Cambridge Plod... You are WRONG.

[Bad Company]

For me Cambridge Police are fully justified in this action.

I commute some 25 miles to work in Cambridge so I am there as a motorist rather than a cyclist. The numbers of cyclists withouth lights blantantly running red lights is breathtaking and highly dangerous .

I am also very concious of the fact that if I hit one of these suicidal idiots I likely to be blamed.

 

[tdr1nka]

As far as I can tell, cycling in Cambridge is of a volume unlike that of most towns and cities hence it seems disproportional. I'm happy to take cabs word on the Policing of cyclists there but I can also echo Vikeonabike's 'damned if we do, etc,'.

If only our local Police had the time and resources to do the same thing around my local. We all see numpty cyclists on our roads and there is a shocking need to educate cyclists, if not on the scale we need to educate motorists.

Were all cyclists to tow the line viz, road law, lights and RLJ'ing I feel we would all be in a better position to challenge drivers perception of road use.

FWIW We had Cambridge Police overseeing the highly emotive eviction of the demonstration against the building of a multiplex cinema in Crystal Palace. Although they seemed indifferent to local opinion at first, they did actively follow up complaints made by myself and other local residents regarding the behaviour and attitudes of the 'thug' bailiffs toward non demonstrating park users.

One bailiff threatened to kill my dog because he barked at him.
Charmed I'm sure.

 

[Amanda P]

Try organisig a day out on Patrol with him, failing that you can come out with me and see what we have to deal wth on a daily basis.

Now if I were in the right bit of the country, and that offer was open to me, I'd take it. A few days would be even better.

I find it hard to believe that there isn't a rule against it on H&S grounds, but there you go...

 

[mike1026]

You could also get involved with your Community Safety Partnership see here for Cambridge.
None of us should object to prosecution of those who ride at night without lights.
Riding on the pavement can be a little more complex, for example if there is confusion as in the case of a cycle path on a pavement as shared use, and it is not clear where it ends. A deserted pavement alongside an A road can be a safer option. I have to ask, not being familiar with these areas, why cyclists are choosing the pavement over the road.
It is often easy to critiscise out of frustration, while not knowing the full facts, rather than to get involved and try to change the outcome.

 

[ChrisCrc]

"Getting the Police to catch Criminals" surely they would spout the ELF & SAFETY laws, I mean if Dustmen cant lift the Bins in case they hurt their backs and firemen cant go up tall ladders then surely policemen cant do their jobs as catching criminals might be a breach of their ELF & SAFETY.( HEAVEN FORBID IF THEY FALL OVER or Get Stressed ). You only have to look at the state of our so called police force, The majority are overweight The safe option for the police is to stick cameras up everywhere and then sit on their arses pigging out on Fast food and donuts, Its no wonder the crime rate is going sky high. What is needed is a Police Station in every town that is actually manned and police walking the beat ( getting their weight down), I know the powers that be will say that they haven't got the resources to man every police station, But if you look at the cost of crime for a whole year it comes into the Millions, Businesses should be paying for police to police. We are all paying for them in our Council Tax ( the highest in any European country) and still they cant do it right.

We have a police station in Benfleet which is only open so many hours a day, It is closed at night ( fat lot of good that is ) as i suspect most crime is commited at night.

We need a total shake up of the whole system because i hate to think what it will be like for our children's children in the future.......

Rant over..

 

[thomas]

ChrisCrc - you're from Essex...don't you have the Police Interceptors around there - quit fussing..the local police force here has a ford fiesta with blues and twos on (an old one at that)

 

[garrilla]

Did I miss the point here, is cycling on footpaths OK then?

 

[Crankarm]

Cambs Police

I have bad news and more bad news. Firstly cycling in Cambridge is a nightmare. The city is often gridlocked so you have irate drivers and thousands of stupid student cyclists to contend with who weave dangerously in and out of traffic, from one side of the road to t'other, on and off pavements, 2,3,4 abreast, 2,3,4 of them on one bike, no lights and dark clothing at night, no stopping for any traffic light whether at a crossing or a junction, mobiles glued to their ears, iPods making them oblivious to all those around them. They really are accidents waiting to happen. Honestly Cambridge is not a nice place to cycle. The majority of people using bicycles in Cambridge are students. I mean being Cambridge students you would have thought they would have had more brains. But the stupid and dangerous things you see them doing is frightening. They have no consideration for anyone else in the city and pretty much no concern for their own safety either. Strangely when they go off home to mummy and daddy in London or where ever, it isn't too bad getting around. Unfortunately cycling in Cambridge has an even worse press than cycling anywhere else because of the students. Secondly Cambs police are genuinely crap. They are useless when it comes pursuing road traffic offences against cyclists. I have given up reporting incidents to them despite having provided them with footage, witnesses and my injuries and they have still done sweet ........

 

[earth]

Are the officers community support officers by chance?

Given that they stop approximately 40 people per year and the highest report crime is bicycle theft it seems reasonable to assume they may have stopped some people on stolen bicycles. I wonder if they ever think to check if they are stolen while they are fining people?

I lived in Cambridge for a while and there used to be a guy who would stand on a street corner and push cyclists off their bike when they came near. Then he would claim he was from the council.

 

[semislickstick]

Oh er. Which street corner did the mad man stand...I shall keep an eye out!

I wonder if the police have that kind of info on stolen bikes to hand like they do on stolen cars, I expect they don't.

Has anyone seen the youtube vid of the student cycle rush hour?

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA_Crc67SAM


You really do have to watch out for cyclists everywhere in Cambridge, wrong side of road, lots and lots of RL jumping. New/foreign students should maybe get some basic Highway code training!

Are the officers community support officers by chance?

Given that they stop approximately 40 people per year and the highest report crime is bicycle theft it seems reasonable to assume they may have stopped some people on stolen bicycles. I wonder if they ever think to check if they are stolen while they are fining people?

I lived in Cambridge for a while and there used to be a guy who would stand on a street corner and push cyclists off their bike when they came near. Then he would claim he was from the council.

 

[earth]

Any police officer can radio HQ and ask for a PNC check to be done. That's Police lingo for look stuff up on the computer. Some forces have mobile devices so the officers can do the PNC check themselves. All they need to do is look for the frame number. Although I can see how it would be inconvinient to flip the bike over and look for the number.

If you get stopped in your car they will check the number plate. In fact the camera's in their cars scan number plates and do PNC checks on cars as they drive past.

When it comes to the guy on the corner, I did tell an officer once who incidentally rode to work by bike. The officer said how he had 'bumped into' this guy as well while he was off duty and out of uniform. The officer said he was bigger and was having no nonsense. The 'council guy' picked a fight with the wrong person that day.