Red light jumping scooter party.......

[Jonathan M]

Probably over 100 of the blighters with "outriders" blocking a traffic light controlled cross roads, I was sat at the lights through 3 cycles while these knobheads thought they could control traffic. Needless to say someone in a Ford Focus started to pick a fight just as I got going.......


Puts the odd RLJ cyclist into prespective, not that I'm advocating RLJ'ing or not. Each to their own.

 

[ComedyPilot]

For some bizarre reason people driving in 'club' groups think the rules don't apply to them.

I was riding down a single track road yesterday when a load of minis came haring towards me. The first two shot by on the grass, but I then went 'uber-primary, and stopped the other dozen or so in their tracks, and they had to crawl past or drop into a cut-away at their side of the track.

Idiots.

 

[Globalti]

A week ago I rode Manchester-Blackpool and was pleased to see that there were marshalls at every traffic light enforcing the stopping rule, without them the thousands of riders would have just carried on on an unending stream and there would have been mayhem.

I saw one RLJer and that was a yobby bloke on a crap MTB. Can't even remember if he was wearing an event number.

 

[very-near]

I've marshaled on a fair few motorcycle rallies in the centre of London over the last few years. One year we had over 7,000 riders turn up, and we organised the ride from tha Ace cafe in Hanger lane to Parliament square and back under the guidance of the metropolitan police who provided about 10 uniformed riders.

When you have a large group, they need to be kept together to keep the disruprion down to a minimum, and the police (with our help) blocked junctions with give ways and also traffic lights to stop the other traffic fragmenting the group.

This has been proven to be the best way of keeping disruption to a minimum and the same system was applied each time the rally was staged.

 

[Jonathan M]

I've marshaled on a fair few motorcycle rallies in the centre of London over the last few years. One year we had over 7,000 riders turn up, and we organised the ride from tha Ace cafe in Hanger lane to Parliament square and back under the guidance of the metropolitan police who provided about 10 uniformed riders.

When you have a large group, they need to be kept together to keep the disruprion down to a minimum, and the police (with our help) blocked junctions with give ways and also traffic lights to stop the other traffic fragmenting the group.

This has been proven to be the best way of keeping disruption to a minimum and the same system was applied each time the rally was staged.

Just to clarify, I used the word "outriders" to means fat blokes on scooters blocking the junction, not police. Hence the reason a guy in a Ford Focus was having a go. I rang the local constabulary about it, simply becuase such a large group really needed police back up/sanctioning, which it didn't appear to have from the lack of plod's presence.

TBH the guys blocking the junction appeared to be getting a bit of fun from it, especially towards the ends of the group when scooters were coming through in dribs & drabs, and could have let the traffic restart. There would be plenty of scope for traffic to join from side roads to fragment the scooter group anyway, & I'm sure they were not covering all of the junctions.

 

[very-near]

Just to clarify, I used the word "outriders" to means fat blokes on scooters blocking the junction, not police. Hence the reason a guy in a Ford Focus was having a go. I rang the local constabulary about it, simply becuase such a large group really needed police back up/sanctioning, which it didn't appear to have from the lack of plod's presence.

TBH the guys blocking the junction appeared to be getting a bit of fun from it, especially towards the ends of the group when scooters were coming through in dribs & drabs, and could have let the traffic restart. There would be plenty of scope for traffic to join from side roads to fragment the scooter group anyway, & I'm sure they were not covering all of the junctions.

I wouldn't attempt to block a junction without the support of the police. The system was that they would stop at the junction until a car pulled up waiting to come through, then they would instruct the driver to wait until the group had passed, we would then take over from them, and they would move to the next junction, and then once the group had passed, we would waive the cars on and catch the group up.

As the route was 10 miles long, it was a lot of junctions to cover with so few police riders so they could do it without our help.

We did get a couple of impatient taxi drivers getting arsey, but the police riders would turn up and threaten them with breach of the peace or something similar and then they shut up

 

[byegad]

I've marshaled on a fair few motorcycle rallies in the centre of London over the last few years. One year we had over 7,000 riders turn up, and we organised the ride from tha Ace cafe in Hanger lane to Parliament square and back under the guidance of the metropolitan police who provided about 10 uniformed riders.

When you have a large group, they need to be kept together to keep the disruprion down to a minimum, and the police (with our help) blocked junctions with give ways and also traffic lights to stop the other traffic fragmenting the group.

This has been proven to be the best way of keeping disruption to a minimum and the same system was applied each time the rally was staged.

Exactly! The York Rally parade from the Mnster this year had no police presence. (They usually supply a few riders and man the lights to wave everyone through.) So this year we stopped at the lights, the parade got broken up and lots of motorists found themselves surrounded by cyclists. The poor lambs didn't know what to do with themselves! One or two drivers reacted dangerously and it was blindingly obvious that keeping the parade together would have been safer for all and cause less disruption to the rest of the traffic.

 

[very-near]

Exactly! The York Rally parade from the Mnster this year had no police presence. (They usually supply a few riders and man the lights to wave everyone through.) So this year we stopped at the lights, the parade got broken up and lots of motorists found themselves surrounded by cyclists. The poor lambs didn't know what to do with themselves! One or two drivers reacted dangerously and it was blindingly obvious that keeping the parade together would have been safer for all and cause less disruption to the rest of the traffic.

This is why I dislike the idea of the Critical mass rides. Any large and slow moving group even with the best will in the world is going to disrupt traffic flow. If you have an agenda, a start point and an end point, then you will get the support of the police, and also the compliance of the traffic around you.

On these rides, we with the support of the police actually do demand (and command) priority over the other vehicles, and as such 'take the streets back' in a way which these CM rallies will never achieve.

One of the runs we did went from central London up to Donington Park (130 miles), and the police in each country turned out and blocked the slip roads on the motorway as we passed through to keep us all together.

The bottom line is if you are having a rally, speak to the local police and they will support you if you actually have an agenda (not just being a bloody nuisance)

 

[Dan B]

On these rides, we with the support of the police actually do demand (and command) priority over the other vehicles

I agree with this bit

and as such 'take the streets back' in a way which these CM rallies will never achieve.

but I think this is largely irrelevant to the aims of CM, insofar as it's supposed to demonstrate that cycling is a viable form of transport. If it can only happen during special times with advance notice to police and requires their marshalling, that doesn't say much about the other 30 days of the month.

Obviously not everyone on CM has that as an aim, and many (me included) would argue that it's already sufficiently unlike "normal" cycling to achieve that aim. But I think there's a case to be made that allowing it further to slide into the bracket of "procession" or "showcase" would be counter-intuitive

 

[Dan B]

On a tangent, on Saturday afternoon I saw a moped rider (proto-taxi-driver if the clipboard on his windscreen was anything to go by) accelerate straight through a procession of Falun Gong protestors crossing the road in front of him. Granted he had the green light, but I suppose he must have missed the bit in the HC about its meaning being "proceed if the way is clear". Luckily nobody was injured but they did have to dive for cover rather sharpish. Is there anyone this can be reported to that would have any effect? I'm assuming the police would be uninterested as no accident resulted

 

[very-near]

On a tangent, on Saturday afternoon I saw a moped rider (proto-taxi-driver if the clipboard on his windscreen was anything to go by) accelerate straight through a procession of Falun Gong protestors crossing the road in front of him. Granted he had the green light, but I suppose he must have missed the bit in the HC about its meaning being "proceed if the way is clear". Luckily nobody was injured but they did have to dive for cover rather sharpish. Is there anyone this can be reported to that would have any effect? I'm assuming the police would be uninterested as no accident resulted

He could be done for dangerous driving if seen to be using it as a weapon

 

[dellzeqq]

I stop the traffic on the FNRttC, and it's by far the least worst option - although I doubt if I'll ever do the A3 Kingston by-pass again. 80 cyclists emerging in dribs and drabs from Clapham Common is far less trouble all around than me standing on the South Circular waving them out.