Rule breaking cyclists targeted by Manchester police

I don't ride down Oxford Road/Rusholme/Death Valley for good reason.

Cars and pedestrians pulling out of nowhere, slow moving traffic, nonsensical intertwining bus and cycle lanes...

Riding into work this morning, on the shared use path next to a main road, I was soaked as an SUV actually moved over so as to go through a large flood caused by a blocked drain, causing a wave of salty muddy water to break over me.

Coming home, had an altercation where two young ladies were crossing a road in town in front of me. Green light for me on the road, turned red by the time they'd crossed and I could actually go. "Thanks for that", says I "But it's a red f-ing light ", they reply. "But it was green when I got here, but had to wait for you ", says I. "What's it matter? You're on a f-ing bike not a car, innit?" comes the reply.

Clearly cyclists and their behaviour are the problem, innit?

At the end of the day the law is the law.

If you choose to to break the law you have to suffer the consequences. However I rate anti-social behaviour, bad driving, drunk driving, racism, open drug dealing on the streets, violent attacks on people etc.. more worthy of attention from the cops.   ...IGMC.......

"Rule breaking cyclists targeted by Manchester police"

Who knew that the Manc Police were disciples of the Velominati.  Respect.

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Furthermore, like it or not, every time we go out on our bicycles we represent cyclists.

No. No we don't. What's more that kind of rubbish needs to be countered wherever and whenever you hear it. It's bad enough with the bloody helmet debates never mind coming out with this sort of crap!

Did Harold Shipman give all doctors a bad name or represent all doctors? Do the motorists who kill and injure thousands of people a year give other motorists a bad name? Why not?

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Riding on the road with no lights / dark clothing after dark = Fuckwit

Let me add another one to that:

Coming out with the collective responsibility bollocks = fuckwit.

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Sadly, though, and perhaps because we're a minority, drivers and pedestrians (if they aren't cyclists themselves) will often extrapolate one twat on a bike into "those bloody cyclists".

Irrational and unfair - but that's how it is and it ain't gonna change soon.

It might do if you stopped agreeing with it and argued against it every time!

Interesting... I rode to work this morning and noted how negatively many pedestrians interacted with me. 

Not at crossings, not on the pavement, not as I ran through red lights... none of this. No, I'm talking about me, riding along on the road, minding my business, and pedestrians deciding that they want to cross the road infront of me. 

there is tis attitude, this automated aggression towards me, despite me not reacting to them in any way - other than to move or brake as required. 

To me its like there is this default that as a cyclist, I have to be in the wrong. which I can only attribute to the growing mountain of negative press that is out there. We seem to be fair game for the media, and the repercussions are starting to be felt. 

Anyway.. rant over. 

And yet another Operation Considerate I completely manage to miss. I wish they'd let me know in advance, I'll go out of my way to drop by.

And while I'm here: 20? Twenty? Like, 2 x 10? And this is a cause for national panic? I must be missing something here. Some junctions I can pick up red light infractions and general stupidity by drivers at a rate of 20 every 10 minutes.

GMP: Must try harder.

@Mungecrundle, brilliant!

“I just feel that the cyclists seem to feel that red lights – all the cars and everything else, they should all stop, but the cyclists don’t need to because it’s safer not to. I’m sorry, but in my opinion that’s not the case. I’m the one who goes and picks up all the pieces when it goes terribly wrong.”

What an incompetent, irresponsible thing for a police inspector to say.  'the cyclists'?! Stereotype, much?

I trust he can back up his implication that RLJing is a major cause of cyclist KSIs with, you know, evidence - not how he 'just feels'. I trust he can also prove that cyclists RLJing isn't safe - good luck with that.

All the evidence and stats I've seen of cyclist KSIs at or near junctions points towards driver RLJing and 'not looking properly' as being greater contributors than cyclist RLJing and 'not looking properly'. 

He needs to pick up the pieces of his argument: it's gone terribly wrong.

Dont like the way they said 'on our roads', thats going to imply ownership of the roads belongs to them people who use engines to propel them. Will get a certain few who believe the own the roads all ready a greater sense of  ownership. I can all ready see arguments like 'we let them use our roads so they should obey our rules'....

FFS quit squealing about being a repressed minority. Funny how some people get so irate about perceived Police prejudice in 'targeting' cyclists as a group and in other posts resent any inference that cyclists have any collective responsibility as a group to improve our image.

Riding on the road with no lights / dark clothing after dark = Fuckwit

Egregious red light jumping across traffic to save a few seconds = Fuckwit

Cycling on the pavement with no regard for pedestrians = Fuckwit

Twat who cycled down the pavement, half way across a zebra crossing narrowly missing an old lady then almost hit me head on before riding in the gutter on the wrong side of the road all whilst using a mobile phone, no lights and after dark as I cycled home last night = Monumental Fuckwit.

Why does this vex me? Surely these fuckwits are more likely to hurt themselves and after all you can count the number of car v cyclist collisions where the driver was KSI on the fingers of one foot? They vex me because they create a stereotype that I get tarred with, an image of cyclists as a group being irresponsible and inconsiderate road users. This has consequences:

We suffer knee jerk legislation. E.g There are serious risks that in certain places we will be pushed off the road and onto inadequate though mandatory cycle infrastructure. We may get compulsory helmet laws as the mis-response to cutting cycling injuries.

We get less respect from other road users. Fuckwits in cars behave aggressively towards cyclists mostly because they are just shitty people but partly because, fuelled by the stereotypes and sensationalist reporting on the likes of LBC, they really do consider that we deserve it. But even regular car drivers get exasperated and stressed when a seemingly large number of cyclists behave unpredictably or are difficult to see. Drive round Cambridge at 6pm on a drizzly night and unless you are St Theresa I can guarantee you are going to want to say something rude about someone on a bicycle.

We become a problem that needs to be 'dealt' with. E.g Police get complaints and put resources into cycle safety campaigns when those resources should be targeting the mobile using, speeding, cycle lane parking, incompetent, uninsured motorists who plague our streets and represent a real danger to life.

So, much as I'd rather the Police put their road safety resources elsewhere, I'm really quite happy to see fuckwits from any and all road user groups become separated from their money if it means a better standard of riding / driving. Furthermore, like it or not, every time we go out on our bicycles we represent cyclists. So for the benefit of all of us, please don’t ride like a fuckwit.

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BBC Radio 5 Live (link is external) was on the scene with Police Community Support Officer, Gareth Walker, as he issued a £50 fixed penalty notice to a cyclist who had been riding on the pavement. The cyclist – a student who described the fine as ‘crippling’ – was offered the chance to complete the Safe Ride Safe Road online course for £30 in lieu of the fine.

Surely fining the drivers, Mr Walker, who habitually park on the cycle lane in Grosvenor Street would raise more revenue, be more educational and give cyclists the opportunity of riding legally, no?

Do your job properly.

"... police said they had seen double the number of motorists committing offences."

Was anything done about this at the time, or did the officers only have eyes on the cyclists during this Operation ?

I have the misfortune to use White City Roundabout daily, there is a place that driver education is required. ASL? pfft. Bus Lane? pfft. Yellow boxes? pfft. Red Light? pfft.

I wish the police behaved like... well... police, impartial, thinking things through, and maybe, just maybe tailoring their road safety policies so they actually target the people who hurt others.  

Not the pople who get hurt and especially not the people who are annoying for a few people but essentially don't cause harm.  

Instead we get this pseudo political, "listening"police force who listen to them that shout and moan  loudest.  Do your jobs an actually make the streets safer!

so car drivers speeding, parking illegally, using mobiles, eating, drinking etc things that distract and cause huge numbers of deaths and injuries are ok, but a prat on a bike end of the world! 

-Cyclists are getting killed by HGVs on a daily basis
-Cycling infrastructure puts cyclists in danger zones
-Cycling infrastructure is used as parking zones
-Cyclists are expected to dress up in protective high-vis clothing just to stay alive
-Cyclists are getting knocked-off and nearly killed every hour of every day
-Killing a cyclist rarely resulsts in a meaningful prison sentence
-A cyclist knocking over and bruising a child will result in national outrage
-Cyclists have a constant stream of misinformation and hatred around the fact that they don't pay a non-existent "road tax"

Yet Radio 5 are still encouraging conversations about getting tougher on cyclists? That's despicable.

You should try listening to LBC sometime.  Every other morning bring another story about the cycle superhighways causing the breakdown of society itself, with on the spot reports from Theo Usherwood screaming as bikes ride past him.

Not that they're trying to influence policy before the Mayoral elections...   

My mixte is named Lettice, one of my family who lived around 1558

Back in 1968 I had a car called Phoebe, the name was given to it by a friend who suggested I used a rustic name to accompany the  corrosion.

Radio 5 are now following it up as I am writing this by a discussion about how much we "love our cars and give them names like Betty".