yet there is a fun law of drunk in charge of a pedal cycle
Number plates for cyclists...
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yet there is a fun law of drunk in charge of a pedal cycle
and wanton and furious cycling
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'It comes after Mr Shapps pledged to create a "death by dangerous cycling" law to "impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care".
The move will close a legal loophole which means that cyclists who kill pedestrians can only be jailed for two years.'
Obviously, if someone is responsible for killing someone through negligence/recklessness then they should receive a sufficiently harsh punishment. But my experience of pedestrians while cycling is that they are unconcerned about keeping an eye out for cyclists and often just step out onto the road without even looking. A lot of people walk along staring at their iPhones nowadays. No cyclist wants to hit a pedestrian, not least because they are likely to get thrown over the handlebars and seriously injured themselves, so drawing an equivalence with a 2 tonne car is rather silly.
Shapps's other suggestions about number plates, licenses, insurance etc are clearly designed to appeal to the Tory Party's blue-rinse brigade/Daily Mail readers rather than doing something useful to actually make the roads safer. They are always bitching about cyclists not having to pay road tax and not being licensed etc. The fact that two pedestrians each year are killed after being hit by cyclists whereas around 430 die every year after being hit by cars really tells you how screwed up are Shapps's priorities for the targeting of the state's finite resources. If they do require all bicycles to be registered and display number plates then that will officially make us as restrictive as North Korea when it comes to cycling, only they have such a system for pedal bikes!
The move will close a legal loophole which means that cyclists who kill pedestrians can only be jailed for two years.'
Obviously, if someone is responsible for killing someone through negligence/recklessness then they should receive a sufficiently harsh punishment. But my experience of pedestrians while cycling is that they are unconcerned about keeping an eye out for cyclists and often just step out onto the road without even looking. A lot of people walk along staring at their iPhones nowadays. No cyclist wants to hit a pedestrian, not least because they are likely to get thrown over the handlebars and seriously injured themselves, so drawing an equivalence with a 2 tonne car is rather silly.
Shapps's other suggestions about number plates, licenses, insurance etc are clearly designed to appeal to the Tory Party's blue-rinse brigade/Daily Mail readers rather than doing something useful to actually make the roads safer. They are always bitching about cyclists not having to pay road tax and not being licensed etc. The fact that two pedestrians each year are killed after being hit by cyclists whereas around 430 die every year after being hit by cars really tells you how screwed up are Shapps's priorities for the targeting of the state's finite resources. If they do require all bicycles to be registered and display number plates then that will officially make us as restrictive as North Korea when it comes to cycling, only they have such a system for pedal bikes!
Is that correct? National speed limits are set for different types of vehicles, but local speed limits can also apply and appear to apply to all road vehicles.
Highway Code said:
The following line appears below and separate from the table of speed limits:
Rule 124 said:
It is the speeds in the Road Traffic Act that are restricted to motor vehicles. So you cannot be done for exceeding the nationally set speed limit (e.g. 30 in an urban environment) on a bicycle, but if you exceed an explicitly set speed limit (say 20 near a school) then it looks like you can be done.
Hmm... how about a hovercraft?
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Presumably, that's because when the Highway Code was first produced the lowest speed limit in common use was 30 mph and no one thought pedal-powered bicycles would exceed that speed for more than a few moments.
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1) There are already strict speed/power limits on e-bikes. If you're using a motor over 250W then your bike is an e-moped and is subject to the same MOT, vehicle registration/number-plates and mandatory third-party insurance requirements as any other motor vehicle. Why should under 250W e-bikes be registered and third-party insured? They are unable to go at over 15.5 mph (while requiring you to pedal) and are a lot slower than that if you are pulling a trailer up a hill.
2) 10 years ago I saw the Police stop someone for riding on the pavement, but Police numbers are so low nowadays they must prioritise their resources on more serious matters. Nonetheless, I would never overtake a Police car at 30-40 mph on a pedal e-bike!
Soldato
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Those 10 cyclists can get themselves down the gym and maintain their fitness in a safe environment.
Problem; solved.
They're not.
"Speed limits listed in the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and also Rule 124 of the Highway Code relate to motor vehicles and not to bicycles."
You can't be done for speeding on a bicycle, but they can do you for "cycling furiously"
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Interesting. But see this post by Quartz:
Number plates for cyclists...
No they aren’t. Speed limits only apply to motorised vehicles under rule 124 in the Highway Code and they are a “must” bicycles are not included yet there is a fun law of drunk in charge of a pedal cycle :D
forums.overclockers.co.uk
Yeah saw that, it's wrong. It's bylaw based speed limits that apply.Interesting. But see this post by Quartz:
Number plates for cyclists...
No they aren’t. Speed limits only apply to motorised vehicles under rule 124 in the Highway Code and they are a “must” bicycles are not included yet there is a fun law of drunk in charge of a pedal cycle :D
"It is, however, possible for local bylaws to impose speed limits on cyclists. For example, on Hampstead Heath in London there is an 8mph speed limit for cyclists, and in Richmond Park the speed limit of 20 miles per hour for vehicles also applies to cyclists."
just ban cyclists, too much competition for boris bike/scooters and some tory donor ain't making enough monies
Horses should get license plates too, see how the toffs like it, they also should pick up the crap they leave behind, sick off seeing massive mountains of poo in cycle lanes
just because cyclists don't have actual speed laws doesn't mean they can't be arrested of breaking them, there's different laws for cycling dangerously that apply
Horses should get license plates too, see how the toffs like it, they also should pick up the crap they leave behind, sick off seeing massive mountains of poo in cycle lanes
Already covered under "cycling furiously".
Pretty sure that can only be applied if someone has been injured though.
no it's "wanton and dangerous cycling" or something like that if someone gets injured
If you look at the links to the actual laws at the bottom of rule 124, it specifically says the limits apply to "motor vehicles":
A bicycle is not classed as a motor vehicle so these speed limits do not apply.
edit: edited because I said a bicycle wasn't a vehicle, it is but it's not a motor vehicle.
"Wanton and furious cycling" actually. But yes I thought it was a thing about the injury bit so can't be used to just do a cyclist for speeding unless they hurt someone.
Yet the reali
As a road cyclist the 20mph limit made me chuckle. They aren't the sort of speeds you'd do in a built up area, why ruin your ride. Notwithstanding you'd ordinarily have to bust a gut to exceed it for any sort of length of time. Shapps making out the TDF peloton is rocking up Chertsey High St on a regular basis
Load of nonsense including the number plate thing - put it to bed and concentrate on some real issues please, which is just about everything else at the moment.
Load of nonsense including the number plate thing - put it to bed and concentrate on some real issues please, which is just about everything else at the moment.
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So will the government be providing every cyclist with a GPS cycling computer/speedo and where do they expect people to locate a licence plate on a bike? Personally, if this idiocy becomes law I'm just going to ignore it and carry on cycling as usual. **** 'em!
Maybe you'll be exempt from the rules if your bike doesn't come with one built in. A bit like being exempt from wearing a seatbelt in a car if they were not fitted from the factory.
Yes, you are quite correct that the laws referenced apply to motor vehicles, but the paragraph at the bottom of 124 I quoted is completely separate and makes no mention of vehicle type or national laws.
Ah, read-ahead mode was off!