It's all bollocks. Years ago I was fined £257 for riding the wrong way up a one way street, riding on the pavement and through a pedestrianised area without lights (I had a rear light). At a deserted 1.00am I should add. I wish I'd fought it harder but having no experience of the inside of a court room I didn't.
During the whole journey across the centre of Hereford just after a very heavy downpour I encountered just the police car, not another soul.
'A victimless crime', I say.
'Yes but you broke the law and must be punished', you say.
Why then was the guy who works in the chippy at the end of Eign Gate allowed to park his car in the very same pedestrian precinct every evening? Double fecking standards.
They design the urban environment to suit the widespread use of horseless carriages, (pedestrians are grudgingly accommodated and we cyclists, at the bottom of the pile, get a few licks of red paint) and wonder why so many people ride their bikes illegally. Well maybe it's because the two options available to cyclists approaching the town centre are;
1) A busy four lane ring road leading into a large roundabout.
2) A pedestrian area.
Why, when cyclists cause close to absolutely zero danger, are we set upon with such glee by the powers that be? Because we are an easy target that's why.