Increased police presence.

[deptfordmarmoset]

It occurs to me that perhaps Caroline Pidgeon might be a good person to write to about the apparent misguidedness of the Met's advice to cyclists. She's a known campaigner on cycling issues, a vigorous opponent of BJ and....

Caroline Pidgeon is Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, Deputy Chair of the London Assembly's Transport Committee and Deputy Chair of the Police and Crime Committee. Caroline leads for the Group on Transport, Policing and Education issues in London.

She's also tweeted this this evening: ''I will be pressing for urgent action on safer cycling in London at Mayor's Question Time tomorrow morning from 10am.''
email her here:
caroline@carolinepidgeon.org

 

[Sittingduck]

Dumb copper stepped in front of me at Clapham North this afternoon, looked like he was inspecting the visibility of riders from the front or something. It's a dodgy bit of road at the best of times, with 2 lanes filtering into one, a bus stop and cars always coming out of a side road without looking properly. Could have done without it to be honest. Luckily he jumped back onto the pavement before I was too close.

Must have seen at least ten of em along CS7. I appreciate the authorities are under pressure to be seen to act upon recent events but the really should do something more considered. If they nick RLJers, then all good but they might be better off having a word with drivers encroaching our ASZ's and those on mobile phones, which seem to be happy to continue doing so, regardless of these extra Police.

 

[RedRider]

A cop on a motorbike stopped a lad wearing headphones on Kennington Rd this avvy, not rush hour.

 

[theclaud]

Totally agree with you re: the law breakers but I think to ride around wearing black with no lights on is pretty dumb and I think the police are right to advise against the former and ticket the latter. You don't have to wear hi-viz but wearing black at night is beyond moronic.

I think you'll find it's impossibly stylish at any hour.

 

[Twelve Spokes]

A cop on a motorbike stopped a lad wearing headphones on Kennington Rd this avvy, not rush hour.

I hope he bothered to stop mobile phone wielding car drivers.

 

[RedRider]

I hope he bothered to stop mobile phone wielding car drivers.

hope so too. It feels as though cyclists are being targeted at the moment. I'll be pissed off if it doesn't pre-figure some action on motorists, Say more controls on the tipper industry.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

They're asking cyclists to be more visible because they know it's a hopeless cause asking everyone else to observe better.
The guy in the Octavia behind me this morning on his handheld mobile, reading papers on his passenger seat while approaching a primary school lollipop lady should be the target audience. It would take a major threat and insulting of ego to change people like him. Unfortunately there's no fear of consequences in the majority of drivers.

 

[ComedyPilot]

A 1947 book by J. S. Dean, former Chairman of the Pedestrians’ Association, is instructive here. In his ‘study of the road deaths problem’, Murder Most Foul, Dean's basic tenet is that, ‘as roads are only “dangerous” by virtue of being filled with heavy fast moving motor vehicles, by far the greatest burden of responsibility for avoiding crashes, deaths and injury on the roads should lie with the motorist’ (Peel n.d., 3).

Seems sad that the burden of responsibility to avoid an incident should lie on the young shoulders of the most vulnerable road users?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Plus ça change.....

 

[Sittingduck]

This morning at Stockwell lights the Police Support guy was having a word with a WVM about something he had done and I heard him mention 3 points (maybe he was talking about Chelsea's next fixture - who knows...). Nice to see them not only targetting cyclists this morning. Perhaps they have received feedback similar to some of this thread, or maybe it was just a coincidence.

 

[Ganymede]

Read this in the Standard last night:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/tran...palling-litany-of-cycling-deaths-8949207.html

My hope is that the result will be lots and lots of HGV drivers and owners getting heavily fined.

I note this:

"Starting on Monday, they will be looking for motorists using mobile phones, drivers stopping in the advance “bike boxes” at traffic lights and cyclists riding on the inside of HGVs."

- ie they will be after motorists for things that are ILLEGAL and cyclists for something which is ill-advised but not illegal.

(I am in favour of more cyclists being made aware of the danger of going left of an HGV btw.)

 

[Dmcd33]

I'm suprised that no one has picked up on the lack of indicator use in London over the past few years. Most drivers see it as an optional extra and it causes me the most hassle on my commute to work. I would like to see a campaign and clamp down by police on people who don't use them. Even as a driver and pedestrian! never mind cycling.

 

[Davidsw8]

Would a smiley have helped?

A smiley always helps! See?

 

[Davidsw8]

I think you'll find it's impossibly stylish at any hour.

Black mixed with a few pints of claret and a few flappy fleshy bits mightn't be quite so chic

 

[Ganymede]

Black mixed with a few pints of claret and a few flappy fleshy bits mightn't be quite so chic

Yeah but it might be better than turquoise under the same conditions...