speed limits for bikes?

spen666

dondare wrote:

Gav888 wrote:

Ok, there is alot of confllicting advice on here, so I emailed Suffolk Constabulary (my local) and asked if there are speed limits for pedal cycles, and that I could - with training, exceed 30mph in a 30mph zone, and would I be braking the law? Below is the response.

"There are no enforceable speed limits for pedal cycles. There are other offences which include careless / dangerous cycling. For example cycling on the pavement or down a one way street which could be deemed to be careless or dangerous. "

Martin Barnes-Smith
Suffolk Constabulary
A/Supt - Operations

I guess that answers it for Suffolk anyway....... I will be keeping the email just incase

That is a non-answer. Could a cyclist exceeding the speed limit for motor vehicles be accused of dangerous, or indeed "wanton or furious" cycling on that basis alone?

YES

- but would depend on all circumstances. Doing 60 mph on bike outside a school at end of school day in 20 zone may be dangerous, but not at say 2am in the morning when nothing else about.



Mind you doing 60 mph on bike might lead to arrest on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs

shakey88

Gav888 wrote:

Ok, there is alot of confllicting advice on here, so I emailed Suffolk Constabulary (my local) and asked if there are speed limits for pedal cycles, and that I could - with training, exceed 30mph in a 30mph zone, and would I be braking the law? Below is the response.

"There are no enforceable speed limits for pedal cycles. There are other offences which include careless / dangerous cycling. For example cycling on the pavement or down a one way street which could be deemed to be careless or dangerous. "

Martin Barnes-Smith
Suffolk Constabulary
A/Supt - Operations

I guess that answers it for Suffolk anyway....... I will be keeping the email just incase

Nice one Gav.Most helpful.
Now i can set off that camera without fear of the long arm of the law coming to call.
Chalk one up for the cyclists!

chuckcork

I can reach 30mph but not really much above it (max ever achieved on the flat while drafting a bus is 35.1mph) unless I'm going down a hill, guess I'm not likely to ever be able to take advantage of that loophole...

Gav888

shakey88 wrote:

Gav888 wrote:

Ok, there is alot of confllicting advice on here, so I emailed Suffolk Constabulary (my local) and asked if there are speed limits for pedal cycles, and that I could - with training, exceed 30mph in a 30mph zone, and would I be braking the law? Below is the response.

"There are no enforceable speed limits for pedal cycles. There are other offences which include careless / dangerous cycling. For example cycling on the pavement or down a one way street which could be deemed to be careless or dangerous. "

Martin Barnes-Smith
Suffolk Constabulary
A/Supt - Operations

I guess that answers it for Suffolk anyway....... I will be keeping the email just incase

Nice one Gav.Most helpful.
Now i can set off that camera without fear of the long arm of the law coming to call.
Chalk one up for the cyclists!

Shakey, no problem, but this is for Suffolk only, other police forces may have different views on speeding cyclists. Best bet is to email your local police constabulary to be on the safe side, that is unless you are from Suffolk, then no problem again

andrew_s

A mate of mine got ticked off by the police for doing 54 in a 30 zone.
They didn't actually stop him, but pulled alongside after he'd slowed and said "if you were in a car I'd have booked you" through the window. He gone more of a telling off afterwards from his wife on the back of the tandem.

As state above, they can only do you for dangerous cycling, not for speeding as such.
Sadly, I believe the offence of "Furious Cycling" no longer exists.

chuckcork

If you had someone pull out of a side junction in the road (even having seen you but understandably completely underestimated your speed) you'd have less chance of stopping than a car would on 4 wheels, or a motorcycle with its more powerful brakes and larger contact area on the road would.

What isn't dangerous about doing such a speed, given that you'd be doing it downhill and struggling to stop in under 100 metres at the best of times, and the 30mph speed limit applies in urban areas where cars turning out is more likely than not?

stabilised

boybiker wrote:

spen666 wrote:

LingfieldXC wrote:

surely you could just remove your computer and say you didn't know you where going over the limit.

That would be no defence - can you imagine if motorists did the same.


The reality is there is no speed limit on ordinary roads for pedal cycles

Er yeah but no but.... motor vehicles are required to have to have a speedo fitted by law, bicycles are not, therefore it would be a valid defense to say you didn't know you were speeding because you didn't have a speedo.

Actually, that's not quite true. Not all motor vehicles have to have a speedometer fitted by law. Motorbikes, believe it or not, are not legally required to have a speedo - you can pass the MoT without one, as my brother-in-law's GSX-R based 'streetfighter' does. He is still liable to the laws on speeding, though, so it might be wise for him to acquire one. On being asked by Mr Plod 'Do you know how fast you were going, sir?', replying 'Sorry, officer but I haven't a clue,' probably won't go down well. He has no rev counter, either, so can't judge it that way.

On the curius laws affecting cyclists, like 'furious pedalling', I was once told that an arcane law relating to tandems was technically still on the books and that being drunk in charge of a tandem was punishable by deportation to an Australian penal colony! Apocryphal, I bet, sadly.

spen666

Gav888 wrote:

shakey88 wrote:

Gav888 wrote:

Ok, there is alot of confllicting advice on here, so I emailed Suffolk Constabulary (my local) and asked if there are speed limits for pedal cycles, and that I could - with training, exceed 30mph in a 30mph zone, and would I be braking the law? Below is the response.

"There are no enforceable speed limits for pedal cycles. There are other offences which include careless / dangerous cycling. For example cycling on the pavement or down a one way street which could be deemed to be careless or dangerous. "

Martin Barnes-Smith
Suffolk Constabulary
A/Supt - Operations

I guess that answers it for Suffolk anyway....... I will be keeping the email just incase

Nice one Gav.Most helpful.
Now i can set off that camera without fear of the long arm of the law coming to call.
Chalk one up for the cyclists!

Shakey, no problem, but this is for Suffolk only, other police forces may have different views on speeding cyclists. Best bet is to email your local police constabulary to be on the safe side, that is unless you are from Suffolk, then no problem again

No Gav, it is the law applicable to England & wales, not Suffolk.

There is NO offence of exceeding a speed limit on a bicycle whilst on an ordinary road in England & Wales.

Just accept that fact instead of trying to muddy the waters. The police do not make the law.

Eat My Dust

Two of my friends were pulled over and given a bollocking for overtaking a police car in a 30mph limit.......they were however on rollerblades!

sejackans

I set off the " 30mph slow down"sign last week. Makes me feel rather chuffed

Diogenes

Not sure, the highway code lists the speeds associated with various vehicles but does not mention cycles, then goes on to say "* The 30 mph limit usually applies to all traffic on all roads with street lighting unless signs show otherwise" so I suppose if you really wanted to argue with Mr Plod he/she may refer you to this comment.

Personally, if the speed limit is 30 at the bottom of a steep hill I would brake to get back to 30, after all saying the highway code does not apply to me does not help the poor kid you have just flattened proving your prowess on a bike

D

chuckcork

stabilised wrote:

On the curius laws affecting cyclists, like 'furious pedalling', I was once told that an arcane law relating to tandems was technically still on the books and that being drunk in charge of a tandem was punishable by deportation to an Australian penal colony! Apocryphal, I bet, sadly.

Having come from a city that was set up as a penal colony for the worst of the worst I resent that.

We are NOT a city of speed tandem cyclists!

motionman

Slow Downcp wrote:

No - but you can get fined.

You can probably also die too. Speed limits are for road safety.

dag_on_a_bike

You cannot get charged with an offence of exceeding the speed limit on a bicycle. No such offence exists.

There are a number of other offences, mainly subjective, that you may commit if you exceed the speed limit, as has been stated above. Any subjective offence is very much at the discretion of the magistrate if it goes to court, or the police officer if a fixed penalty notice is considered appropriate. IMHO.

Eau Rouge

motionman wrote:

Speed limits are for road safety.

Do you really believe that?

Beeblebrox

Diogenes wrote:

Not sure, the highway code lists the speeds associated with various vehicles but does not mention cycles, then goes on to say "* The 30 mph limit usually applies to all traffic on all roads with street lighting unless signs show otherwise" so I suppose if you really wanted to argue with Mr Plod he/she may refer you to this comment.

Personally, if the speed limit is 30 at the bottom of a steep hill I would brake to get back to 30, after all saying the highway code does not apply to me does not help the poor kid you have just flattened proving your prowess on a bike

D

Ah but the Highway code is not the law - only the simplified, easier to read version of the law. The odd comment that is slightly ambiguous inside it can't be used to prove anything.

TheKrikkitWars

Having achieved just under 60 mph, by pedaling down an exceptionally steep hill leading into Helmsley, whilst being egged on by a traffic enforcement officer at the bottom "gOO Awn lad, Pedal!" (who was there to stop motorcyclists doing the self same) I suspect it isn't taken all that seriously.

bice

But can you set off the speed cameras, that's what I want to know.

on the road

The jury's still out on that. Some reckon they have set off speed cameras while others reckon you can't set them off. But what a mate of mine (who works for the police) told me once was that some speed cameras didn't have film in them and some were set to only work from about 10 mph above the speed limit, otherwise the police would have too much paperwork.

il_principe

The police will stop cyclists for speeding in Richmond Park (London) I've seen it happen once. They also had some signs up back in October highlighting the limit and pointing out that this applies to cyclists. I had a PB ruined the other day, 500m from my finish line and a bloody cop car appears in front of me - didn't dare overtake and ruined my time. Grrrr.

rjeffroy

The police are going to be able to issue fixed penalty notices to speeding cyclists in Richmond Park from next year (got this from a club member who attends the Richmond Park Police Panel).

il_principe

rjeffroy wrote:

The police are going to be able to issue fixed penalty notices to speeding cyclists in Richmond Park from next year (got this from a club member who attends the Richmond Park Police Panel).

Does this mean that all cyclists in the park will be required to have computers though?
I'm sure most of us do, but it's going to be difficult to punish someone if they had no way of knowing how fast they were going.

mhuk

CYCLING FURIOUSLY?
It's an in-joke in cycling that cyclists can't be booked for speeding but can be fined for "pedalling furiously." Many cyclists list being cited for "cycling furiously" as one of their life ambitions. Professor David S. Wall, Head of the University of Leeds Law School, a professor of criminal justice lists his hobby as: Cycling (Furiously)...

Although a legal eagle searching Blackstones will not find a specific offence of "furious cycling", cyclists can nonetheless be convicted for "wanton and furious driving".

The wording of S35 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), s. 1(2)) is as follows:

“35. Drivers of carriages injuring persons by furious driving Whosoever, having the charge of any carriage or vehicle, shall by wanton or furious driving or racing, or other wilful misconduct, or by wilful neglect, do or cause to be done any bodily harm to any person whatsoever, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years.”

http://www.bikeforall.net/content/cycli ... he_law.php

roger_merriman

jashburnham wrote:

rjeffroy wrote:

The police are going to be able to issue fixed penalty notices to speeding cyclists in Richmond Park from next year (got this from a club member who attends the Richmond Park Police Panel).

Does this mean that all cyclists in the park will be required to have computers though?
I'm sure most of us do, but it's going to be difficult to punish someone if they had no way of knowing how fast they were going.

very much doubt that will make much odds

stabilised

There is no reason why not having a (accurately set up) means of knowing how fast you are going should act as an excuse if they want to enforce this by-law. Motorbikes, for example, are not legally required to have a speedometer (motorbikes can and do pass the MoT without one) and yet the speed limits apply to them.

markos1963

stabilised wrote:

There is no reason why not having a (accurately set up) means of knowing how fast you are going should act as an excuse if they want to enforce this by-law. Motorbikes, for example, are not legally required to have a speedometer (motorbikes can and do pass the MoT without one) and yet the speed limits apply to them.

All motorbikes over 50cc ARE required to have an accurate speedo. If you look at enduro or trials machines that take part in events that go on the road they have to have speedos fitted. Sometimes they are only small and mounted on the lower fork leg.

st68

depends where you are the fixed cam near my house flashes at 36 ive set it off twice it always makes me laugh

ansbaradigeidfran

sejackans wrote:

I set off the " 30mph slow down"sign last week. Makes me feel rather chuffed

I've got one near my house that I keep trying to set off, but I haven't topped 27 past it yet. This is on a cheap, cheerful, Chinese, folding, full suspension mountain bike, so don't take it too hard on me. Maybe when the wind is in my favour...

inaperfectworld

i seem to recall a case in the papers some years ago of a woman fined for breaking a 40 mile speed limit; it was some time ago and i can't remember much else, and i don't how she was apprehended. have a feeling it was in wales.