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The law on bikes

scottg17

By scottg17
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scottg17 Grand Master

scottg17

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Posted

Just had a bit of a scare,

been out taking a relative home tonight, on the way back i comes up against a pickup doing appx 30mph

I spot a long open clear straight of road and go for the overtake

As im about half way along side the pickup i see come into my headlights is some spotty teenager dressed in black with no reflectors and lights coming towards me so it was a case of stamp the brakes and get back behind the pickup. Anybody in my situ would have over taken too

Anyway so i turns back, gets up along side the little rubbish, much to the extent he didnt even notice i was there untill i was along side him with the windows down giving him what for explaining he'd be in box ect if i didnt see him or if i were going 50-60mph

 

So i goes off still angry so i stopped and called my local police station, only about 3/4 of a mile where this all happened.

I go, i want to report a cyclist with no lights ECT

I was then told by the lady on the phone that it was not an offence what he was doing.

to which i replied 'so if i covered the next 6 miles of my journey with no headlights on that would be okay. or if i had infact hit him id have been the bad one and probably up for manslaughter

 

She still carries on that this is all at the guys own risk (considering about 1 year before one of thier own squad cars hit a walker (10 year old) on the adjacent road in the dark and the fact i got hit in my car by a driver with no lights on in the dark

 

As you may see this has really rattled my cage a bit and no wonder. Im planning writing to the head of northern constabulary about this as i was always under the impression its an offence to be riding a bike with no reflective anything or lighting at all.

 

Rant over and happy xmas :P

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theresa Grand Master

theresa

Posted
Posted
Just had a bit of a scare,

been out taking a relative home tonight, on the way back i comes up against a pickup doing appx 30mph

I spot a long open clear straight of road and go for the overtake

As im about half way along side the pickup i see come into my headlights is some spotty teenager dressed in black with no reflectors and lights coming towards me so it was a case of stamp the brakes and get back behind the pickup. Anybody in my situ would have over taken too

Anyway so i turns back, gets up along side the little rubbish, much to the extent he didnt even notice i was there untill i was along side him with the windows down giving him what for explaining he'd be in box ect if i didnt see him or if i were going 50-60mph

 

So i goes off still angry so i stopped and called my local police station, only about 3/4 of a mile where this all happened.

I go, i want to report a cyclist with no lights ECT

I was then told by the lady on the phone that it was not an offence what he was doing.

to which i replied 'so if i covered the next 6 miles of my journey with no headlights on that would be okay. or if i had infact hit him id have been the bad one and probably up for manslaughter

 

She still carries on that this is all at the guys own risk (considering about 1 year before one of thier own squad cars hit a walker (10 year old) on the adjacent road in the dark and the fact i got hit in my car by a driver with no lights on in the dark

 

As you may see this has really rattled my cage a bit and no wonder. Im planning writing to the head of northern constabulary about this as i was always under the impression its an offence to be riding a bike with no reflective anything or lighting at all.

 

Rant over and happy xmas :P

 

 

Legally, you need lights on a bike to ride at night.

 

Have a read here: http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=4071

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Craig855S Grand Master

Craig855S

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Phone them back and educate the dumb bitch who gave you misinformation, then report the scrote. (However its a lot of cop legwork to track the guy down and give him a telling off....Although if it had happened to me i'd volunteer to view all the local CCTV tapes to identify him)
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scottg17 Grand Master

scottg17

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i've calmed down now after it all but if i did infact hit him id be the one in the rubbish because i was overtaking :nutter:

 

As a cyclist... this annoys me greatly!

 

It's cnuts like this that give us a bad name.

 

Fair enough I wear black when cycling (work gear) but I wear a high vis vest on top and always have my lights on. (people notice easier during the day with lights).

 

Exactly, how is a car driver expected to even see someone in dark clothing on a main unlit trunkroad in the pitch black. I see plenty cyclists at night all wearing hi-vis ECT and tbh you can see them from about a mile away... but yeah its twats like that that give all cyclists a bad name

 

 

 

I think what scared the lad most is when i pulled up along side with my hazards on and explained to him if i were doing say 60mph he would not be seeing his family again cause I would have without a doubt been right into him

Edited by scottg17
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PeeWee Grand Master

PeeWee

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It is possible the young lad got a bike for Christmas and got a bit carried away, hardly worth wishing him dead and condemning him to being a scrote. I'm not excusing what happend as it was a highly dangerous situation & one I have had myself so I feel for the obvious distress it causes. I was driving around a twisty dark corner one night when I was suddenly aware of a bloke dressed in black just to my left as I was level with him, it made me shudder to think I couldnt see him & what could have happend, its not a nice feeling at all. :mellow:

The Police were 100% wrong though & had they seen him they could of made him walk or even worse impounded the bike.

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scottg17 Grand Master

scottg17

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It is possible the young lad got a bike for Christmas and got a bit carried away, hardly worth wishing him dead and condemning him to being a scrote. I'm not excusing what happend as it was a highly dangerous situation & one I have had myself so I feel for the obvious distress it causes. I was driving around a twisty dark corner one night when I was suddenly aware of a bloke dressed in black just to my left as I was level with him, it made me shudder to think I couldnt see him & what could have happend, its not a nice feeling at all. :mellow:

The Police were 100% wrong though & had they seen him they could of made him walk or even worse impounded the bike.

 

Maybe but unlikely due to where about he was

He was at the very youngest 15, road safety was taught in school at the age of 6/7 year old, He should have known better IMO, particularly at the fact he had his ipod going. I was going to take it further with the police but to be fair I see no point as they will never be able to track him down.

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PeeWee Grand Master

PeeWee

Posted
Posted
It is possible the young lad got a bike for Christmas and got a bit carried away, hardly worth wishing him dead and condemning him to being a scrote. I'm not excusing what happend as it was a highly dangerous situation & one I have had myself so I feel for the obvious distress it causes. I was driving around a twisty dark corner one night when I was suddenly aware of a bloke dressed in black just to my left as I was level with him, it made me shudder to think I couldnt see him & what could have happend, its not a nice feeling at all. :mellow:

The Police were 100% wrong though & had they seen him they could of made him walk or even worse impounded the bike.

 

Maybe but unlikely due to where about he was

He was at the very youngest 15, road safety was taught in school at the age of 6/7 year old, He should have known better IMO, particularly at the fact he had his ipod going. I was going to take it further with the police but to be fair I see no point as they will never be able to track him down.

 

I'm fully on your side Scott, just one of those things I suppose and at 15 common sense is rather minimal. All we can hope is that this incident gave the young lad a scare enough to realise just what might of happend?

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tdscort Enthusiast

tdscort

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i can see how this would make you angry dude i would of been livid. around here where i live there are allot of cyclists and quite a few of them like to ride 2 or 3 abreast in the road this Pees me off as i live in a rural area with small windy roads where you end up following the gits for miles.
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RobMk6 Grand Master

RobMk6

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Tell you something that annoys me,

 

as all the pavements are covered in snow people take it upon themselves to walk in the road, when vehicles are parked etc its quite tricky tp spot them.

 

So lets say theres a person in the road wearing dark clothes and lets jus say its night time,

 

You only spot them last minute you swerve and hit an oncoming car...... wheres the blame lie.... would more than likely be with you as the driver :(

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