Annual Oxford bike lights crackdown sees 171 cyclists fined

jmaccelari wrote:

So the police do their job and you complain? When they don't do their job, you also complain. What WOULD you like them to do!!!???

Who are you talking to?

(and why does the 'reply to poster' function here appear to serve no useful purpose?)

Personally I wish the police would be a little more consistent and stop picking-and-choosing which laws to enforce and which to ignore. Or at least be consistently random about it - toss a coin or something.

northstar wrote:

As well as driving through red lights, this is classic victimisation and everyone laps it up as per usual.

Victimisation?

What like when the Police stop perfectly safe car drivers in the run up to Christmas who have been to the office do and enjoyed a few 'sherbets' with their friends, but who are absolutely certain they are still safe to drive.

Is that the sort of victimisation you are talking about?

Grubbythumb wrote:

northstar wrote:

As well as driving through red lights, this is classic victimisation and everyone laps it up as per usual.

Victimisation?

What like when the Police stop perfectly safe car drivers in the run up to Christmas who have been to the office do and enjoyed a few 'sherbets' with their friends, but who are absolutely certain they are still safe to drive.

Is that the sort of victimisation you are talking about?

Areyou seriously comparing students without bike lights in a well lit city centre to drink driving which kills and injures thousands every year?

Grubbythumb wrote:

Are you seriously comparing students without bike lights in a well lit city centre to drink driving which kills and injures thousands every year?

In spite of how emotive it all is, it's not an unfair point - cyclists who have lights are let through because they're able to identify those who are breaking the law. In random stop and check for drink driving there is no reason to specifically test that person - if a similar approach was taken to pulling over any cyclist incase they, say, had a tendency to jump red lights, we would rightly be upset about it.

jug_23 wrote:

Grubbythumb wrote:

Are you seriously comparing students without bike lights in a well lit city centre to drink driving which kills and injures thousands every year?

In spite of how emotive it all is, it's not an unfair point - cyclists who have lights are let through because they're able to identify those who are breaking the law. In random stop and check for drink driving there is no reason to specifically test that person - if a similar approach was taken to pulling over any cyclist incase they, say, had a tendency to jump red lights, we would rightly be upset about it.

It also works the other way though - you could equally well say that cyclists without lights are easy for the police to spot, while drivers using mobiles, not having seatbelts, or being under-the-influence are most of the time able to get away with it because they aren't immediately obvious as doing so.

Anyway, all cyclists should just get lights and we can all move on to more important matters.

Also, having been challenged before here when mentioning I've seen cyclists with white lights on the back, I have to mention I've since then twice seen cyclists round here with red lights on the front! Green lights on the front seem not to be uncommon either - wonder if the cops would fine them for that?

andybwhite wrote:

I'd like to know how many motorists were given fines for having defective lights (or unlit lights) during any similar period?

I doubt it was anything like 171 in the space of three hours in the entire country, let alone the centre of just one city.

Good grief, our brightest students supposedly go to study in Oxford and Cambridge and demonstrate such an alarming level of dimwittery when it comes to basic road safety.

The mind boggles.