Can Cycles Filter?

I got stopped by the plod on my push bike a couple of years ago when I
was absolutely hammered; blue lights and siren - the works. They just
asked me where I'd been ("the pub") and where I was going ("home"), had
a bit of laugh at me, and sent me on my merry, wobbly, way.

I've no idea what that law says on the matter, though. Maybe I was just
lucky.

 

Errrrr - Yes ! That's what it says in the book, so that's the law

......which bit was difficult to understand ?

Nick

 

Snpping sigs, obviously. Fuckwit.

 

No offence to ride a bike whilst over the limit for cars, but there is an
offence of riding a bike whilst unfit.

Long and short of it, as long as you can cycle in a vaguely safe manner, and
aren't falling off the darned thing every 5 yards you'll be ok.

 

Pretty much all road marking have to be obeyed in the same way. And
amusingly, speed limits, if you have a way of measuring your speed.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^
They could have had me bang to rights then. The only exercise I usually
get is walking the dog!

That's useful to know as I only usually really cycle to and from the pub
these days; if I wasn't drinking I would go by (motor)bike or car. I
don't like getting buses because they're full of common people.

 

Ben wrote:

No speed limits for pushbikes on public roads, amusingly.

 

Eh? ITYF they're subject to exactly the same speed limits as any other
vehicle, as Ben said above. Do you have any particular source for you
misunderstanding, or is it just a general thing?

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Perhaps in the German end of Switzerland everything is forbidden unless
the law expressly allows it but in England everything is allowed unless
the law forbids it.

The only mention of pedal cycles and speed is the offence of Furious Riding.

 

From the Highway Code, the section on Rules for Cyclists:-

"These rules are in *addition* to those in the following sections,
which apply to all vehicles (except the motorway section)."

The emphasis of the word addition is mine.

 

Two suggestions from uk.rec.cycling were firstly that you read the
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 Schedule VI, especially where it
refers to *motor* vehicles, and secondly that you quote the relevent
legislation that you think sets a speed limit for pedal cycles.

 

So, the HC is wrong or just ambiguous? Well, there is a surprise.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, John Smith amazed us all with this pearl of
wisdom:

They might filter tree stumps, anything smaller and it'd fall through
the spokes.

 

Push bike has no speedometer (generally) therefore you cannot be *done*
for 31 in a 30 zone.

However if you are travelling faster than the cars next to you, ie a line of
slow moving traffic then you can be done for speeding, because you have
no way of determining that you are *under* the speed limit.

You can be done for furious riding (there is no set speed for this offence).

There are recorded instances of semi-pro cyclists being done. In Leicester
IIRC a cyclist was overtaking a slow moving line of traffic. Turns out the
police car
he overtook was doing the speed limit of 30mph at the time.
Police pulled out and gave chase.
Court rejected speeding claim - cyclist had no speedo.
Court rejected furious riding - the cyclist was the current english hour
champion!
Court also rejected dangerous driving and b*ll*cked the police car for
pulling into the
oncoming lane to give chase as they constituted a greater risk to oncoming
traffic.

So yes you can be done.
You can appear in court.
Maybe walk out with a mere ticking off.

YMMV

Dave

 

Having no speedo makes no difference so far as the law is concerned.
Drivers of motor vehicles too old for the Construction and Use Regs to
require them to have a speedo fitted still have to comply with the speed
limit. The fact is that the wording of the Road Traffic Act relating to
speed limits applies specifically and only to motor vehicles.

In theory, yes. In practice it is very very rare for it to be used, and for
all practical purposes might as well not exist.

The court should have rejected the speeding charge on the grounds that there
is no Road Traffic law making a speed limit applicable to cycles.

You might, if you are very, very unlucky, or behaving particularly badly and
fail the 'attitude' test, be charged with 'something', depending more on the
manner of cycling than the speed. That still doesn't mean there is any law
that sets a speed limit applicable to cycles, outside of certain designated
areas where specific bylaws exist to include them.

Rich

 

I'd like to see the legislation that _exempts_ them from the otherwise
universal spped limits. Sure, there are sections in the various RTAs
where motor vehicles are mentioned wrt specific limits etc., but until
you can find and quote the law that says that speed limits _only_
apply to motor vehicles I suggest you STFU.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

And just WTF is that?
Road rage?

Chris D
--

 

It's basically driving without due care and attention on a bicycle.

 

I thought the rule was, anything is legal unless there is a specific
law against it.

 

This is where we were a week ago.
You will never convince Ace; he's been in foreignland too long.