Norwich man fined £220 for running a red.

5milestogo

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/cycli ... _1_4634487

Have you been caught?

What did it cost you, when and where?

andy9964

£400 in total
Including a "victim surcharge"

I've seen drink driving get lower fines than that (okay, they also get a ban, but £400????)

fenix

I've no problem with people getting fined for running red lights - if it doesn't matter what vehicle they are in. If they instigate this on the motorway roundabout near me they'll have no bother funding that 350M for the NHS.....

I note the reporter didnt spot any cars running red lights. Remarkably well behaved motorists there.

MrSweary

Indeed... Beckenham Junction lights would make about £5000 per hour during peak times by my rough and conservative calculation. All from cars I might add. Never saw a cyclist jump them.

imatfaal

I almost got caught twice by the same cops in the same day! First time was a 50quid fine - reduced to a third if I did the online course. Second time was on the way I had crossed different set of lights in the lee of a white van when I saw the same two cycle cops waiting on the other side of the lights - so I stayed on the other side of the van and made sure they couldn't spot me.

The online course - much of which was showing views from construction lorries and how you can easily disappear from even a highly attentive and observant driver - was incredibly impressive and I have not knowingly jumped a red light since.

fat daddy

clearly he wasn't cycling hard enough ..... not to evade the police, but he should be putting in enough effort that a red light becomes a blessing and an opportunity to stop and lay on your handle bars gasping for breath !

imatfaal

fat daddy wrote:

clearly he wasn't cycling hard enough ..... not to evade the police, but he should be putting in enough effort that a red light becomes a blessing and an opportunity to stop and lay on your handle bars gasping for breath !

But no! To "lay on your handle bars gasping for breath" is against the very soul of SCR - here is a post from the beginnings of the super thread

Greg T wrote:

will3 wrote:

but the key is that you should show no outward signs of putting any effort in. This is the same as admitting you're racing.

This is true.

No outward sign should be given that you are hanging out and juiced.

At the next lights a small mothfull of water is allowed but the shoulders must be flat level and not heaving. I think I've done this so often that I can now breathe through my skin.

Must not show weakness control breath ing

bendertherobot

There's more to this one than meets the eye. So I'll write a piece on it (and other things).

It's a FPN so he must have contested it. But in a week when you get fined £80 for making somebody quadriplegic with a tractor you know that comparative law is messed up.

Stevo_666

5milestogo wrote:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/cyclists_urged_to_stop_at_red_lights_after_norwich_man_is_fined_200_1_4634487

Have you been caught?

What did it cost you, when and where?

Good. Tired of RLJTs (red light jumping tw@ts) giving the rest of us a bad name.

Snakebite the 2nd

Stevo 666 wrote:

5milestogo wrote:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/cyclists_urged_to_stop_at_red_lights_after_norwich_man_is_fined_200_1_4634487

Have you been caught?

What did it cost you, when and where?

Good. Tired of RLJTs (red light jumping tw@ts) giving the rest of us a bad name.

This ^^

secretsam

Snakebite the 2nd wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

5milestogo wrote:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/cyclists_urged_to_stop_at_red_lights_after_norwich_man_is_fined_200_1_4634487

Have you been caught?

What did it cost you, when and where?

Good. Tired of RLJTs (red light jumping tw@ts) giving the rest of us a bad name.

This ^^

Me too^^

iPete

Totally, if no-one jumped red lights we'd all get the respect we deserve.
In fact those people who lean out of their car windows and shout 'get a car' would go out and buy bikes!

thistle_

bendertherobot wrote:

It's a FPN so he must have contested it.

If I jumped a red light and got caught I'd just pay up (promptly for the discount too).
I wonder why he thought it was worth contesting in court.

The Rookie

Andy9964 wrote:

£400 in total
Including a "victim surcharge"

Fines are means related, that level of fine suggests someone earning circa £600 a week after TAX/NI

Everyone convicted of a criminal offence pays the surcharge (often incorrectly called the victim surcharge.

Its at the discretion of the Police to offer an FPN or not, for cases where the RLJ is more than 2-3 seconds after the light goes red they are usually not offered so most cycling RLJers would get offered it.

Snakebite the 2nd

iPete wrote:

Totally, if no-one jumped red lights we'd all get the respect we deserve.
In fact those people who lean out of their car windows and shout 'get a car' would go out and buy bikes!

Although to be fair the amount of "I don't care I nearly hit you because I saw a cyclist last week jump a red light and you're all the same" type rants is rather numerous.

andy9964

The Rookie wrote:

Andy9964 wrote:

£400 in total
Including a "victim surcharge"

Fines are means related, that level of fine suggests someone earning circa £600 a week after TAX/NI

Everyone convicted of a criminal offence pays the surcharge (often incorrectly called the victim surcharge.

Its at the discretion of the Police to offer an FPN or not, for cases where the RLJ is more than 2-3 seconds after the light goes red they are usually not offered so most cycling RLJers would get offered it.

Well, that's cleared that up for me.
Just to be clear, I echo the comments in support of him being fined, I was just a bit bemused why the fine was so much.

awavey

The Rookie wrote:

Andy9964 wrote:

£400 in total
Including a "victim surcharge"

Fines are means related, that level of fine suggests someone earning circa £600 a week after TAX/NI
.

in Norwich ? I doubt it thesedays, maybe in the mid 90s and you were a cobol/DB2 expert a well known local insurance company might well have been paying contractors those kinds of rates, but you certainly wouldnt be living in Rose Lane if you earned that kind of money there are far nicer places even in Norwich than next door to nightclub alley

I bet they only managed to catch him because theyve been digging up that street in Norwich for months as part of their cycle city plan/road improvements and half the roads are blocked off or single lane around it.

5milestogo

It all seems to be happening in Norwich...

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/cycli ... _1_4659502

...although the application of the penalty system seems a little inconsistent and in line with what you say 'Bendertherobot'.

Semantik

5milestogo wrote:

It all seems to be happening in Norwich...

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/cycli ... _1_4659502

...although the application of the penalty system seems a little inconsistent and in line with what you say 'Bendertherobot'.

Great to see Norfolk police and magistrates getting tough on the real badass criminals in their county.

The Rookie

It's a crime, commit it in front of a police officer and you get what you get, do t like the heat stay out of the kitchen!

If they ignored some 'minor' offences then the rate of them being committed would shoot up. All in favour myself.

Semantik

The Rookie wrote:

It's a crime, commit it in front of a police officer and you get what you get, do t like the heat stay out of the kitchen!

If they ignored some 'minor' offences then the rate of them being committed would shoot up. All in favour myself.

Very upstanding principles I'm sure but the unfortunate fact is that prosecution of minor offences in the magistrates courts is a postcode lottery. If said 'criminal' lived in one of our big cities it is highly unlikely he would have been prosecuted in the same circumstances as there are far more serious cases which need prosecuting. So the minor ones are not pursued unless there is some compelling reason why and it is in the public interest. Out in the sticks you are more likely to be prosecuted than if you live in a big city. Not fair .Laws should apply and be enforced equally to all.

apreading

I would also like to see pedestrians fined for stepping out directly into the path of a passing bike when the red man is showing for the crossing - happens literally EVERY day on my commute for one particular crossing.

bigmonka

Semantik wrote:

Out in the sticks you are more likely to be prosecuted than if you live in a big city. Not fair .Laws should apply and be enforced equally to all.

I agree that it's not fair, but surely the way to make it fair is to try and enforce the law more within the city's rather than being more lenient in the rural areas?

The Rookie

The Police can't chase up every criminal offence, there needs to be enough enforcement to act as a disincentive on any particular crime, we all want certain crimes chased harder, and all have different priorities.

I travel a lot to India, lack of enforcement on certain crimes leads to massive criminality, mostly on the roads, be careful what you wish for.

As for red lights for peds, they carry no weight in law directly, raise a petition if you want 'jay walking' criminalised in the same way it is in the US where the red light is binding.

awavey

so how much do you think this chappie will get fined then

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/owner_of_car_caught_driving_through_lights_at_level_crossing_found_by_police_1_4664333

The Rookie

Well at the moment they don't know who was driving as the article makes clear, so if the registered keeper wasn't driving and names the driver, he'll obviously get off Scott free!

As for the driver, good chance BTP will go for dangerous driving which is a minimum 1 year ban.