The BBC news feature is just another example of how the media collude with the Police to create an impression of effect - a cycling version of Police-Camera-Action if you like, or a free public information film. There are frighteningly few Police on duty at any time so the fear of a random stop has disappeared, which is why a small minority of drivers flout the law so brazenly. However Society continues to function because the majority are law-abiding as they have the brains to recognise that respect for the rules is necessary for a harmonious life. Cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen are good examples of how this works; friends of mine who live in a developing country stayed in Amsterdam and marvelled that it was like looking inside a superior brain.
The Police have to use their scarce resources in the most effective way, so to stand beside a major commuting route in a cycling city is bound to pay dividends, with over 150 tickets written out in three hours, a fantastic hit rate. The very visible PR exercise will have a good effect in a middle-class university city like Oxford because the cyclists were students and so presumably amongst some of the most intelligent people on the planet, ready to listen to reason and accept a bollocking without giving the Police aggro in return. Try conducting the same exercise in Blackbird Leys estate in Cowley and the hit rate would be minimal while the aggro would not make for such effective PR, assuming the Police could even find a suitable location in which to stop the black hoody-clad muppets who happen to be riding unlit bicycles around the estate.
I was more interested in the ham-fisted writing style of the officer shown writing out a ticket. at 0:14.
