Cambridge Police crackdown

On 04/11/2006 17:31, Tony Raven said,

Quoted message said:

According to the Cambridge Evening News, police are launching a
crackdown on cyclists in the city.

Seems fair enough to me. Presumably they'll also be cracking down on
other road users who flout the laws whilst they're at it.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

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

Quoted message said:

On 04/11/2006 17:31, Tony Raven said,

Quoted message said:

According to the Cambridge Evening News, police are launching a crackdown
on cyclists in the city.

Seems fair enough to me. Presumably they'll also be cracking down on
other road users who flout the laws whilst they're at it.

Your imagination is over-active, other road users are perfect ;-)

Paul Boyd said:

On 04/11/2006 17:31, Tony Raven said,

Quoted message said:

According to the Cambridge Evening News, police are launching a
crackdown on cyclists in the city.

Seems fair enough to me. Presumably they'll also be cracking down on
other road users who flout the laws whilst they're at it.

No, this is part of the ongoing campaign to get cyclists into proper
means of transport by all means necessary.

Everything else has been tried - aggressive driving, long detours
round 1-way systems, dangerous facilities, exaggeration of the
dangers, forcing them to use ineffective 'safety' equipment,
relentless vilification in the press. Now it's time to hit them in the
wallet.

A slight exaggeration, but a large slice of the population would much
prefer it if no-one ever used bicycles for transport. Many of them
call themselves transport or road safety professionals.

Colin McKenzie

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

Tony Raven said:

CYCLISTS who flout the law are to be hit in the pocket by a police
crackdown in Cambridge.

My experience of Cambridge police is that they are not too bright as
far as bicycles are concerned. They recovered my bike a few weeks after
it had been stolen but sold it at one of their auctions despite my
registration mark being very clear on the mudguard. This was not long
after I had received an Alex Ferguson type verbal assault from one of
them for being careless enough to have my locked bike stolen!

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

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

CYCLISTS who flout the law are to be hit in the pocket by a police
crackdown in Cambridge.

My experience of Cambridge police is that they are not too bright as
far as bicycles are concerned. They recovered my bike a few weeks after
it had been stolen but sold it at one of their auctions despite my
registration mark being very clear on the mudguard. This was not long
after I had received an Alex Ferguson type verbal assault from one of
them for being careless enough to have my locked bike stolen!

Should have sued them for handling stolen goods! :P

Seriously, I hope you raised the roof.
--
David Lloyd,
The pub is responsible for my opinions.

Colin McKenzie said:

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

Is it not safer per mile? My recollection of figures quoted by others
here was that it was some 30% safer.

Sniper8052

Sniper8052(L96A1) wrote on 05/11/2006 09:05 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Colin McKenzie said:

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

Is it not safer per mile? My recollection of figures quoted by others
here was that it was some 30% safer.

It is about 30% safer but it was decided to use "as safe as" in the
leaflet that Tom & co produced recently as, IIRC, it avoided any
quibbling over the figures.

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Tony Raven said:

According to the Cambridge Evening News, police are launching a
crackdown on cyclists in the city.

Well - the quotation from the police says...

Quoted message said:

"...cyclists and motorists..."

in message <[email hidden]>, Sniper805

(L96A1) (') said:

Colin McKenzie said:

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at the
population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking. Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

Is it not safer per mile? My recollection of figures quoted by others
here was that it was some 30% safer.

Indeed.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7250&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272

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

I shall continue to be an impossible person so long as those
who are now possible remain possible -- Michael Bakunin

Tony Raven said:

Sniper8052(L96A1) wrote on 05/11/2006 09:05 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Colin McKenzie said:

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.

Is it not safer per mile? My recollection of figures quoted by others
here was that it was some 30% safer.

It is about 30% safer but it was decided to use "as safe as" in the
leaflet that Tom & co produced recently as, IIRC, it avoided any
quibbling over the figures.

And there are indications that it may not be safer for all age groups,
so people could quibble about that too.

About as safe is unexpected enough to most people.

Colin McKenzie

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

Tony Raven said:

A similar campaign held in the city after the clocks went back last year
saw 37 fixed-penalty notices issued to cyclists in four days."

Fewer than 10 FPNs issued per day in Cambridge doesn't sound like much
of a crackdown to me.

--
Dave...

Never mind the fancy debate, this is absolute and utter b*ll*cks.
For instance this debate would not occur in Denmark or Holland - or any
other civilised nation.
Trouble is here we are subject to the (all bow down NOW) motoring press/
pressure.
How sodding petty to start on a few harmless, inoffensive benign cyclists.
Our planet might perish tomorrow but "hey kids" lets hand out some FPN's.
Job done - what a load of [censored].

--
John Clayton
www.calder-clarion.co.uk

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

Quoted message said:

According to the Cambridge Evening News, police are launching a crackdown
on cyclists in the city.

"Law-breaking riders face fine

CYCLISTS who flout the law are to be hit in the pocket by a police
crackdown in Cambridge.

Officers are under instruction to stop cyclists riding after dark without
lights or committing other offences such as ignoring road signs and
signals or cycling the wrong way down one-way streets, and issue £30
on-the-spot fines.

Cyclists behaving suspiciously will also be stopped by police to check if
the bikes they are riding have been stolen.

Sgt Simon Cross, from Parkside police station, said: "We have received a
lot of complaints from other road users about cyclists not behaving
responsibly and it is a major issue in the city centre.

"Neighbourhood officers, and in particular the west city team, will be
stopping cyclists and motorists who are putting themselves and other road
users at risk and, where appropriate, issuing penalty notices."

A similar campaign held in the city after the clocks went back last year
saw 37 fixed-penalty notices issued to cyclists in four days."
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/region_wide/2006/11/04/94fb321a-3a65-448f-a27c-ab86c99458a6.lpf

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

On 05/11/2006 17:51, John Clayton said,

Quoted message said:

Never mind the fancy debate, this is absolute and utter b*ll*cks.
For instance this debate would not occur in Denmark or Holland - or any
other civilised nation.

You're right. The problem is that we're not in Denmark or Holland.

I was stunned at the number of Britons emigrating every year. I wonder
why. (My brother emigrated to Holland, BTW. He lived and worked in
Moscow for about 4 years or so, came back to the UK, saw how backward it
was and buggered off again!)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

On Sat, 4 Nov 2006 22:52:57 -0000 someone who may be "Adam Lea"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

If you cycle within the law, you won't get fined.

Really?

Does your touching belief apply to Telford?

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

John Clayton said:

Never mind the fancy debate, this is absolute and utter b*ll*cks.
For instance this debate would not occur in Denmark or Holland...

This time of year, every year the Dutch (and Belgian) police are out
checking cyclists' lights and handing out fines if they are not used
(when dark, obviously). Schoolkids are one of the main targets.

If you don't have any identification on you during these checks, then
you'll get fined for that as well.

Mined ewe, you get a pen if everything's OK...

--
Mike

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My experience of Cambridge police is that they are not too bright as
far as bicycles are concerned. They recovered my bike a few weeks after
it had been stolen but sold it at one of their auctions despite my
registration mark being very clear on the mudguard. This was not long
after I had received an Alex Ferguson type verbal assault from one of
them for being careless enough to have my locked bike stolen!

Should have sued them for handling stolen goods! :P

Seriously, I hope you raised the roof.
--
David Lloyd,

Sadly, I didn't. Being young and innocent at the time, I even
reimbursed the new owner for the cost of a rack he had put on it when
told to do so by the police.

Of course, if it had happened in recent years, I would have squeezed as
much out of them as I could.

Simon Brooke said:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7250&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272

Taking the 2002 figure for the cycling death rate, I calculate that a
keen cyclist who rides an average of 5,000 miles per year for 70 years
will only have a 1 in 1,700 chance of being killed. Presumably that
means it is safer to cycle than be a car driver because of the reduced
likelihood of the cyclist having an obesity related death.

mb said:

Mined ewe, you get a pen if everything's OK...

Does it have "I was lifted by the rozzers and all I got was this lousy
pen" written on it?

LN

raisethe said:

Simon Brooke said:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7250&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272

Taking the 2002 figure for the cycling death rate, I calculate that a
keen cyclist who rides an average of 5,000 miles per year for 70 years
will only have a 1 in 1,700 chance of being killed. Presumably that
means it is safer to cycle than be a car driver because of the reduced
likelihood of the cyclist having an obesity related death.

My intuition says that a keen cyclist has a lower chance than that,
what with them being quite likely to be competent and use anticipation.