Which bike to to 25-30mph?

[preciseposter]

"wanton and furious cycling" only applies if an injury is suffered. And by injury, the law means serious injury or death as a direct result of the cyclists actions. Your friend should have challenged the accusation. "National" speed limits only apply to "motor" vehicles. Not to non-electric pedal cycles.

Local bylaws mean that there is an 8mph speed limit on Hampstead Heath and a 20mph speed limit in Richmond Park.

We are all weary of the tiresome personal claim TV adverts by Slater & Gordon but they summarise cycling law and speed as well as anyone

https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/media-centre/blog/2015/06/can-cyclists-break-the-speed-limit-or-does-the-law-only-apply-to-motorists/

Incidentally, if I was doing 8mph I would probably fall off

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Years ago a friend of mine was stopped for doing 40mph in a 30mph limit on his bike, received points on his car licence and a fine for 'Cycling Furiously' which was apparantly the only applicable charge available at the time. I have a feeling that the law has been updated to allow cyclists to be charged with 'travelling in excess of the speed limit' the same as motorised vehicles now though.

He was having you on. There's only ever been one person convicted of furious cycling, and that was in 1879. There's two people that were convicted of causing death by furious cycling, where they rode on the pavement at speed and killed someone. They were both jailed.

Neither is it possible to get points on your driving licence from a cycling offence, though you can get banned from driving in exceptional circumstances.

You can get points on your licence for riding an electric bike if you commit an offence related to driving with alcohol or drugs in you.

 

[rich_r]

I can believe that - he was most likely just stopped and cautioned but not charged and embellished the story when he told us in the pub later.

 

[rich_r]

I can't believe I've spend the last 30 years or so since I did Cycling Proficiency at school thinking that cyclists were subject to speed limits - some very useful reading there on the Slater and Gordon site (and I went on to read up more on the subject elsewhere). I guess the instructor lied to us because he had something against kids cycling fast!

 

[preciseposter]

I would like to see "on-the-spot" fines introduced whereby police officers could take out a credit card reader and debit £30 from the account of anyone who rides on the pavements. Failure to pay would result in the confiscation of the bike and the cyclist would be told they need to pay £60 cash when they collect the bike. National publicity of this law and some more "pub talk" would put an end to pavement cycling in a month.


And if my motorbike insurance costs £68 a year why should compulsory bike insurance of say £25 to £35 a year trouble me.

 

[anotherkiwi]

In France there is one speed limit to rule over them all... The speed limit covers anything using the road. A hand held radar might detect a speeding cyclist I am not so sure about the fixed ones.

 

[richardg6paj]

In France there is one speed limit to rule over them all... The speed limit covers anything using the road. A hand held radar might detect a speeding cyclist I am not so sure about the fixed ones.

Just wondering how you could be identified by a speed camera.

 

[anotherkiwi]

The one judged case I know of the guy was using the same road to work every day in a vélomobile, the only vélomobile within quite a large radius.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

When I worked in Germany, I had some German motorcycling friends that I used to go out for a ride with. There was a front facing speed camera on the route back home. They told me that they used to speed through it doing stunts, waving etc every week, but one Sunday, they went through it doing the same, and just past it was a policeman with a notepad, who took down their numbers. A few days later they were each rewarded with a folder full of photos of their antics, and they all got banned for three months.

 

[amigafan2003]

I would like to see "on-the-spot" fines introduced whereby police officers could take out a credit card reader and debit £30 from the account of anyone who rides on the pavements. Failure to pay would result in the confiscation of the bike and the cyclist would be told they need to pay £60 cash when they collect the bike. National publicity of this law and some more "pub talk" would put an end to pavement cycling in a month.

I'm glad the Department of Transport don't agree with you http://www.roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/3319.html

As for your compulsory insurance argument, that would be a barrier to cycling. Cycling is often the only option for those on low incomes and cannot afford to drive. Also, the amount of damage that is typically caused by a cyclist is negligible and thus cyclists can effectively self insure. The benefits of compulsory cyclist insurance do not outweigh the disadvantages.