should I send this and what should I change

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Location
Rammy
Driving home tonight I witnessed two police cyclists go against traffic into a junction against the red light, go through another red light, a bit of pavement cycling and the wrong way up a one way street.


should I bother e-mailing?


my concern is them not being seen coming from an unexpected direction and getting flattened.


Dear Sir / Madam,
I am writing due to concerns over the roadcraft displayed tonight by two officers whom I presume serve as part of the Coventry Police Force. I was driving home tonight from a friend's house and while waiting to turn right out of Cox Street onto Jordan Well the two officers crossed into the oncoming lane in order to travel through the red light into the junction, one officer took the route through the roadworks by the new student centre, my light turned green and I proceeded up towards the council house where I saw one of the officers proceed through the red light and onto the pavement, again, moments later the light changed to green allowing me to proceed, at which point I saw the officer turn right and travel against traffic into Salt Lane.
As a fellow cyclist myself, I can understand the frustrations of stopping and starting due to traffic signals, and I appreciate that the officers may have been responding to an emergency situation, however my worry is that, unlike a motorised police vehicle, there is no flashing light or audible warning advising other road users that a cycle officer is claiming a right of way through the junction to respond to a situation, as such, I fear for the day I read in the local paper that a police officer has been involved in a collision, as it was, it was only moments after the officers had turned onto Jordan Well that an articulated bus turned into Cox Street from Gosford Street.
Please remind the cycle officers that they are vulnerable on the road if people are not expecting them to be traveling through a junction against traffic signals.
Yours sincerely

suggestions etc please :smile:
 

Angelfishsolo

A Velocipedian
Sounds good to me. I would send it.
 
I'd maybe remove the bit about being frustrated about stopping and starting (although I know what you mean) but otherwise I think it's good and well worth sending. I used to see police cyclists on the pavement all the time in Hammersmith/Shepherds Bush, seems a bit hypocritical really
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
My reaction if I was a senior Police officer reading that?

"Oh dear!" *yawn* "Another moaning letter from the Public. No identification given for the two coppers so I can send a standard crap reply. Mrs Sprules?Can you bring yer shorthand pad in please?"
 

Vikeonabike

CC Neighbourhood Police Constable
Nothing wrong with complaining, if they can't justify why they took such action then they should be dealt with. I would expect no less to be honest. If it was just to save time then they were in the wrong!
 
OP
OP
Black Sheep
Location
Rammy
my intent is not so much to get the officers involved a grilling from their senior officer, more a general reminder to the force not to ride like idiots
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
yes, i would send it and add something about setting an example to others, as no doubt they would be having very strong words with any cyclist caught doing this, if not fining them.
 

jnb

Veteran
Location
In a corner
I'd ignore it. The police haven't a good reputation when it comes to being criticised at the best of times, there's no way to identify the officers, it would be your word against theirs and there are two of them and so on and so forth. Even if you did get past that lot do you think it would make one iota of difference?
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
It doesn't seem a big deal to me, the police can do whatever they like and won't listen anyway. I don't think the one way thing is anything like as big a deal as most people make out, hopefully the law will soon be changed and we'll be seeing a lot more contraflow cycling without lanes.
 

Stephenite

Membå
Location
OslO
Send it. But as said earlier leave out the bit about "understanding the frustations".

It wont do any harm and may do some good.
 
my intent is not so much to get the officers involved a grilling from their senior officer, more a general reminder to the force not to ride like idiots

Unfortunately, large organisations rarely run on common sense. These two officers will be easily identified (how many police cyclists do they have on duty that day?) and they will get a mild bollocking. End of.
 
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