speeding cyclists

[rgutsell]

Hiya

Will the proposed 20mph limit for places like Lordship Lane, result in cyclists being booked for speeding?

Cyclists frequently exceed 20 mph, although they are probably unaware of it.

Will speed camera's etc be altered to pick up speeding cyclists?

Has there been any research on the impact of speeding cyclists on pedestrians? (Just out of interest, my partners father, aged 90, was struck by a speeding cyclist on a zebra crossing, and spent a week in hospital with a broken wrist and other injuries. It was not purseud by the Police.)

Rgutsell

[DJKillaQueen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qacLW2NSmi0

I see what you mean!

[Loz]

> Will speed camera's etc be altered to pick up speeding cyclists?

Look at it this way, in motorbike circles it is considered polite to wave at front-facing speed cameras as you zoom past at above the speed limit. Why? Because there is no reg plate on the front of motorbikes.

[binary_star]

rgutsell Wrote:

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> Hiya

>

> Will the proposed 20mph limit for places like

> Lordship Lane, result in cyclists being booked for

> speeding?

Unlikely as unfortunately speed limits do not normally apply to cyclists: http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/cyclelaw/speed_limits.html

However, cyclists can be prosecuted for going too fast under the charge of 'cycling furiously' and can also be prosecuted for riding dangerously or carelessly.

It is possible for locations to have local bye-laws that impose speed limits on bikes but I don't know how or if this could be applied to Lordship Lane. Perhaps ask the council, or if you see it becoming a problem when the new limit is in force then report it to the Police? They may take action from community complaints as they do when they set up operations to catch red light jumper cyclists: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/16/police-cyclists-red-lights

[DJKillaQueen]

I wonder as well if that's partly due to cycles not having speedometers fitted. It would be hard to expect a cyclist to adhere to a speed limit (especially lower ones) if they have no device for telling them how fast they are going.

[binary_star]

Well as speed restrictions don't normally apply to cyclists, there is no limit for them to break. However, I do agree that all road users should keep to a safe speed. This might even be slower than the limit in wet weather/reduced visibility.

I personally don't have a speedometer but even though I'm not subject to speed restrictions I do modify my speed when there are safety concerns, i.e. on shared pedestrian/cycle paths. Some cycle routes would require me to be going far too slowly at a safe speed to be practical so I just avoid them entirely (Rye Lane is an example).

You should report anything you think is dangerous to the Police obviously.

[DulwichFox]

Cycles ARE restricted to the speed limit.

A friend of mine was pulled over by Police after being clocked doing +30 MPH down Dog Kennel Hill.

If you hit a pedestrian at any speed you will do them harm.

Over 20 MPH you could kill them. Especially a child.

Think about it. 168lb Cyclist hitting you at 20+ mph

If you have to stop suddenly, you will probably go over the handle-bars.

You could kill yourself.

Foxy

[binary_star]

DulwichFox Wrote:

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> Cycles ARE restricted to the speed limit.

Fox, they're not the limit only applies to motorised vehicles: http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/cyclelaw/speed_limits.html

Was your mate prosecuted or fined by the Police?

['bout now]

Fox is right.

Richmond Park has a 20mph limit and at one stage the police set up camera traps and ticketed a load of cyclists of a Saturday morning, every week for about a month. They've eased up now but by law you are supposed to adhere to limits on public roads (within your knowledge but therein lies a whole other debate.)

I got pulled over by a giggling copper descending Petersham hill clocking 41mph through a 20mph speed limit. I got off with a warning and a smirk.

[ianr]

From The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) etc.Regulations 2010 amendments to the Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997:

"Speeds at which a vehicle may be driven or ridden on a Park road

1. On a Park road in The Green Park, Hyde Park (other than the Serpentine Road), St

James?s Park or The Regent?s Park, at a speed not exceeding 30 mph.

2. On a Park road in Bushy Park, Greenwich Park or Richmond Park, at a speed not exceeding 20 mph.

3. On the Serpentine Road in Hyde Park, and on the Park road from Kingston Gate

leading to the Home Park Golf Club in Hampton Court Park, at a speed not exceeding 15 mph.

4. On a Park road (other than one mentioned in paragraphs 1, 2 or 3), at a speed not exceeding 10 mph."

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/pdf/uksi_20101194_en.pdf

[Applespider]

Should there be a lower speed limit on cyclists? That is, if they can't get to 10mph on a flat stretch of road, they shouldn't be on the road? That, however, leads to the question of where would they go within the current infrastructure

I do take your point DulwichFox about being able to stop and the dangers of both hitting pedestrians or going over the handlebars. But, on DKH, I'd be prepared to stop while approaching the lights and be cautious if the pedestrians included kids playing with a ball or a dog or a jogger. Any other pedestrian on the pavement, I'd assume was going to stay there or that they'd take a look before stepping out onto the road. I don't think any driver (motorised or not) assumes that every single pedestrian is likely to throw themselves into their path.

Besides, that 'wheeeeeeee' factor going down a hill on the bike is the reward for having got yourself up the other side!

[DJKillaQueen]

I always get a sense of when I'm goig too fast on a bicycle. It's the same sense I have when driving. Approaching blind bends, not being able to see ahead or just any situation where my speed will make it impossible to react if something happens.

Look at this guy for example....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mypFV_tQSrc

As annoying as watching other cyclists jump red lights is (while I wait patiently on my bicycle), nothing worries me more than the sppeds at which some cyclist filter through traffic (both slow moving and stationary). Where a cyclist is hurtling down the inside of stationary traffic, even if there is a cycle lane, they need to be looking for the right turning car ahead that can't see him or her.

The only time I've ever had a collision with a cyclist while driving was in this scenario. I'm turning right on a yellow junction box which traffic has correctly left clear. At the head of the traffic is a bus. As I turn a cyclist comes zooming at speed from undertaking that bus and goes straight over the bonnet. Not my fault and thankfully he and his bicycle were ok. But he was careless in undertaking a high stationary vehicle at a junction box at speed and assuming the box was clear for him to cross. You'd never see a motorcycle do that for example.

Cycling in London is a challenge at times, and I have as many tales of near misses and poor drivers as I do poor drivers when I'm driving. But with experience you learn how to see those situations coming a lot of the time and my attitude is to just give way. Life is too short for me to be getting wound up to the point of bike cams and reporting arrays of number plates to police (who won't respond unless there's an accident anyway).

[binary_star]

'bout now Wrote:

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> Fox is right.

>

> Richmond Park has a 20mph limit and at one stage

> the police set up camera traps and ticketed a load

> of cyclists of a Saturday morning, every week for

> about a month. They've eased up now

Sorry to keep on but I don't think Fox is right. As I said previously, some places are able to enforce speed restrictions with local bye-laws. The reason Richmond Park was able to do this was because it used to be the case that speed limits in ALL ROYAL PARKS applied to bicycles, because the The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997 (amended by the Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) Regulations 2004) stated that speed limits in the parks applied to all vehicles (not restricted to motor vehicles).

However, the reason the Police have 'eased up' is because since 2010 they have not been able to enforce that law because of The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) etc. Regulations 2010. This amendment included a definition of 'vehicle' that applied ONLY to motor vehicles. So every restriction which applied to all vehicles in the royal parks now only applies to motor vehicles. Thus, speed limits do now not apply to bicycles in Royal Parks, just as they do not in general elsewhere.

[Burbage]

binary_star Wrote:

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> every restriction which applied to all vehicles in

> the royal parks now only applies to motor

> vehicles. Thus, speed limits do now not apply to

> bicycles in Royal Parks, just as they do not in

> general elsewhere.

NO LIMITS FOR HORSES EITHER IS THERE NOT EVEN PARKS WHERE PEOPLE WALK IN ITS ONE LAW FOR THE TOFFS AND ONE FOR THE MOTORIST UTTER DISGRACE IS WHAT IT IS DO THE GOVEMRNET KNOW WHAT IT COSTS TO RUN A CAR FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE ITS AT LEAST HALF MY INCOME AND THE FINES ARE EXTRA THEY JUST DONT CARE AND I CANT AFFORD A HORSE WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO TAKE THE BLODDY BUS IT MAKES ME WANT TO SPIT

Sent from my iPhone.

[Townleygreen]

I find buses are pretty good dear Burbage...

[titch juicy]

Burbage Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> binary_star Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > every restriction which applied to all vehicles

> in

> > the royal parks now only applies to motor

> > vehicles. Thus, speed limits do now not apply

> to

> > bicycles in Royal Parks, just as they do not in

> > general elsewhere.

>

> NO LIMITS FOR HORSES EITHER IS THERE NOT EVEN

> PARKS WHERE PEOPLE WALK IN ITS ONE LAW FOR THE

> TOFFS AND ONE FOR THE MOTORIST UTTER DISGRACE IS

> WHAT IT IS DO THE GOVEMRNET KNOW WHAT IT COSTS TO

> RUN A CAR FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE ITS AT LEAST HALF MY

> INCOME AND THE FINES ARE EXTRA THEY JUST DONT CARE

> AND I CANT AFFORD A HORSE WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO

> TAKE THE BLODDY BUS IT MAKES ME WANT TO SPIT

>

> Sent from my iPhone.

Bloody lower classes and their bloody buses.

And how the government have the cheek to fine good honest working people for breaking the law, is nothing short of scandalous.