Speeding

From today's Sun

Cops target speedy cyclists | The Sun |News

Note the misspelling of pedaling in the article.

From today's Sun

 

Cops target speedy cyclists | The Sun |News

 

Note the misspelling of pedaling in the article.

The spell-checker would have been happy with it, though. The Sun has never been noted for its high standards of English.

Some would say your spelling (with one 'l') was the American version, but not I!

Rog.

Hah - you might be right - I spent some formative years in the States and sometimes find myself on the minority side of preferred spelling (organise/organize is one). Pedaling wins a google fight so, given the predominance of American English, it probably is the US version of the word.

About.com: http://www.googlefight.com/

Edited June 9, 200916 yr by lectureral

It's also been shown that these speed measuring guns are very inaccurate at low speeds, hopelessly so at around 10 to 15 mph, and that's when measuring fixed shape cars. With cyclists whose bodies and clothing have fluctuating positions in all planes, an accurate reading is nigh on impossible.

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From today's Sun

 

Cops target speedy cyclists | The Sun |News

 

Note the misspelling of pedaling in the article.

Any chance someone can copy and paste the text in here as I'm not allowed access to the Sun website at work.

The Daily Mail is allowed though and I'm not sure I understand the difference.

Here you are Mussels, with acknowledgments to The Sun:

A FORCE has been blasted for wasting police time and money trying to catch speeding CYCLISTS.

Cops have been assigned to peer out from behind a beach hut clutching hand-held speed cameras in a bid to halt brisk bikers breaking the 10MPH limit along a waterfront promenade.

The operation — which sees a PC clock a speeding rider and radio down to a council "seafront ranger" who stops the cyclist and warns him to slow down — has been slammed as "ludicrous" and "absolutely ridiculous".

Punish

Despite their zealous pursuit, the officials don't even havepowers to punish offenders with fines as cyclists don't have speedometers and so don't know when they break the law.

Instead they are given words of ADVICE and a LEAFLET on the dangers of cycling too fast on the seven mile stretch in Bournemouth, Dorset.

In the first hour of the new cycling crackdown, more than 30 people were caught in the speed trap.

Nick Lomax, a 26-year-old chef who was peddling to work at 16mph, branded the operation a complete waste of time and money.

He said: "I didn't see the police officer at all, he didn't show himself.

"The next minute I was stopped by a council officer who said I had been caught on a speed camera going too fast.

"The weather was bad so the prom was empty. Obviously if it was busier I would have gone a lot slower or even walked with my bike.

"I cycle to work every single day and I think this is absolutely ridiculous. It is a complete waste of time and money.

"The council and the police must have too much time on their hands if they can spend the day on the beach with a speed gun.

"A couple of days ago I had a friend who was beaten up and mugged not far from the prom, that is the sort of thing the police should be spending their time on."

Nick Robinson, 28, said: "I didn't see the police officer or the speed gun at all.

"The first thing I knew I was going too fast was when I was stopped and it was only then that I looked back and saw the policeman behind a beach hut. It is all a bit sneaky."

Claire Armstrong, from the campaign group Safe Speed, said: "This is completely ludicrous and a waste of taxpayers' money.

"It's just nonsense and I think cyclists will show the disrespect that it deserves."

The speed trap has been brought in after a two-year-old girl was struck by a cyclist along Bournemouth seafront last summer, leaving her with a cut to the head.

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Cyclists are currently banned from the area between 10am and 6pm in July and August, when they can be fined if caught on the prom but the 10mph speed limit is permanent.

Charmaine Andrews, spokeswoman for Bournemouth council's leisure services, said: "We have a duty to ensure the promenade is a safe environment for everyone to enjoy.

"It's a joint initiative with the police, involving one police officer and one seafront ranger on each day.

"They will catch any cyclists that are going too fast, give them a safety talk and provide them with a leaflet explaining the bylaws along the seafront.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: "Bournemouth seafront is a very busy area in the summer months and it is essential that members of the public are able to enjoy themselves in safety."

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Thanks Flecc.

Knowing the beach I can see why it's a problem, similar to the conflicts in London parks. However speeding riders are not the same as reckless riders and targeting a cyclist travelling 15mph on an empty beach is a waste of resources.

I'd expect this kind of problem would be ASBO material rather than trying to force traffic law on a beach, square peg into a round hole with a sledgehammer. Unfortunately it will be easier to ban cycles altogether rather than resolve the problem.

My 'senior citizen' cyclist husband has had a 'run in' with this rather crazy 'officiousness'. It was a nasty damp drizzly sort of day too, with at least three people on the prom. (apart from the 'speed-trappers' and himself.)

I thought he was pulling my leg at first.

[Rant]Yes its extremely important to protect the public from these Yobbo's on their bikes, if they can force all of them onto the road it will be much safer for the public wont it![End of Rant]

How ludicrus! Dont they realise that these cyclists ARE the ******* general public!

Yes, a little girl gets a cut head from being hit by a cyclist is bad, but a little girl killed on her bike on the road (cos she can ride on the bl**** prom, whats that then, just another cyclist casualty??? :mad:

Idiots! grrrr

Rant seconded. Would have been great to have got the fastest speed across the prom and clocked though.

even better to have an illegal 'faster' ebike and clear off before they could catch you !!

You could use the same argument, re speedos, about cyclists exceeding any other limit 20mph / 30mph etc.

Fortunately they don't apply to cyclists since they are part of motor vehicle legislation from which bikes are excluded.

We can fly downhill past speed cameras with a clear conscience.

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We can fly downhill past speed cameras with a clear conscience. : .

Not quite - they can prosecute on a charge of "reckless riding" if they can find the rider.

Do Bournemouth use spike strips to stop any errant cyclist who fails to stop for his/her lecture?

Should it be compulsory for all children to wear a helmet at all times in case they fall over?

Colin

Not quite - they can prosecute on a charge of "reckless riding" if they can find the rider.

 

Colin

True Colin, but the clear conscience can still be had since reckless riding is a matter of judgement with which the cyclist wouldn't agree.

On my T-bike I did once overtake a car and a van at 24 mph across two speed bumps in a 20 limit zone. It was a school zone with the school closed and gates shut for the holidays. I don't think that's reckless, cars and vans often overtake me at much higher speeds.

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Fortunately they don't apply to cyclists since they are part of motor vehicle legislation from which bikes are excluded.

 

We can fly downhill past speed cameras with a clear conscience.

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Anyone know where these speed cameras on downhills are? I've wanted to trigger one just once, but the ones around where I live are on the flat and I can't get up to let alone over 30mph, even with my derestricted bike (that I still haven't got back, 3.5 weeks without it and I'm still very peed off).

I saw this article in the paper at work tonight. The cop lurking around back of the beach hut with scanner on a near enough empty and very wide promenade......

Go on about the politicians....it is the police who really take the pi$$. It would be funny if not so tragic.......

I saw this article in the paper at work tonight. The cop lurking around back of the beach hut with scanner on a near enough empty and very wide promenade......

 

Go on about the politicians....it is the police who really take the pi$$. It would be funny if not so tragic.......

I doubt the Police wanted to do it, probably supplied a PCSO after much hounding by a councellor with a bee in his bonnet.

Anyone know where these speed cameras on downhills are? I've wanted to trigger one just once, but the ones around where I live are on the flat and I can't get up to let alone over 30mph, even with my derestricted bike (that I still haven't got back, 3.5 weeks without it and I'm still very peed off).

I've got some in my area, but a bike doesn't trigger them. The same goes for the advisory speed indicator boards. I've passed at well over the mark those which measure from 31 mph when I'm in my car, but they don't work for the bike.

Gatsos and the like need some hard surface areas to bounce back a signal, a bike rider doesn't provide that and the rounded tubes on the bike don't either.

Some hand gun types can pick up a cyclist but are hopelessly inaccurate when doing it as I've mentioned above. Again they need stable hard surface areas for accurate measurement, plus sufficient speed to provide readings within a time span of minimal operator movement. Under 20 mph doesn't provide that.

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I've got some in my area, but a bike doesn't trigger them. The same goes for the advisory speed indicator boards. I've passed at well over the mark those which measure from 31 mph when I'm in my car, but they don't work for the bike.

 

Gatsos and the like need some hard surface areas to bounce back a signal, a bike rider doesn't provide that and the rounded tubes on the bike don't either.

 

Some hand gun types can pick up a cyclist but are hopelessly inaccurate when doing it as I've mentioned above. Again they need stable hard surface areas for accurate measurement, plus sufficient speed to provide readings within a time span of minimal operator movement. Under 20 mph doesn't provide that.

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They all use Doppler radar, and a cyclist reflects back almost none of the received signal, so the receiver cannot distinguish what little is reflected from the ambient noise. Even the Serco cameras (they're the small yellow ones on tall poles which don't flash in the daytime), which use in-road pickup strips, require a considerable area of metal close to the ground, so would never see a cyclist.

Incidentally, a small but relevant technical point, it's not the radar or the road strips which get you convicted - it's the camera. The radar and strips are there purely to trigger the camera, which takes two photographs at an accurately-known interval, and in conjunction with the road markings your speed is then worked out manually by seeing how far your image has moved in the measured time between the snapshots. It's low-tech and hard to argue with. There can be several vehicles within the frame, and as long as the number plates can be seen in the photos the speed of each vehicle can be independently worked out. There may be a speed included in the pictures, but that's based on the Doppler or strip information, and unless there were only one moving object in the pictures it would not be possible to tell who was doing what.

Coppers' hand-guns usually work by means of a laser beam, and can give some sort of a reading provided they are used with skill. I believe the ones they now use also video the operation, so that correct use can be verified in court, and you can't allege that the speed measured was that of a kamikaze seagull. One of the reasons they're inaccurate at lower speeds is that the image of a cyclist can itself be quite fluid in that he's pedalling, so there is body movement which can confuse things no end.

Rog.

 

Incidentally, a small but relevant technical point, it's not the radar or the road strips which get you convicted - it's the camera. The radar and strips are there purely to trigger the camera, which takes two photographs at an accurately-known interval, and in conjunction with the road markings your speed is then worked out manually by seeing how far your image has moved in the measured time between the snapshots. It's low-tech and hard to argue with. There can be several vehicles within the frame, and as long as the number plates can be seen in the photos the speed of each vehicle can be independently worked out. There may be a speed included in the pictures, but that's based on the Doppler or strip information, and unless there were only one moving object in the pictures it would not be possible to tell who was doing what.

 

Coppers' hand-guns usually work by means of a laser beam, and can give some sort of a reading provided they are used with skill. I believe the ones they now use also video the operation, so that correct use can be verified in court, and you can't allege that the speed measured was that of a kamikaze seagull. One of the reasons they're inaccurate at lower speeds is that the image of a cyclist can itself be quite fluid in that he's pedalling, so there is body movement which can confuse things no end.

 

Rog.

Yes, as you say Rog, the road markings can't be argued with. Hand guns are a poor method though, and I don't think that a video can reliably show the very small movement which can corrupt a lower speed reading around 30 mph. At much higher speeds it's not a problem though.

It's not only the body movement that can make cyclists readings unreliable, loose clothing moving in the airflow can cause havoc in radar reflections even when they are possible, which isn't always with soft clothing. Those Bournemouth cyclists should stick to soft clothing and not wear a helmet!

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There was one speed advisory sign which used to display my speed in Newcastle - it was on a stretch of road in an underpass. Maybe the confined space allowed it to capture my speed (I think 26 was the highest I ever managed to record).

I have trouble getting a reading, I need something reflective to trigger them. I'm usually fine when following a car, they show my speed perfectly after the car has passed but won't come on if I'm on my own.