Police fining cyclist for breaking the law..

[martint235]

with no realistation that there are any laws about cycling. me amongst them although now i do know otherwise and am prepared to accept that technically the law may apply to cyclists.
My own experience is that police apply common sense and do nothing to cyclists. I have rljed many times in front of police cars

If you are satisfied with the mess of unenforced laws and grey areas that result then i pity you.

This appears to be one of those unknown unknown scenarios. If you weren't aware of any laws about cycling, there's probably a whole lot more of them you don't know about. It's going to become a great deal messier for you when you get round to learning the ones you need to know.

 

[apollo179]

When you reconcile yourself to make do with second best and stop striving for a better world then thats quite sad i feel.
Anyway i off out now so

 

[Angelfishsolo]

He does have a valid point though.

I don't believe he does TBH.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

This appears to be one of those unknown unknown scenarios. If you weren't aware of any laws about cycling, there's probably a whole lot more of them you don't know about. It's going to become a great deal messier for you when you get round to learning the ones you need to know.

 

[gaz]

I said it based on the fact that during a given period my mates who bought M520'sa and different SPD pedals all got the same platform.

But you didn't state that. You just said most if not all spd pedals come with a reflector unit. Which isn't true.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I have M-520s, A-520s and Speedplay Zeros that came in full retail packaging, none of which came with the pedal reflectors.

In fact, I'm just about to sell the A-520s if anyone wants them

How much?

 

[400bhp]

:sigh:

another childish discussion.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

But you diet state that. You just said must if not all spd pedals come with a reflector unit. Which isn't true.

Hands up that was an untrue statement based on an atypical data set.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

When you reconcile yourself to make do with second best and stop striving for a better world then thats quite sad i feel.
Anyway i off out now so

If you have no charge that can be brought against a cyclist you still need to have laws to back up that charge. Either that or you give the police the power to decide the law. In that case many non helmet wearers will be getting charged. If you stand back and look at your proposition you will see it has a greater flaw that San Francisco.

 

[davefb]

Why is it stupid to ride without pedal reflectors?

fwiw

i *have* had the experience of a cyclist with no lights appearing 'from nowhere', with the only clue being the pedals moving up and down..

what scar(r)ed me most as i was driving near my home in a 20mph zone,,, was that it wasnt the initial 'idea' of an adult on a bike about 50yrds away moving away from me..

no, it was a very young child coming straight towards me.... (shudder)


i guess if you have other lights/reflectives on, then pedal reflectors are superflouous/excessive , but they might be the only thing and they are obviously BIKE.. (got em on my 324's)


(and i think its the same family who's kid once hit the SIDE of my car as he came straight from a side street, i braked to avoid running his sister over and he hit my rear wheel.... gah!)

 

[subaqua]

Why is it stupid to ride without pedal reflectors?

hmm lets see. its another way of announcing your presence on the road. the reflectors "flash" as you turn the cranks so the driver behind in the distance doesn't think you are a streetlight

there are probably millions of other reasons.

somebody on here posted that you need to make sure you use every means possible to make yourself visibleon a bike. ( not this thread)

 

[summerdays]

I would love to see Bikeability Level 1 and 2 taught in schools. I do not however expect it to happen.

I know that this comment was several pages ago but I'm just catching up

All of my kids have done Level 1 and 2 in their primary school during school time, and I know of several children from that school that went on to do Level 3 at their secondary school - but it does seem to depend on which school you go onto.

Each time they came home with a booklet that contained some highway code information including basic signs.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I know that this comment was several pages ago but I'm just catching up

All of my kids have done Level 1 and 2 in their primary school during school time, and I know of several children from that school that went on to do Level 3 at their secondary school - but it does seem to depend on which school you go onto.

Each time they came home with a booklet that contained some highway code information including basic signs.

It is a fantastic course but it's uptake is LA and school dependant at the moment. More importantly what did your children think of the course?

 

[gaz]

i guess if you have other lights/reflectives on, then pedal reflectors are superflouous/excessive , but they might be the only thing and they are obviously BIKE.. (got em on my 324's)

Some of us don't want to appear as bikes.

hmm lets see. its another way of announcing your presence on the road. the reflectors "flash" as you turn the cranks so the driver behind in the distance doesn't think you are a streetlight

there are probably millions of other reasons.

somebody on here posted that you need to make sure you use every means possible to make yourself visibleon a bike. ( not this thread)

Street lights in your area are red?

It's a pretty weak reason why you would be stupid not to use them. If you said "you would be stupid not to have them if you didn't have suitable lights" then you might have a case. But if you have sutiable lights, reflectives on your shoes / overshoes then the gain you get from pedal reflectors is extreamly minimal.

Infact i don't have any reflectors on my bike or on my person (apart from my overshoes and shoes) as I don't see the need with the lighting set up that I have. That doesn't make me stupid.

 

[dellzeqq]

I would say that more than 51% of cyclists dont even realise that there is legally anything wrong with rljing on a bike , let alone see anything wrong with it.

nonsense

the pedal reflector thing is a bit complicated. It's illegal to sell pedals without reflectors unless they are of a type designed for racing. You can, if you wish, take them off.

I have pedal reflectors on the Brompton and the hybrid, but not on the road bike - they don't fit SPD-SLs or SPD-Rs