Police pull cyclist over for not using Cycle Superhighway

Nah, this is mostly just poor infrastructure and furious commenters, nothing to see. The police guy is wrong too but it's not worth getting into.

From the start of the video its patently obvious that the cyclist is happy using the bike lane and only left the bike lane when distracted talking to the copper, and was unable to safely rejoin (raised kerb) so had to stay in the street. The reason they were talking in the first place was because the copper was being aggresive with his horn. 

100% with the copper on this one.

The cyclist's logic falls down if you apply it to any other vehicle.

This whole thing confirms exactly what has always been warned about "bicycle infrastructure" aka Get-Cyclists-Off-the-Roads: they re-inforce in the mind of the anti-cycling public that bicycles have no place on the road.

Anybody calling themselves a "bicycle activist" or whatever and supporting these bicycle ghettoes which have no safety value and a lot of downsides needs to re-examine the facts.

As to the absolute fool driving the police car: eff off and get on a bike you busybody fool.

At this stage I find it difficult to decide who I dislike the most: Jobsworth betas with a uniform, Fearmongering hippy greenies, Feckless car-drivers. So much choice.

Didn't lksten to the argument sith the copper but I don't think the cycliat did anything wrong at all up to that point. If he was really minded to hop in and out of the cycle lane to maximise speed he would have done it in many other places when there were slower cyclists in front of him. If anything I suspect that he chose not to use it in the run up to a junction at which the lane he used was more direct. You're quite entitled to do that, and I saw no evidence that the lane switch was dangerous - we can't see what shoulder check he did of course.

The Police 'officer' starts beeping his horn at 1:31, after a different cyclist is out of the cycle lane and overtakes the cameraman on the road, the officer then starts shouting at cameraman thereafter. I'd wager cameraman took offense to that and started exercising his right to use the road just to annoy the copper.

You could argue this is 6 of on and half a dozen of the other, but in my opinion Police Officers should be above such things as petty road rage, even if the guy they're attempting to 'educate' is being a pratt (in this case mostly because of a case of mistaken identity, because 'all cyclists look the same' apparently?).

You can't pull people over for cycling on the highway - that's just silly!

The cycle lane was full, which makes it very difficult to see what's ahead and, after missing the entrance to the CSH, the cyclist had the choice of either continuing to ride in the road (the kerb blocking him off from the CSH), which is perfectly legal, or stopping dead in the moving traffic and lifting his bike  over the kerb into the moving cycle traffic in the CSH, which would have put him at risk of being hit by traffic, or colliding with someone in the CSH...

I've ridden that route, many times, but before the kerbed cycle lane went in, and if faced with the situation in which he found himself, I'd have made the same decision. I'd also have been surprised to find myself being admonished by the Police for riding in the road, which is, after all, perfectly legal.

The copper needs to be given some cycle training so he understands what it's like riding in congested cycle infrastructure like that - what visibility the cyclist has, what the hazards are and the choices available... There's no law requiring cycling infrastructure to be used and the PC should have known that...

I'd be more concerned with the MPV that pulled out from the left into fast moving traffic at 1:50 in the video...coming to an almost standstill.

Apologies for the multiple postings. Sticking iPhone screen it seems.

I'm not really sure what the fuss was about - he moved out into the main traffic (as I'm pretty sure he's allowed to do) and then seems to ride along just fine there.   However, it seems to me that the police car was a bit too close to the cyclist at 1:46 or thereabouts, going through a pinch point too. (was he doing the Aussie tactic of 'force them off the road'?). 

Overtaking slower traffic like drivers do day in day out...

Arrogant arse meets self-important twat. Or the other way round. 

That cycle lane does look as if it should be wider though, but then congestion is the norm for London. 

SimonS - snap I suspect Video Cyclist would have joined CSH just fine , if attention was not diverted by interaction with cop + car.

The problem started , with the other cyclist with the black/white top and yellow rucksack. He did a MGIF filter between the cycle lane and the motor traffic. The policeman beeped at the MGIF cyclist in annoyance. (incorrect use of horn/impatient)

The Cam-Cyclist then told him "calm down mate" with the horn (horns sound much louder to cyclists right next to the bonnet), thus drawing the full ire/attention of the policeman for 'dissing' his authority. - From  that point on they were interacting, and cyclists attention was divided between cop car and entering CSH?  

As a general rule admonishing a policeman will always become a strung out affair - so dont be surprised. Expect, at best, to be late to wherever you are going,  unless they are called away to another incident.

Actually, watching that again I don't think that's what the Police objects to.

This starts at 1.33 -  another cyclist overtakes as the lights change and the Police gives them the horn.  The cyclist who gets pulled over gives him a 'Calm down mate'.  He then doesn't join the off road section but you can already hear the Police giving him verbal by then.

It wasn't an appropriate use of the horn - people in cars forget how loud  a car horn is.  At c1m out of the car it's damned unpleasant. 

If they Police are going to start pulling people over for crossing out of lanes when cornering (and the blue paint across that junction isn't bound by white lines so it's not acually a lane marking) then they're going to be very busy. 

The impatience here is the driver of that car - he's the one who needed to leave some space for the junction to clear of cyclists before pulling off. 

Welcome to RoadCC, home of CycleHatred.  

"nipping in and out of cycling lanes"

He didn't - he didn't join the off road cycleway, but stayed on the road.  

If you're carrying on to Elephant  the point at which that CSH remerges from the left puts you dangerously into conflict with buses pulling into the bus stop just after the junction (you can see this scissor movement happening in the video at 5.35ish).   Personally I think the CSH is  a much better option.

"the way he went about it is unknown, because we dont see if he looked behind himself before the manouevre."

exactly.  I think the reality here is that the officer expected him to join the off road section and he didn't.  

Great little pieces of paint these. They somehow obviate the need to provide sufficient space when overtaking vulnerable road users.

Great little pieces of paint these. They somehow obviate the need to provide sufficient space when overtaking vulnerable road users.

Struggling to see what the cyclist did that was so wrong or so dangerous. The arrogance of the officer on the other hand does not surprise.

I also agree with the policeman.

If the CS is too busy, users need to be patient. Nipping in and out of the lane to maintain your desired speed is just selfish, careless and will no doubt anger other road users and even cause accidents.

What I am more shocked about is how disrespectful the cyclist was to an officer. I cant quite believe it. Shameful.