Police Target Speeding Cyclists Plus The Piccadilly Bus Lane

tinyfish

This obviously might not apply to many of you out there but I thought some might like to know that the rozzers (i.e. the Met Police in London) have staked out the cycle path across Clapham Common during the morning commuter rush and are stopping anyone cycling faster than 5 mph (that's about 8 kph). There was a special constable handing out flyers detailing the operation a few days previous so I had my wits about me.

No one is getting arrested for it I believe, but we are all being given a 'stiff talking to'.

Oh and while we are at it, it may not be the same now but in the mid 1990's, the bus lane in Piccadilly (central London) did not allow cyclists in it. I know this as I was fined £10 by a group of our finest boys in blue who had a table beside the road where all of us cycle felons were financially rogered and then sent on our way.

I checked the road signs the next day and to my horror, they were quite correct. This was the only bus lane I had ever encoutered which did not allow cyclists in it. I believe it might still be the case but since I moved jobs. I haven't been near Piccadilly on a bike for a good number of years.

Mr_Cellophane

oops, I went along there last week. I was level with a girl on a folder for most of the way as I had to stop at every light.
She then continued under the Hyde Park Corner underpass, I am not brave enough to do that and stay above ground.

will3

5mph? What if you get off and run? that'll be more than 5mph?

Moral of the story:
Allways carry a donut.

whome

What if you get off and run? that'll be more than 5mph?

Then you would be a pedestrian.
It would be insanity to have a bylaw limiting speed of a pedestrian

will3

But 5mph? That's insanity. Anyone riding anything will do more than 5mph.

Bikerbaboon

hell 5mph i walk fasterthan that. thank god no one uses a bike to actualy get to work on time............ hang on a min.

andrewc3142

This was the only bus lane I had ever encoutered which did not allow cyclists in it

Actually, there are quite a few around the place. On my route, the bridge at Kingston has a bus lane with no cycles (saves time crossing at the end). A few shorter ones around Woking as well (where we specialise in 20m cycle lanes - paint, get grant, cyclists melt away at the end of 20m ..)

5mph seems a bit harsh although I'm surprised at the speed some go through parks, eg Hyde Park down to Marble Arch. Fast is for the road IMHO - slow is for parks, cycle lanes, tow paths and the like.

will3

andrewc3142 wrote:

slow is for ........cycle lanes,...........ke.

really?

whome

slow is for ... cycle lanes

?/cycle lanes generally refer to on-road cycle provision. I think you mean cycle paths.

Greg T

tinyfish wrote:

Oh and while we are at it, it may not be the same now but in the mid 1990's, the bus lane in Piccadilly (central London) did not allow cyclists in it. I know this as I was fined £10 by a group of our finest boys in blue who had a table beside the road where all of us cycle felons were financially rogered and then sent on our way.

Good - there's plainly no other menace more pressing to today's social cohesion the bikes in Bus Lanes.

Apart from everyone getting stabbed
And Shot
And Mugged

The rot must be stopped where it starts, with nice men on bikes. That'll learn 'em.

will3

whome wrote:

slow is for ... cycle lanes

?/cycle lanes generally refer to on-road cycle provision. I think you mean cycle paths.

cycle paths are for cycling. Assuming there aren't errant pedestrians wandering all over them, what's wrong with nipping along? The fastest part of my commute is a cycle path. there are relatively few pedestrians and they are easy to spot as it is dead straight. I regularly clock 25mph+ along there.

farrell

Interesting this.....Could it be because that girl was killed by a cyclist that didn't want to stop while doing 25mph?

Last week I got a ticking off for doing 33mph down Euston Road.........I was 'yes sir, sorry sir......I understand sir' and they let me off with a warning. All my details were taken.

That's my sprint training on hold for a while.

patchy

farrell wrote:

Interesting this.....Could it be because that girl was killed by a cyclist that didn't want to stop while doing 25mph?

Last week I got a ticking off for doing 33mph down Euston Road.........I was 'yes sir, sorry sir......I understand sir' and they let me off with a warning. All my details were taken.

That's my sprint training on hold for a while.

WHERE? I defy anyone to go down Euston Road at 33mph (except the underpass) with all the d!ckheads around.

andrewc3142

OK, a bit of a generalisation. Most cycle lanes I know are full of parked cars, glass, wonky drains and wobbly cyclists, giving way to side roads every few yards. Ditto paths. So I tend to stick to the road. But I accept that there are bound to be some useful ones somewhere.

squired

I went past the officer on Clapham Common yesterday morning at around 8:15am. I was probably going about 20-25km/h. He said hello/good morning. I nodded, and said good morning back. No stops or stiff talkings to.

Were people definitely being stopped? Maybe he was bored of stopping people by the time I went past?

pst88

farrell wrote:

...and they let me off with a warning. All my details were taken.

A warning for what? There is no law against cycling fast.

tinyfish

squired wrote:

I went past the officer on Clapham Common yesterday morning at around 8:15am. I was probably going about 20-25km/h. He said hello/good morning. I nodded, and said good morning back. No stops or stiff talkings to.

Were people definitely being stopped? Maybe he was bored of stopping people by the time I went past?

He wasn't there this morning (I passed over the common around 8.45am) which makes me think this might have been a symbolic exercise to appease the local residents. If I get a moment this evening, I'll scan in the warning leaflet I was given so that everyone (who is interested) can have a gander at it.

will3

It seems to me that unless the speed limit is clearly advertised and you have a way of measuring your speed, a 5mph limit on a path marked for cycling would be unreasonable one and therefore quite difficult to prosecute.

Leaflets are not clear advertising as you would have to happen to be there when they were handing them out.

farrell

patchy:

It was the stretch between the traffic lights before the underpass and the lights next to the inland revenue building.

I overtook a stopping bus in to the middle lane and then wiped back into the left lane while sort of undertaking a black cab which was making moves into the same lane.. I felt it was safe and still do .........the roads were surprisingly clear. 2 or 3 cars max.

Police bike on my tail clocking the speed...........

pst88:

I broke the speed limit albeit nor for long, about 5- 10 second, if that. I received a lecture about proper overtaking manoeuvres and that I should be more aware of traffic. I.E Cabbie moving into my lane.

alfablue

speed limits don't apply to bikes as far as I know. The nearest offence would be wanton or furious driving.

cntl

>>and are stopping anyone cycling faster than 5 mph

are there proper speed limit signs??? If not tell them to get lost.

cntl

What's the speed limit on Euston Road then?

madturkey

Clapham Common police action is def to appeal to local residents and "slower" users of the park. Authorities are also having words with groups who do sports / fitness in the parks too.

Was once jogging along a path with about 10 others when we passed a group of old codgers, who were all over the path so we ran on the grass to get round them. They shouted after us "It's a FOOTPATH you know". Go figure...

whome

errant pedestrians

Pedestrians normally have every right to be in a bike lane or on a bike path. But anyway, I was simply correcting bike lane to bike path since the post I was replying to talked about only using the road if you wanted to go fast, and bike lanes are part of the road, so I think he meant bike paths.

Regarding the park - my understanding was that parks have bylaws that can specify almost anything. So it's not a road where speed limits would have to be displayed (and don't apply to cycles anyway), it is a park and they can have have stupid speed limits and those limits can apply to cycles.

ride_whenever

who enforces the bylaws?

will3

whome wrote:

errant pedestrians

Pedestrians normally have every right to be in a bike lane or on a bike path.

Sure they do. They also have the right to walk along roads, but noone suggests that cars should not do 25 mph along roads.

cee

ride_whenever wrote:

who enforces the bylaws?

In Edinburgh, the Queens Park (the one with Arthurs Seat in it at Holyrood Palace) has some of these bylaws. They are enforced by a special squad of Park Police, who drive around in a big white landrover and who i do not think are really proper police (more park ranger type thing) i think :?

SamWise72

alfablue wrote:

speed limits don't apply to bikes as far as I know. The nearest offence would be wanton or furious driving.

Of course they do. You're not going to get done by a Gatso, because you don't have a registration, but if an officer can prove you were speeding and stop you (radar gun, for instance), then as far as I know, you're just like a car. Wanton or furious cycling?

alfablue

SamWise72 wrote:

alfablue wrote:

speed limits don't apply to bikes as far as I know. The nearest offence would be wanton or furious driving.

Of course they do. You're not going to get done by a Gatso, because you don't have a registration, but if an officer can prove you were speeding and stop you (radar gun, for instance), then as far as I know, you're just like a car. Wanton or furious cycling?

Of course they don't

As regards speeding, the provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1984, which set out the speed limits for particular vehicles on particular classes of roads, apply only to motor vehicles and therefore specifically exclude pedal cyclists.

(Russell Jones & Walker Solicitors - see here)

chuckcork

andrewc3142 wrote:

On my route, the bridge at Kingston has a bus lane with no cycles
.

From memory, I always used the bus lane in preference to the narrow crappy cycle lane on the left which had no way to cross the road at the Kingston end, what with lack of controls for the lights (that were only provided for pedestrians 15 feet away); or the lovely, two stage crossing, that takes how many minutes exactly for the blasted lights to work at the hampton wick end? Had also a driver do a lovely run the red light trick when I was about to cross, I honestly believe he just didn't see it. Dangerous.

I always saw the cycle lane as a race agains the buses over the bridge. I mean, what were they going to do, run you over? Plod would do better to deal with the motorists racing over the bridge at 50mph. Anyway, the traffic around there in the morning, little chance of a bus suddenly appearing and then being held up.