catch enough people. But it's 60mph in a 30, FFS, and there are kids, oldies and daft tw :!: ts like me on bikes around there.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in favour of the law being upheld in such a public manner, but it would be nice to be surprised down a 'quiet' road every now and then.

    I agree, however, you have to admit, catching such a large number of people if nothing else pronotes the public perception that you could be caught anywhere and may make some folks calm it down a bit.

    True enough, but catching little MaxPower tw :!: ts when and where they least expect it would impact on them more. And the risk to Joe Public from someone hammering down a suburban, residential road is far greater than from them banging along a dual carriageway (apols if I'm misinformed about the nature of the A23).
    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • squired
    squired Posts: 1,153
    All good points. Having said that, the next time someone starts moaning to me about cyclists being law-breaking idiots, I will no doubt quote the number of cars stopped in this crackdown.
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    SecretSam

    Absolutely, but for a public campaign to be effective, you have to get a lot of 'hits', which I suspect is why they chose a route they knew they would catch a lot of people, rather than 'arcacia avenue'.

    So to that then, yes. the campaign probably did little to protect anyone, had a nice side effect of raising some dosh, but is probably quite successful in terms of impact on the general public.

    If only more of the hooners were caught in suburban areas, then maybe the message would be more along the lines of 'you can be caught anywhere!'
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • prj45
    prj45 Posts: 2,208
    Classic comments along the lines of "why they aren't out catching real criminals?".

    They are!
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  • AidanR
    AidanR Posts: 1,142
    Commute along the Purley Way? Brave! I've cycled on it a few times but wouldn't fancy doing it regularly...
    Bike lover and part-time cyclist.

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