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Speed limits

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UK and Europe
Published
12 May 2005
Last activity
17 May 2005
Original author
Paul D
Posts
53
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  1. Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists? I was under the impression
    that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike then limits couldn't
    apply, or should this read couldn't be enforced?

    I'm asking as I've moved house and my bike to work now takes me down a 30mph
    limited hill with a speed camera near the bottom to wake up the dozing
    motorists. On my first trip on the bike I was also dozing and cruised past
    it at 34mph (as I do have a speedo). A small amount of effort would get me
    up to 40mph no doubt, so I'd like to know where I stand before I go past it
    a bit quicker on the next morning when I'm not awake.

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera on a piece of road where no
    accidents take place, which should be at least 40mph limited as its country
    lane with only the occasional house here and there. The placing at the
    bottom of a hill just seems extra cynical to me. Rest assured I wouldn't be
    doing 30mph+ on the bike if it was a busy pedestrian area.

    Paul

  2. Paul D said:

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera on a piece of road where no
    accidents take place, which should be at least 40mph limited as its country
    lane with only the occasional house here and there. The placing at the
    bottom of a hill just seems extra cynical to me. Rest assured I wouldn't be
    doing 30mph+ on the bike if it was a busy pedestrian area.

    Do you know the accident history of this road?

  3. Paul D said:

    Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists? I was under the impression
    that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike then limits couldn't
    apply, or should this read couldn't be enforced?

    I'm asking as I've moved house and my bike to work now takes me down a 30mph
    limited hill with a speed camera near the bottom to wake up the dozing
    motorists. On my first trip on the bike I was also dozing and cruised past
    it at 34mph (as I do have a speedo). A small amount of effort would get me
    up to 40mph no doubt, so I'd like to know where I stand before I go past it
    a bit quicker on the next morning when I'm not awake.

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera on a piece of road where no
    accidents take place, which should be at least 40mph limited as its country
    lane with only the occasional house here and there. The placing at the
    bottom of a hill just seems extra cynical to me. Rest assured I wouldn't be
    doing 30mph+ on the bike if it was a busy pedestrian area.

    Paul

    "Cycling Furiously" is the term you are looking for. But you are right,
    you can't be done for "speeding" as such.

    --
    Chris

  4. Paul D said:

    Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists? I was under the impression
    that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike then limits couldn't
    apply, or should this read couldn't be enforced?

    They don't, but if you're really being daft then there are cracks in the
    pavement clauses like "cycling furiously".

    Pete.
    --
    Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
    Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
    Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
    net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

  5. <cynicism>
    How would I find that out? I thought the local police tend to keep that info
    confidential in case they're found out that they put cameras in places where
    they'll make the most money?
    </cynicism>

    "stupot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:
    Paul D said:

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera on a piece of road where no
    accidents take place, which should be at least 40mph limited as its
    country lane with only the occasional house here and there. The placing
    at the bottom of a hill just seems extra cynical to me. Rest assured I
    wouldn't be doing 30mph+ on the bike if it was a busy pedestrian area.

    Do you know the accident history of this road?

  6. Paul D said:

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera on a piece of road
    where no accidents take place, which should be at least 40mph limited
    as its country lane with only the occasional house here and there.
    The placing at the bottom of a hill just seems extra cynical to me.
    Rest assured I wouldn't be doing 30mph+ on the bike if it was a busy
    pedestrian area.

    I'm amazed at the number of people I speak to round here (Southampton) who
    complain about the siting of the speed cameras at the top of Maybray
    Kingsway (the top of the hill in Bitterne). Goes something like, "It's
    obviously a revenue generator. It's a dual carriageway on a hill -- and it's
    a straight road!" What they fail to notice is that the cameras are sited in
    a pretty high density residential area before a pedestrian crossing on a
    bend. How could they fail to notice this? Blind ignorance.

  7. Paul D said:

    Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists? I was under the
    impression that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike
    then limits couldn't apply, or should this read couldn't be
    enforced?

    I'm asking as I've moved house and my bike to work now takes me
    down a 30mph limited hill with a speed camera near the bottom to
    wake up the dozing motorists. On my first trip on the bike I was
    also dozing and cruised past it at 34mph (as I do have a speedo).
    A small amount of effort would get me up to 40mph no doubt, so
    I'd like to know where I stand before I go past it a bit quicker
    on the next morning when I'm not awake.

    Relax and let them take your picture. Quite apart from the fact that
    you have no number plate and are therefore difficult to identity, the
    speed limit as such does not apply to cyclists except where special
    regulations apply as in the royal parks. You could of course be charged
    with dangerous cycling or riding furiously, and the fact that you were
    exceeding the posted limit for motor vehicles could be used as
    supporting evidence.

    There's a speed camera on a downhill section of the North Circular that
    I used to pass every day. With a bit of effort I could get above the
    posted limit of 40 mph, and it was my unfulfilled ambition to be
    overtaken by a speeding car at just the right moment so that we would
    both be in the pictures, and both exceeding the limit.

    --
    Dave...

  8. "dkahn400" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:
    Paul D said:

    Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists? I was under the
    impression that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike
    then limits couldn't apply, or should this read couldn't be
    enforced?

    Slightly OT, but I'm pretty sure that bikes don't have enough mass to
    trigger the camera. Unless you cover your back in tinfoil to aid the radar,
    I'm fairly sure they wouldn't go off anyway.

    Even more OT, is the fact that everytime you ride past one, you get a nice
    dose of 24Ghz microwave. I'm not sure what kind of power they put out, but
    it will be directed just at the road and thus amplified. BTW - I'm not scare
    mongering, for all I know it could be 1mW, I really have no idea, it was
    just a thought since people seem concerned about mobile phones.

  9. in message <[email hidden]>, Paul D

    (') said:

    Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists? I was under the
    impression that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike then
    limits couldn't apply, or should this read couldn't be enforced?

    They apply only to motor vehicles. If your bike doesn't have a motor
    they (generally) don't apply. However, there is an offence of 'furious
    pedalling', although I don't know of any recent case where that's been
    used; and on some private roads e.g. royal parks there are speed limits
    which a signposted in the same way as public road speed limits but _do_
    apply also to bikes.

    --
    [email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

    The Conservative Party now has the support of a smaller proportion of
    the electorate in Scotland than Sinn Fein have in Northern Ireland.

  10. Treefrog said:

    Slightly OT, but I'm pretty sure that bikes don't have enough mass to
    trigger the camera. Unless you cover your back in tinfoil to aid the
    radar, I'm fairly sure they wouldn't go off anyway.

    I think you're right as I've never managed to set off the one at the bottom
    of Stamford Hill. I /did/ get flashed at by one near Blackhorse Road
    station, which was odd asthere were no other vehicles in the traps and I was
    only doing about 20 mph...

    --
    Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
    If you want a bicycle, buy a bicycle. If you want something that
    folds, buy a deckchair.

  11. Paul D said:

    <cynicism>
    How would I find that out? I thought the local police tend to keep that info
    confidential in case they're found out that they put cameras in places where
    they'll make the most money?
    </cynicism>

    That would be where most people are breaking the law, of course. Which
    is one of those things the police are meant to discourage, I thought...

    Pete.
    --
    Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
    Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
    Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
    net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

  12. Paul D said:

    Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists? I was under the impression
    that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike then limits couldn't
    apply, or should this read couldn't be enforced?

    No.

    Quoted message said:

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera on a piece of road where no

    If it helps think of it as a tax on the unobservant.

    Quoted message said:

    accidents take place, which should be at least 40mph limited as its country
    lane with only the occasional house here and there. The placing at the
    bottom of a hill just seems extra cynical to me. Rest assured I wouldn't be
    doing 30mph+ on the bike if it was a busy pedestrian area.

    Paul

  13. Dave Larrington said:

    I think you're right as I've never managed to set off the one at the bottom
    of Stamford Hill. I /did/ get flashed at by one near Blackhorse Road
    station, which was odd asthere were no other vehicles in the traps and I was
    only doing about 20 mph...

    Yebbut the top of your spokes were doing 40 mph :-)

    R.

  14. Paul D said:

    <cynicism>
    How would I find that out? I thought the local police tend to keep that info
    confidential


    I would have thought that a request under the Freedom of Information Act
    would get statistics like that.

  15. Treefrog said:


    Even more OT, is the fact that everytime you ride past one, you get a nice
    dose of 24Ghz microwave. I'm not sure what kind of power they put out, but
    it will be directed just at the road and thus amplified. BTW - I'm not scare
    mongering, for all I know it could be 1mW, I really have no idea, it was
    just a thought since people seem concerned about mobile phones.

    Would a helmet covered in tinfoil help protect against this new threat?

  16. Paul D said:

    "stupot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:
    Paul D said:

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera on a piece of road
    where no accidents take place, which should be at least 40mph
    limited as its country lane with only the occasional house here and
    there. The placing at the bottom of a hill just seems extra cynical
    to me. Rest assured I wouldn't be doing 30mph+ on the bike if it
    was a busy pedestrian area.

    Do you know the accident history of this road?


    <cynicism>
    How would I find that out? I thought the local police tend to keep
    that info confidential in case they're found out that they put
    cameras in places where they'll make the most money?
    </cynicism>

    What benefit do the local police get from having speed cameras which catch a
    lot of offenders?

    Except for having to get the mop and brush out of the traffic car slightly
    less often?

    Ambrose

  17. Paul D said:


    Do british road speed limits apply to cyclists?

    No they don't, although there are laws that apply to cyclists if they
    are cycling dangerously, ior 'furiously'.
    For a well-known case see:
    http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/14/article14.html

    Quoted message said:

    I was under the impression
    that because it's not law to have a speedo on a bike then limits couldn't
    apply, or should this read couldn't be enforced?

    Its more likely because cyclists don't kill 3500 people a year.

    Quoted message said:

    Just for info - it's a classic revenue camera...

    You mean a voluntary donation point for those morons who cannot drive
    within the law.

    John B

  18. "Vincent Wilcox" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:
    Treefrog said:


    Even more OT, is the fact that everytime you ride past one, you get a


    nice

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    dose of 24Ghz microwave. I'm not sure what kind of power they put out,


    but

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    it will be directed just at the road and thus amplified. BTW - I'm not


    scare

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    mongering, for all I know it could be 1mW, I really have no idea, it was
    just a thought since people seem concerned about mobile phones.

    Would a helmet covered in tinfoil help protect against this new threat?

    Possibly, although I'd recommend a chicken wire suite, it'll create a
    faraday cage and you'll be safe from the nasty GATSO death ray!

  19. "Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:
    Paul D said:

    <cynicism>
    How would I find that out? I thought the local police tend to keep that


    info

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    confidential in case they're found out that they put cameras in places


    where

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    they'll make the most money?
    </cynicism>

    That would be where most people are breaking the law, of course. Which
    is one of those things the police are meant to discourage, I thought...

    Which is why money should be invested in an anti heroine-injecting-[censored]-head
    camera. A much more worthy cause than catching a few speeding motorists, who
    let's face, wont slow down after being caught anyway.

    You can't teach a dog not to [censored], but you can teach it where it's allowed
    to [censored].

    The same applies to speeding motorists, although the government is wasting
    god knows how much on trying to teach them not to [censored] at all.

  20. Treefrog said:

    Which is why money should be invested in an anti heroine-injecting-

    Why would anyone want to inject someone like Grace Darling anyway?

    R.

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