Who is this cyclist?

deptfordmarmoset

I didn't see this Evening Standard article till now,http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23780505-danger-cyclists-to-be-policed-by-council-staff.do

''About 30,000 cyclists enter Westminster every day and it is estimated that up to one in five breaks the Highway Code. Angela Harvey, chairman of Westminster's scrutiny committee, which put together the proposal, said: “We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leave them on the ground as they ride away.

This naughty naughty cyclist should be caught and barred from the roads - he's giving us all a bad name.

(No exaggeration here from the Westminster this does not bear scrutiny committee, no, no exaggeration at all... :roll: )

White Horse

A pedestrian is knocked down every 20 minutes in London. They are getting very annoyed now.

mask of sanity

I'm all for prosecuting cyclist who jump red lights and generally don't follow the highway code, but the way the article portrayed cyclists was just ridiculous.

Eau Rouge

They might have a "cycling team" according to this web page
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/ ... s/cycling/
(the contact link at the bottom)

You might want to ask them what they think they are playing at and why they aren't in front of the scrutiny committee defending the good name of cyclists and asking the scrutiny comittee how many drivers it estimates in Westminster break the Highway Code (hint for them: does the council have any parking or speeding inititives, cameras, patrols etc, and why do they think they need them?) and which does the esteemed comittee think is the greater problem for the resources-stretched council to be addressing?

mercsport

Funnily enough I just watched "Inside Out", London edition, on the BBC iPlayer, and there was plenty to make me squirm with embarrassment at the antics of city cyclists. Pavement riding, shooting reds and so on.

It's the first item, so it's only a few minutes : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 2_02_2010/

skyd0g

White Horse wrote:

A pedestrian is knocked down every 20 minutes in London. They are getting very annoyed now.

If I was that pedestrian, I'd be getting a little ticked-off.

Pross

So 1 in 5 cyclist break the Highway Code (i.e. a code of practice which does not contain any law or regulations). Strangely I suspect around 70 to 80% of motorists, including some who also cycle you know , break the law several times a day by speeding or other "non-real crimes" so what Westminster Council are presumably saying is that cyclists are about 4 times better behaved than motorists

plowmar

re Highway Code not being law.

Depending upon how the individual codes are stated e.g 'must' then that code is reflected in the law of the land.

From daughter who has recently passed her driving test.

antooony

mercsport wrote:

Funnily enough I just watched "Inside Out", London edition, on the BBC iPlayer, and there was plenty to make me squirm with embarrassment at the antics of city cyclists. Pavement riding, shooting reds and so on.

It's the first item, so it's only a few minutes : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 2_02_2010/

Interesting though that the cyclist at 5.53 getting pulled over for jumping a red light was being over taken by a Paletline truck that was also RLJ but that was allowed to continue scot free :shock:

Have to agree though, some of the riding was shocking.

It still bugs me why a few bad apples swings peoples opinions of us so much, the same cant be said for their views on motorists, plenty of Billy boy racers out there driving like tw*ts but no one seems too complain about them in the same way.

Porgy

antooony wrote:

mercsport wrote:

Funnily enough I just watched "Inside Out", London edition, on the BBC iPlayer, and there was plenty to make me squirm with embarrassment at the antics of city cyclists. Pavement riding, shooting reds and so on.

It's the first item, so it's only a few minutes : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 2_02_2010/

Interesting though that the cyclist at 5.53 getting pulled over for jumping a red light was being over taken by a Paletline truck that was also RLJ but that was allowed to continue scot free :shock:

Have to agree though, some of the riding was shocking.

It still bugs me why a few bad apples swings peoples opinions of us so much, the same cant be said for their views on motorists, plenty of Billy boy racers out there driving like tw*ts but no one seems too complain about them in the same way.

yeah but they pay their road tax i]sic[/i don't they?

deptfordmarmoset

antooony wrote:

mercsport wrote:

Funnily enough I just watched "Inside Out", London edition, on the BBC iPlayer, and there was plenty to make me squirm with embarrassment at the antics of city cyclists. Pavement riding, shooting reds and so on.

It's the first item, so it's only a few minutes : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 2_02_2010/

Interesting though that the cyclist at 5.53 getting pulled over for jumping a red light was being over taken by a Paletline truck that was also RLJ but that was allowed to continue scot free :shock:

Have to agree though, some of the riding was shocking.

It still bugs me why a few bad apples swings peoples opinions of us so much, the same cant be said for their views on motorists, plenty of Billy boy racers out there driving like tw*ts but no one seems too complain about them in the same way.

Good spot, Antooony! I wasn't sure how many people spotted that so I posted a still from the programme to this thread over on Commuting: http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12682364

antooony

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

antooony wrote:

mercsport wrote:

Funnily enough I just watched "Inside Out", London edition, on the BBC iPlayer, and there was plenty to make me squirm with embarrassment at the antics of city cyclists. Pavement riding, shooting reds and so on.

It's the first item, so it's only a few minutes : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 2_02_2010/

Interesting though that the cyclist at 5.53 getting pulled over for jumping a red light was being over taken by a Paletline truck that was also RLJ but that was allowed to continue scot free :shock:

Have to agree though, some of the riding was shocking.

It still bugs me why a few bad apples swings peoples opinions of us so much, the same cant be said for their views on motorists, plenty of Billy boy racers out there driving like tw*ts but no one seems too complain about them in the same way.

Good spot, Antooony! I wasn't sure how many people spotted that so I posted a still from the programe to this thread over on Commuting: http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12682364

oops its at 6.53....me bad. May sound petty but I might enquire with the police as to why the cyclist was stopped and not the lorry as the lorry posed more threat to pedestrians and other road users than the cyclist ever would. Guess their answer will be they were targeting cyclists that day.... :roll:

downfader

Have left this coment:

And back to the story in question...

I really would like to think that extra funding would be found for this so that the Police can carry it out. I dont feel that Council staff know enough about the Road Traffic Act, its ammendments, MET traffic guidelines or have the empathy to deal with matters effectively. The Police, atleast, know a thing or two about the roads and traffic, many have attended RTAs.

I would also like to see dangerous and irresponsible driving targeted in balance. No driver has ever been fined or even told off for encroaching upon an ASL in the same area (do a FOI request and you will see)

Dangerous overtakes and silly driving also needs to be tackled, as I feel this is contributing to a Newton's Balls effect where a minority of cyclists (and 20% is still a minority) have been scared or threatened on the road and so end up doing the very same to pedestrians. Lets not lower ourselves to this as cyclists, lets also set an example to others.

After all a recent New Scientist article projected that many more will have to join us on cycles before 2013 due to the impending oil crisis.

volvicspar

From one of the comments on that page

The problem is the cycling lobby is very powerful, and politicians (local and national) seem terrified of them.

nolf

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

I didn't see this Evening Standard article till now,http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23780505-danger-cyclists-to-be-policed-by-council-staff.do

''About 30,000 cyclists enter Westminster every day and it is estimated that up to one in five breaks the Highway Code. Angela Harvey, chairman of Westminster's scrutiny committee, which put together the proposal, said: “We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leave them on the ground as they ride away.

This naughty naughty cyclist should be caught and barred from the roads - he's giving us all a bad name.

(No exaggeration here from the Westminster this does not bear scrutiny committee, no, no exaggeration at all... :roll: )

That cyclist must have the legs of jan ulrich, and the speed of cipolini!
To spend all day managing to run over old ladies, respect. Got some serious endurance going on too.

downfader

volvicspar wrote:

From one of the comments on that page

The problem is the cycling lobby is very powerful, and politicians (local and national) seem terrified of them.

Yes, Debra Rolfe scares PM Gordon by pumping a whiff of air in his face from her cycle pump