Cambridge cyclists warned of police operation by passer by

t1mmyb wrote:

As someone pointed out on Twitter: drivers warn other drivers of speed traps all the time (by flashing their lights), and you don't hear of those "helpful" drivers being condemned by the Police. Usual UK double standards apply.

not so, it seems:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-12115179

props to paulr for first use of the word 'hypotenuse' on road.cc. what next? complex vectors?

The police tell us that speeding motorists contribute to 1000 deaths every year on our roads, where as being killed by a cyclist (on a pavement or riding the wrong way down a one way street) is almost unheard of.
Ironically the police would like to prosecute the woman for warning cyclists of the police "cyclist" trap, yet on Cambridgeshire Police Website their is a link to the location of all their Speed Camera sites, which means the police are only doing exactly the same as that woman.
Double standards I think from the police.

while i don't condone reckless cyclists and i don't know the area or geography of the region, i often.. sometimes in full view of the PSNI[N IRISH police] Hop onto a pavement that avoids a hilly box junction with 3 sets of lights to avoid a dangerous and possibly injurious confrontation with dosy early morning car commuters.. well done that girl.. and i feel like some other posters... have the police nothing more useful to do, maybe the only palatable thing which may come out of these cuts is less jobs worths in police and other uncivil servants.. they might have to do real work for the first time in their lives, if anybody hires them!!!

The other thing about Sidney Street is that it is on a very strong "desire line" for cyclists. Cycling south, contraflow cycling is permitted after the junction with Market Street. To avoid the one way bit of Sidney Street (for cyclists), you more or less have to go out of your way around three sides of a rectangle.

no need to give the daily mail army any more ammunition.

I wonder what advice the police were giving on security?..."dont tell us when your bike gets stolen, we couldnt care less"

Riding down one way streets, Jumping lights, pavement riding etc Is fine when your 8 on a BMX trying to recreate the Chase from ET.
Other than that its just ammo for the "you don't pay road tax" Daily Mail brigade, there's just a couple of them in Cambridge, tune into the open minded & progressive views offered on cycling & cyclists on the Cambridge News forums whenever there's a bike related story.

This woman clearly has more clout with the threat of a fine than I have trying to stop cyclists (thankfully in a minority) from jumping red lights in London - this morning one muppet was inches from being mown down crossing Bayswater Road near Lancaster Gate. If only I had superpowers reminiscent of the old box junction public information films on the TV !

It's a strange world that we live in where a person warning people of police action for a possible minor traffic offence could face prosecution if caught. Given that her warning has possibly made those offending cyclists think twice about offending again in the future, you have to ask whether her action has been of as much benefit as the efforts the police were making. If you ask me, the answer is yes.

I live in a part of London where shootings occur (another one last Saturday, not fatal at least) and where violent muggings occur (one directly outside my house as I ate dinner on Monday evening). I do find it rather curious when police choose to act on such low level offences and pretend more serious crimes don't exist. I'm sure far more serious drug-related offences occur regularly in cambridge for instance.

what's to stop you giving a false address (not that I
would of course !!!) for your fixed penalty ? Seriously
though - how do they check ? I certainly don't have
any form of ID when I'm out on my bike .....

I think that there should be a general regulation that permits cycling contra flows on all one-way streets ... after all it's usually motorised vehicular traffic that create the need for one-way streets not cycles. This would save the police (a lower case p, I think) some work, too.

lardychap gets kudos for first Princess Bride quote on road.cc

What's the difference between what the woman in this story was doing and signs warning speeding motorists that "speed cameras are in operation in this area"?

It's a busy pedestrianised route. People don't expect bikes coming that direction. So it's good that plod stop the students cutting down from Huntingdon Road.

At the same time they should have Plod on Newmarket Road stopping the drivers in the bike lanes.

So if you're harping on, get over it. Next time you get squeezed by a car, it's because car drivers think all cyclists are law-breaking idiots who cycle the wrong way down one way streets and get what's coming to them. No, it's not fair, but "life isn't fair. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something"

if she tells people about the sting and then they don't break the law, then that's a good thing from a police point of view, no?

As someone pointed out on Twitter: drivers warn other drivers of speed traps all the time (by flashing their lights), and you don't hear of those "helpful" drivers being condemned by the Police. Usual UK double standards apply.

Why the need to issue £30 fines? Why not just stand at the street entrance and warn them not to ride down it?

You beat me to it Tony. Was going to suggest that maybe we should all move to Cambridge as it seems that there is absolutely no-one in a car breaking the law, therefore we will all be getting at least 3ft space at each overtake.

I don't know if this is a particularly dangerous street, but you would wonder whether the police don't have anything better to do? How many people have been killed or injured by poor driving in Cambridge? What's the level of street crime? I bet both are more serious but less visible threats to life, limb, and property in the city.

We're going to be asking that question as the annual cycling crackdown season approaches.

*mockney voice* Well aaaarrt of oooooorda.