Police spotting (junction watch)

End of the month... time for the pigs to fill their quotas?

They must be running low on the old pork scratchings down at the station eh.

I'm not quite sure why, but when i'm down in london riding about I feel like I am public enemy no.1 Hated by pedestrians, shouted at by groups of youths wanting my bike (or who-ever's I've borrowed), cut up by taxis, banged into by bus drivers and then have cops wanting to jump you every other street to get their hands on your dough. I thought they were supposed to be encouraging cycling in cities?

Up here in the northern wastelands its odd. some towns (the ones without hills in them) have plenty of people from all different backgrounds out on bikes at all times of the year and its quite widely accepted & people get on fine. Then you get other towns where there are no bikes in sight (town WITH hills generally) and I actually AM public enemy no.1 taxis/bad/inexperienced drivers trying to actually kill you at every other turn, partly because they are jealous I am getting to my destination faster than them and partly because they do not know how to deal with cyclists in an urban environment. Tis weird.

Oh, nearly got flattened by an old crannie on sunday, out in the sun, blasting down a 60mph beach B road, straight as an arrow, no potholes to avoid (for a change) most cars giving me a wide birth. then this one, she nearly ran into the back of me as she failed to brake hard enough, maybe 18" from hitting my backwheel @ 35mph. Then as she finally went round me screaming the car in 1st/2nd gear cut back in on me and actually CLIPPED the bank throwing shit & rocks up at me, then sped off. She must have been about 90. Why do police not pull them over and check they can actually operate a car?

Think the popos are bad here?
I find this article on NYvelocity pretty terrifying...

Shit that's dark.

There is a major sting operation currently underway at the junction of Hackney Rd and Old St... a friendly geezer at the lights shouted to stop me jumping the left filter onto Shoreditch High Street (which I reckon is normally fine so long as no-one is crossing)..

I always do an illegal right turn from bethnal green road onto shoreditch high street, then skip the lights left onto old street then usually skip the lights all the way down old street. I'm glad they weren't around at 6:30 this morning.

Think the popos are bad here?
I find this article on NYvelocity pretty terrifying...

erm, have you checked the date recently?

erm, have you checked the date recently?

On the one hand, I'm glad it's not true. On the other hand, it turns out I'm an idiot.

Don't worry, it duped Matt Seaton too.

Don't know this has been covered yet but the rossers are watching the new pedestrian crossings on White Hall as some 'dignitaries' have reported cyclists running the lights (the riders are probably aiming for them). I got ticketed the other day so watch out, the coppers were very fair, they understood why we do it sometime, they're just doing their job.

I just got done between Liverpool St Station and London Bridge. They said they are on a zero toleranc ekick in the area for the next couple of weeks so watch out.....

Stop at red lights and show off your trackstanding skillz...

Also, If you do get busted, keep an eye out for any vehicles in the ASL as this is also technically jumping a red light. And carries a greater fine with three points on their license. I've argued sucessfully that if I am to accept the FPN, then the officer will have to fine the taxi behind me in the ASL too, to show he is not bais. He pussied out, which was a shame, though I didn't get a ticket.

Stop at red lights and show off your trackstanding skillz...

Also, If you do get busted, keep an eye out for any vehicles in the ASL as this is also technically jumping a red light. And carries a greater fine with three points on their license. I've argued sucessfully that if I am to accept the FPN, then the officer will have to fine the taxi behind me in the ASL too, to show he is not bais. He pussied out, which was a shame, though I didn't get a ticket.

it's only an offense if they move into the ASL once the light is red - and the officer has to see them actually do this.

I was at the City Safe cycling event last week and this point was made. They (the City Police people) said that they knew this was a problem and they were going to enforce it/continue enforcing it. Operation Atrium that will get you some time in a lorry cab and a short film will also be continuing to be an option rather than the £30 FPN.

A lady in the audience had spent a few hours taking pix that afternoon and was semi gutted that her pictures weren't going to be any use - laughed when I told her 'get a video camera' - they will accept video evidence they said...

Failing that.. even the City Police inspector said get off your bike and walk across the white line.

Ahh the classic Brooks vs Cranks defence. Personally I'm happy just to trackstand. It's one of the joys of riding fixed, to be able to cycle your whole journey without every putting your feet down.

Ahh the classic Brooks vs Cranks defence. Personally I'm happy just to trackstand. It's one of the joys of riding fixed, to be able to cycle your whole journey without every putting your feet down.

*personally agree *but RLJer could say the same thing

Fucking weird low-slung police trike thing outside st pauls. WTF is that thing?

I am not aware of anyone ever being fined for ASL infringement in a car.

thats because its such a total non-crime

I am not aware of anyone ever being fined for ASL infringement in a car.

It does happen. Rarely, though. As alien said, it's hard for the police to enforce it.

Just got stopped by the police outside central st Martins and given a slip for cycling on the bus lane. I just never noticed and realised that road was not meant for cyclists! In all fairness I had a nice chat with them and they told me it was tfl's orders and that I could raise the issue up with the local council or TFL but apparently this has nothing to do with the police as they had orders given to them!

But he told me they will start fining people soon so be careful everybody! 30 quid is quite a lof of money to spend on cycling in one of the few buslanes restricted to cyclists.

Yep, they're still there when I pass by, at the top of this topic, there's a picture of the sign outside csm - the symbol mean no bike allowed, rather than the opposite.

is there a list anywhere of these bus lanes we're not allowed in?

Just look out for no cycling sign, if a bus lane doesn't have one, then you'll be fine.

I have a right mind to get some red tape, and tape a line crossing the bicycle symbol to make it more obvious that it's illegal to those who doesn't know - save cyclist money (if you decided to obey it).

Yep, they're still there when I pass by, at the top of this topic, there's a picture of the sign outside csm - the symbol mean no bike allowed, rather than the opposite.

Yes I just realised that! Oops. When were these signs imposed? I just always thought they meant 'bike here please!'Which I now realise that I've spotted a couple more signs like this so I better start watching out!

Don't think there is a list of restricted bus lanes around, at least not tO my Knowledge anyway.

The cop mentioned that maybe if enough boris bikes go down the bus lane TFL might look into it! Does he mean to say that I'm not as important as a boris bike user? Sadness!

He probably mean the data of the BB that TfL can use to see which spot and route is popular - if they notice a aorta number of BB (by looking at the time it take from stand A to B - the bus lane route is generally quicker than the long way round) going through the bus lane, then they'll able to make a decision base on that.

On vimeo, there's a real time data video map of London showing the time and distance of each bb's journey - vEry interesting to watch, can someone link it to here so she can see it as I'm on a mobile Phone at the moment?