Met Police Ignoring Some Offences Reported by Cyclists

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

https://road.cc/content/news/police-unable-deal-motorists-driving-bike-lanes-310549

New guidance issued to road users submitting footage of careless or dangerous driving to the Metropolitan Police, which notes that officers are “unable to deal” with instances of motorists driving in cycle or bus lanes, or the wrong way down one-way streets, will give “errant drivers carte blanche to do what they like”, cyclists have said.

The Met has also been criticised for advising cyclists in London that their complaints will not be dealt with if they “actively” confront or engage with a motorist committing a driving offence, especially if their behaviour could be deemed to be “aggressive, unacceptable, or not conforming to the Met Police values”.

One could speculate that some of this was aimed at CyclingMikey.

Worth reading the whole article for the quoted statement from the Met Police. Clearly, the civil enforcement of some traffic offences is complicating things, in terms of reporting them. Have we now got to send footage to local authorities where drivers have blocked cycle lanes?

 

[Brandane]

Welcome to "Great" Britain in the 20's. In case no-one has noticed, law and order has pretty much fallen apart in the UK, and road traffic matters are quite low priority in the grand scheme of things. Drink driving has gone back to the 60's and 70's when it was socially accepted. Parking is a free for all. Speeding and road signs are completely ignored and go unpunished unless you're unlucky enough to get caught by a camera, and even then you need to be one of the honest ones displaying your own number plate and not one cloned from a similar car on AutoTrader. Licence, MOT, and insurance seem to be optional.

It's war out there and the enemy are far better armed. No-one is going to help us, as the OP's link suggests, so you either surrender or fight back. I have surrendered; the pedal bikes rarely see public roads any more. It's just too much stress in so many ways. The car also sees as little use as possible for the same reason.

 

[BrumJim]

Welcome to "Great" Britain in the 20's. In case no-one has noticed, law and order has pretty much fallen apart in the UK, and road traffic matters are quite low priority in the grand scheme of things. Drink driving has gone back to the 60's and 70's when it was socially accepted. Parking is a free for all. Speeding and road signs are completely ignored unless you're unlucky enough to get caught by a camera, and even then you need to be one of the honest ones displaying your own number plate and not one cloned from a similar car on AutoTrader. Licence, MOT, and insurance seem to be optional.

It's war out there and the enemy are far better armed. No-one is going to help us, as the OP's link suggests, so you either surrender or fight back. Not that I would condone such behaviour (of course not!!) but cars have paintwork, wing mirrors, and various other bits which are very expensive to repair for the miscreant driver. Me; I have surrendered; the pedal bikes rarely see public roads any more. It's just too much stress in so many ways. The car also sees as little use as possible for the same reason.

What happened to the War on the Motorist?

 

[Brandane]

What happened to the War on the Motorist?

The motorist won.

 

[Drago]

Welcome to parking decriminalisation.

The bit about not confronting offenders is because too many people are being d***s or even unwittingly acting in a criminal manner and undermining themselves as credible witnesses. Sadly the dibble can't cherrypick which minor offences to ignore as you can be sure the defence will bring it up. They either have to prosecute them all, or none at.

Too many are being lost in court and are now being binned by CPS because of this so it's pointless the Met taking time out from being perverts to bother progressing them.

To be fair, that isn't unique to traffic offences. I've seen criminal cases from the minor to the extremely serious fail because or the righteous or pompous behaviour of the witness kneecapped their own credibility.

But as for the rest of it, it's a simply matter of decriminalisation and more enforcement powers being passed to the LA's. I'm dead against that myself, but when did any government really care what the public thinks?

 

[mjr]

But as for the rest of it, it's a simply matter of decriminalisation and more enforcement powers being passed to the LA's. I'm dead against that myself, but when did any government really care what the public thinks?

The trouble with civil enforcement is that most civil authorities (councils, usually) only do what's economically worthwhile, or at best what their local taxpayers will support... and given the tendency of much local press to pour fuel gleefully on any media fire started by criminal drivers, that tends not to be much. So you got a few wardens in busy urban areas and then cameras for slam-dunk offences, but then I think it was Eric Pickles who severely limited what cameras could be used to enforce. And the public get referred to the council in error (yeah, right(!)) if they try to report any of the remaining minor traffic offences to the police.

The trouble with areas where enforcement hasn't been taken over by the councils is that they end up as a stand-off between the council saying that the police should enforce things and the police saying that they're busy and the council should take over enforcement if they want to set priorities, or pointing out any council sign errors as a reason not to "waste" time on things that will never reach a penalty or conviction.

 

[Drago]

The dibble simply can't enforce what has been decriminalised, even if they fancied doing so, so the council can trot out whatever excuses take their fancy and it won't relieve them of the responsibility.

It doesn't seem difficult to me - dibble deal with offences and crimes, councils fill potholes and paint park benches. Somewhere along the way that's got a bit messed up.

 

[mjr]

The dibble simply can't enforce what has been decriminalised, even if they fancied doing so, so the council can trot out whatever excuses take their fancy and it won't relieve them of the responsibility.

Except once anything is decriminalised, the dibble don't enforce the remainder like obstruction much, as there's less incentive for them to investigate if there's a good chance it might turn out to be a council-enforced offence instead.

It doesn't seem difficult to me - dibble deal with offences and crimes, councils fill potholes and paint park benches. Somewhere along the way that's got a bit messed up.

It's always been messed up then because councils effectively decide what's an offence by making orders and putting up signs and cameras, indirectly giving the police workload.

 

[Drago]

Obstruction is oft misunderstood.

The Obstruction has to be actual - people often cite an imaginary fire engine or ambulance being unable to get through, but until there is a fire engine or ambulance unable to get through the Obstruction is theoretical, not actual.

Sadly the police, and the Met in particular, don't have time to stand next to a dodgily parked car to wait for someone to come along who is then actually obstructed as they're too busy either being perverts, ignoring colleagues who are being perverts, or policing X in case someone says something unkind.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

The Obstruction has to be actual - people often cite an imaginary fire engine or ambulance being unable to get through, but until there is a fire engine or ambulance unable to get through the Obstruction is theoretical, not actual.

Oh, I didn't realize that.

 

[Drago]

Oh aye, it has to be an obstructing to the "free passage" of the highway.

If there's no one seeking free passage the offence is incomplete.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

If there's no one seeking free passage the offence is incomplete.

Imo there are many seeking free passage, but we don't bother reporting the obstruction because we know nothing will be done, it's not a priority.
As discussed on thread, just the finding out who to report to takes CSI investigation skills!

 

[Drago]

Yeah, it's crap and getting crappie4. The clear division of responsibilities between LA's and dibble should be restored. Everyone then knew where they stood.

Repeal the parking deregulation in the SOCAP legislation and bring back police traffic wardens. Parking enforcement should be done for the public good, not for someone's financial gain.