Cyclists Dismount!

[email hidden] wrote on 03/02/2007 16:01 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.

I always dismount by the way.

No, but it might count against you in assessing liabilty and damages in
an accident. If you dismount at the signs you are probably the only one
here who does. I regard it as a generic statement for information and
do indeed dismount, at the end of the ride, as it states.

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Tony Raven said:

[email hidden] wrote on 03/02/2007 16:01 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.

I always dismount by the way.

No, but it might count against you in assessing liabilty and damages in
an accident. If you dismount at the signs you are probably the only one
here who does. I regard it as a generic statement for information and
do indeed dismount, at the end of the ride, as it states.

I always read it and think: "Lying b******s".

Ewan wrote on 03/02/2007 17:28 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

[email hidden] wrote on 03/02/2007 16:01 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.

I always dismount by the way.

No, but it might count against you in assessing liabilty and damages in
an accident. If you dismount at the signs you are probably the only one
here who does. I regard it as a generic statement for information and
do indeed dismount, at the end of the ride, as it states.

I always read it and think: "Lying b******s".

You mean you never dismount from your bike? Ever?

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Tony Raven said:

Ewan wrote on 03/02/2007 17:28 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Tony Raven said:

[email hidden] wrote on 03/02/2007 16:01 +0100:
> Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.
>
> I always dismount by the way.
>
No, but it might count against you in assessing liabilty and damages in
an accident. If you dismount at the signs you are probably the only one
here who does. I regard it as a generic statement for information and
do indeed dismount, at the end of the ride, as it states.

I always read it and think: "Lying b******s".

You mean you never dismount from your bike? Ever?

LOL, good point!

Quoted message said:

Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.

I always dismount by the way.

Probably not. The police can only charge you if you break a traffic
order.

Certain signs are only supposed to be placed if there is a
traffic order in force, and if you ignore these the police might
charge you.

Other signs are just used [censored]-nilly at the whim of the local
authority, there are no traffic orders, and you're breaking no law if
you ignore them. The police won't do anything specific to you if you
ignore these.

For example (in the realm of markings, not signs) a box junction
(yellow hatching) has a traffic order. Sit in this and you could be
charged. Two white lines and the text "Keep Clear" has no traffic
order (or at least, can be used without a traffic order), and if you
sit on that, nothing much will happen.

However, much like the bulk of the highway code, disregarding signs
may be cited as evidence of your general disregard for safety and
may therefore count against you when the courts are considering either
compensation to you or other charges against you.

Having said which, I ignore "cyclists dismount". Their only purpose
is to remind you that whoever 'designed' the 'facility' you are using
was an idiot with no comprehension of what cyclists actually require.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Ian Smith said:

Having said which, I ignore "cyclists dismount".

I observe this one, and only this one, in Monkton Combe:
<url:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-dismount01.jpg>

Even if I could get past the first set of barriers without dismounting,
I don't think I'd want to rely on my brakes to stop me before the set at
the bottom of the hill.

Quoted message said:

Their only purpose
is to remind you that whoever 'designed' the 'facility' you are using
was an idiot with no comprehension of what cyclists actually require.

Quite. My favourite ride would be even better if it didn't include the
path pictured above. I believe there's a straightforward alternative
route, which I *must* remember to check on the map /before/ I next ride it.

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Ian Smith said:

Having said which, I ignore "cyclists dismount". Their only purpose
is to remind you that whoever 'designed' the 'facility' you are using
was an idiot with no comprehension of what cyclists actually require.

I use a track that goes under a *very* low bridge. There are 'Cyclists Dismount'
signs on either side.

I think the council put them there so that if a potential Darwin award winner
insists on cycling under the bridge sitting dead upright and kills itself they
can say: 'well, we warned people'.

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

Quoted message said:

Ian Smith said:

Having said which, I ignore "cyclists dismount".

I observe this one, and only this one, in Monkton Combe:
<url:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-dismount01.jpg>

Why?

Jc

Tony Raven said:

You mean you never dismount from your bike? Ever?

He once hit a huge bump in the road. Part of the bike disappeared and
the rest he can't dismount from.

Quoted message said:

Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.

I always dismount by the way.

I'm waiting for the fixed-penalty waving Community Wardens to pounce
when I pass this one.

http://www.velotree.co.uk/cyclepathquiz2.html

Would you dismount here?

John B

John B said:

I'm waiting for the fixed-penalty waving Community Wardens to pounce
when I pass this one.

http://www.velotree.co.uk/cyclepathquiz2.html

Would you dismount here?

Depends. All I can see are a couple of signs that seem to contradict
each other. What is missing is the context.

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

The media finally figured out that their "paying customers"
(i.e. advertisers) don't WANT an intelligent, thoughtful
audience. And they no longer have one." (Rich Tietjens)

On Saturday 03 February 2007 16:01, [email hidden]
[[email hidden]] wrote in message
<[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.

I always dismount by the way.

It's advisory, not mandatory. I've only seen them when a cycle path
joins/crosses a footpath/road. Think of them as a cyclepath equivalent of
the GIVE WAY sign.

You don't *have* to get off but it is good manners to do so and good manners
are what is needed more than anything to further the cause of cycling.

On Saturday 03 February 2007 19:42, Danny Colyer [[email hidden]]
wrote in message <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Ian Smith said:

Having said which, I ignore "cyclists dismount".

I observe this one, and only this one, in Monkton Combe:
<url:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-dismount01.jpg>

Looks a bit steep!
1:3? 1:4?

PDannyD said:

Quoted message said:

<url:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-dismount01.jpg>

Looks a bit steep!
1:3? 1:4?

Measuring on the 1:25,000 map it appears to drop 5m within the space of
25m. Obviously that's not an accurate measurement, though - I just
measured that the contour lines were about 1mm apart.

FWIW the grid reference is roughly (77.5,62.2).

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

On 03/02/2007 22:10, John B said,

Quoted message said:

http://www.velotree.co.uk/cyclepathquiz2.html

Would you dismount here?

Well, the top sign clearly shows dismounted pedestrians and a bike
without a rider :-)

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

in message <[email hidden]>,

(') said:

Just wondering if the police can charge you if you don't dismount.

I always dismount by the way.

No, they can't, and no, you shouldn't (dismount, that is).

Firstly, rectangular blue signs are 'information signs'. A
circular 'cyclists dismount' sign which was white with a red border would
be a little different. Cyclists do dismount from time to time, so the
information sign is accurate, but it doesn't instruct you to do anything.

See
http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/signs04.htm
http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/signs07.htm

Secondly, there is no law - and there should be no law - which requires
cyclists to dismount, anywhere. So the police would not have a leg to
stand on.

If you were to be stopped, be courteous, don't argue. Arguing with the plod
is rarely a good plan. But if you were to be charged, the Cyclists Defence
Fund would almost certainly help, because it would be a case that we
needed to win.

(Obviously you are not allowed to ride on the pavement, so if you come to
the end of a designated cycle path and need to cross pavement to get to
the road you should dismount whether or not there's an information sign -
but that has nothing to do with the sign).

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

;; may contain traces of nuts, bolts or washers.

Danny Colyer said:

PDannyD said:

Quoted message said:

<url:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-dismount01.jpg>

Looks a bit steep!
1:3? 1:4?

Measuring on the 1:25,000 map it appears to drop 5m within the space of
25m. Obviously that's not an accurate measurement, though - I just
measured that the contour lines were about 1mm apart.

FWIW the grid reference is roughly (77.5,62.2).

Or, to be ever-so-slightly more correct, the Ordnance Survey [of Great
Britain] six-figure grid reference is approximately TQ 775 622.

Decimal points aren't used when stating OSGB grid references. You can be
forgiven for omitting the letters, as it's implied the grid reference is
at Monkton Combe.

It's NOT "seventy-seven-five, sixty-two-two" either. It's
"seven-seven-five six-six-two".

Having said that, I did find the location on a map :-)

It looks like an interesting place - lots of springs, caves, and a well
show on the map I was looking at! A useful resource for high-resolution
maps of England and Wales can be found at <http://www.magic.gov.uk>.
Best results are obtained by selecting scales at the 'old' imperial
measurements (1:63360 and dividers thereof).

I don't think it covers Scotland, but I could be wrong.

--
MatSav

MatSav said:

Having said that, I did find the location on a map :-)

If you found it, does it matter how it is expressed. This isn't the
Royal Institution of Cartographers.

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

Sense is not cognition but sensation. (Douglas Robinson)

On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:31:27 +0000, Don Whybrow <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

MatSav said:

Having said that, I did find the location on a map :-)

If you found it, does it matter how it is expressed. This isn't the
Royal Institution of Cartographers.

It's always better to point these things out as it saves other people from
'learning' the erroneous way of doing it.

Thanks, MatSav.