Woman condemned for helping illegal cyclists

[downfader]

What do the police do if the cyclist has no form of identification, credit cards or money on them?

They take a finger print and ask you to report to the station in 7 days according to one letter in the press recently.

I agree with Mr C. I've seen LOTS of drivers doing a triple-flash to warn of speed traps in Police vans.

Edit: and I'll say it, another Raymond Brown story. His name seems to be attached to every anticyclist peice.

 

[snailracer]

Most dangerous to others, probably...but far more frequently dangerous to themselves are students, particularly the foreign ones over for summer seminars.

If you look at accident statistics, cyclists in the UK (not just Cambridge students) are much more likely to have accidents all by themselves (ie riding into posts, potholes, curbs, slipping, etc.) than by interaction with other road users. So what you say is true, but is true for all cyclists, not just those who happen to be Cambridge students (although it might be MORE true for them).

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

TEdit: and I'll say it, another Raymond Brown story. His name seems to be attached to every anticyclist peice.

Yep, I spotted that.

This is the same Raymond Brown of the series of strangely unverifiable "cycle rage" (OMG!!!!) stories.

 

[Mark_Robson]

If I could forewarn fellow cyclists to prevent them from getting a ticket then I would, after all if the intention of the Police is to deter and educate cyclists, rather than fine them then I don't see how people could object. In fact I would consider it a public service.

 

[davefb]

Of course the same people complaining about the woman warning cyclists would no doubt entirely expect fellow drivers to warn them of a speed camera van.

Sam

in case the sign going SPEED CAMERA , the BIG WHITE VAN, wasnt enough of a give away..

they legally cannot be hidden... used to watch em with the 'guns' doing drivers down palatine road in manchester..

6ft tall copper in high vis waits and watches till someones going 'noticably fast' ( he cant track everyones speed) , steps out, aims gun, takes speed...

i'll walk back from the shops and listen to 'but i didnt see you, you must have been hiding' ... sheesh



( can only find that someone who did get fined for flashing drivers, got overturned on appeal )

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

From the Cambridge News article -

Officers stood in Sidney Street, Cambridge, last Thursday for just over two hours targeting cyclists travelling in the wrong direction down the one-way street.

Here is Sidney Street -

The big question is - why isn't there a contraflow cycle lane here? There is plenty of room for it.

This is a classic cycling-hostile environment, in a place where I suspect cycling has a very large modal share. Yet even here, the flow of motor traffic, and the parking of motor vehicles, has been prioritized at the expense of convenience for cycling.

What utter crap.

 

[Peter10]

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She was helping the police fulfill their duties, unless those duties are in fact to take £30 off miscreants and students. <img src='http://www.cyclechat.net/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /><br />
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(as respectfully as possible VOB, but you can see my point)<br />

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No, she was just obstructing police.

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

Here is an equivalent street in Bruges, with a contraflow cycle lane -

This is what Sidney Street should look like.

But instead, cyclists are sent on a large detour, more than doubling their journey length along Sidney Street, because of a lack of imagination on the part of Cambridge's urban planners.

Is it any wonder this is such an obvious target for catching people going the wrong way?

 

[DrSquirrel]

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No, she was just obstructing police.

Not suggesting you are right or wrong... but... where is the line drawn?

What about someone posting up on this forum that "XX are patrolling at XX today" on the internet?

 

[Vikeonabike]

You're not really publishing another point of view, you're publishing the point of view of the state through a tool of the state.

As for speed and other operations, the police publish in the local newspaper beforehand very prominently as well as etched road signs for many areas where they are repeatedly carried out. As far as I know they don't publish beforehand about cycling crack downs and I've never seen a road sign warning of a cycling clamp down.

OUCH! Hello Marin

 

[pshore]

Here is Sidney Street -

The big question is - why isn't there a contraflow cycle lane here? There is plenty of room for it.

I use this route regularly and I would say that there is not enough room for a contraflow lane in its current one-way form. This road (Sydney Street) is regularly heaving with pedestrians, cyclists and parked cycles outside Sainsbury's. In rush hour, you can often be cycling three-a-breast on the road with peds filling the pavements and spilling out, then you meet someone cycling the wrong way. There are often near misses but I have yet to see a collision.

In our perfect cycling-only world it could be made two way but this road is used by delivery trucks, taxis etc for which there is not enough room for two way. Well, lightbulb moment, unless you made passing places - now there's an idea. :-)

Phil.

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

I'm not quite clear as to how there can be room for parking bays, but not for a contraflow cycle lane.

Get rid of the space being used for people to park their cars, et voila. One-way flow for vehicles, two-way flow for cycles.

 

[snorri]

Get rid of the space being used for people to park their cars, et voila.

Shock Horror, go wash your mouth out.

 

[mark barker]

Get rid of the space being used for people to park their cars, et voila. One-way flow for vehicles, two-way flow for cycles.

Surely if you got rid of the parking spaces there would be space for all vehicles to flow in both directions.


Isn't this a case of looking for a solution of a non problem? Its a one way street. If cyclists can't understand that they deserve to get a fine. If the alternative route is so inconvenient then get off the bike and walk the bike through the one way area.

 

[Crankarm]

Sidney Street is a narrow one way street with shops on both sides for part of the way along it and then one side is taken up by the boundary and entrance to a college opposite STA travel. There is a large bike parking area of Sheffield stands outside the STA travel shop on the pavement next to the road. There are NO parking bays or parking areas for vehicles. IIRC there are double yellow lines down both sides the length of the street. A cycle contraflow would be totally impractical as there is just not sufficient space. The pavement is suffciently wide on the Sainsburys and STA side for pedestrians, but narrow on the side of the college opposite STA and Sainsburys. The only improvement that could be made would be to prohibit all vehicular traffic from Sidney Street but that would be impractical for shops requiring deliveries. Bollards in Bridge Street already control which vehicles can enter the central town centre zone. The current system is a simple and effective one way system around these narrow streets. It just has to be enforced. However the local council should be doing this not the police. Maybe the police got involved as there is major problem with bike theft in Cambridge and also cyclists riding without lights. But as usual it is a large minority that spoil it for the rest of us.