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news
Police stop cyclists riding at 39mph in 30 zone (Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team/Twitter)Police stop cyclists riding at 39mph in 30mph zone despite speed limits not applying to bicycle riders
A group of cyclists riding on Dartmoor yesterday were stopped and spoken to by police officers after being seen riding at 39mph in a 30mph zone.
While there are no speed limits for cyclists in the UK — except where local byelaws apply, such as in some parks — Devon and Cornwall's Roads Policing Team explained on Twitter how the group was stopped by officers who asked them to "be mindful of your speeds and just how this will affect you in the event of a collision".
The traffic unit shared footage of the group descending yesterday morning just after 9:30 on the A386 into a village with a 30mph speed limit for motorists, the video having now been watched almost half a million times in the day since.
Cyclists, please be mindful of your speeds and just how this will effect you in the event of a collision. This group today on Dartmoor observed travelling at near 40mph on a 30mph restricted road. All stopped and offered appropriate words of advice 🚴♀️ 🚴♀️ 7163 & #MPS6758JONES pic.twitter.com/5oX0hFpEj2
— Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team 🚔 (@DC_RPT) September 3, 2023
On the speedometer visible, the cyclists are shown to be travelling at between 39 and 37mph on the descent.
"Cyclists, please be mindful of your speeds and just how this will effect you in the event of a collision," the police unit's post said. "This group today on Dartmoor observed travelling at near 40mph on a 30mph restricted road. All stopped and offered appropriate words of advice."
The Highway Code sets out speed limits for vehicles, but does not include bicycles, meaning — byelaw-restricted areas such as some promenades, paths or parks aside — cyclists cannot be fined for speeding.
> Cyclists in Richmond Park face crackdown for 'speeding' – even though limits do not apply to them
Instead however, cyclists can be charged with dangerous cycling, under the 1988 Road Traffic Act Section 28, which states an offence is committed if "the way they ride falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful cyclist" and it "would be obvious to a competent and careful cyclist that riding in that way would be dangerous", with "dangerous" referring to "danger either of injury to any person or of serious damage to property".
The charge of 'wanton and furious cycling' can also be applied if an injury is caused in the case of a collision.
Predictably, the video has caused much debate on social media, a retired police advanced driver, Marcus Laine, joining the discussion to defend the officers' actions, saying it was "entirely the right thing to do".
"Educate and inform," he said, asking what if "the cyclists approach the restricted vision crossroads and a motorist pulls out expecting traffic to be travelling at 30"?
> Speeding fine for Richmond Park cyclist clocked riding at 41mph — but is penalty lawful?
"It's about safety and that includes pedestrians who misjudges the bikes speed or elderly drivers. How about some personal responsibility?"
Road safety campaigner CyclingMikey was also on hand to reply to people who suggested the cyclists should be fined as a motorist would be, seemingly not aware of the fact speed limits do not apply to cyclists.
"They weren't breaking the law," he said. "The speed limit doesn't apply to cyclists. That's probably quite reasonable when a bicycle weighs maybe 10kg and an average car 1.5-2 tonnes."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- hawkinspeter 27 min 1 sec ago
Interesting theory - how many points does it take for them to drive carefully?
- eburtthebike 50 min 10 sec ago
At the end of the consultation in May 2025, a decision will be taken.........
- Grahamd 1 hour 14 min ago
The absurdity of it deepens when you realise that those points were acquired by the age of 26.
- David9694 2 hours 48 min ago
BAM!
- IanGlasgow 3 hours 24 min ago
"Polartec Power Shield RPM fabric – which has a 10,000mm hydro head to keep wet weather out, and an industry-leading breathability spec of 30,000g...
- mdavidford 4 hours 27 min ago
Oxfordshire councils are quite capable of letting you down too!...
- levestane 4 hours 42 min ago
'each spoke' (single) and 'leaf spring' (made of many leaves) seems contradictory.
- PenLaw 5 hours 33 min ago
I guess Morrissey could claim it.
- wtjs 5 hours 59 min ago
I do see a lot of delivery riders (on illegal e-motorbikes) with their faces covered...
- David9694 6 hours 40 min ago
Stuff like this seems more relevant than ever after the Trump victory. sorry not a funny
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88 comments
Ah, Helmets to Enjoy. Their one and only tv appearance, in this country at least was on TOTP in 1977. More popular in Europe if I remember rightly.
Stoke the Fire were good too. Though I disagreed with their views on Brexit.
You have to admit though that numbers like "350 Million a Week", "(They're Coming Over Here) Millions of Turks and Albanians" and "Ever Closer Union...?" really got the crowds fired up! (Sometimes requiring riot police).
I did find their insistence on showing their helmets at every opportunity a little offputting to be honest.
Ooo-errrrr!
Looks like YouGov are running a related poll. Results are currently as pathetic as you'd expect.
Ah, our conservative leaders looking to cement party policies in time for the next general election.
As an aside, I am now utterly convinced that the tories will win the next election. They are now fully up and running with their campaigning, whilst Labour sits at the back staring at its belly button.
Unless they get off their arses now, the only thing the masses will actively care about is what Conservative generated PR tell them to.
I digress.
I hope they're using a better quality of cement than the concrete in schools. Still, Rishi seems prepared to spend whatever's necessary to fix them, unlike a couple of years ago as they hadn't killed enough people at that time.
ftfy
Driver nation. Funny to think that car-related stuff like emissions control, 20 mph speed limits and prices at the pump will have such a significant effect on political fortunes.
Drivers and their levelling down - "be like us - pay road tax, insurance, follow speed limits" etc - let me know when the national cycling motorway network is ready and I might think about it.
Or when drivers start doing those things...
All the parties were pretty much all neck and neck in their support for it. Scotland was also the highest region coming in at 90%. T
A bicycle can only decelerate at about half the rate of a typical car [somewhere in Bicycle Science]. There are quite a few hazards here (driveways, pedestrian crossing, junctions, poor visibility...). I'd probably be going slower, but that's just me.
According to the local speed watch group, 1 in 10 drivers exceed 35mph through there (Mary Tavy), with the top recorded speed being 64mph!
I hope the police were also dealing with those drivers in the same manner.
I always speed up when I see our local speedwatch. Gives the dear souls (who clearly have nothing better to do) something to get worked up over and some data to report, and keeps the average speed up too.
We don't have a local speed watch in my village - the residents are the main problem when it comes to speeding. We do sometimes get the automated flashing signs, which when on my bike I try desperately to trigger (they seem to require approx 25mph to wake them up), but in the absence of any of these so-called "downhills" of which everyone speaks I rarely manage it
I hope the police were also dealing with those drivers in the same manner
If they're anything like Lancashire, they almost certainly weren't: the attitude here is that 'everbody does it (going though red lights, illegally crossing unbroken white lines in a dangerous position, mobile phone use while drugged up on nitrous, having no MOT etc. etc). See S2 AOA, for instance. This will be completely ignored.
let's hope
'Our roads need to be safe places to drive so stop speeding'
In an effort to reduce fatal and serious collisions, Roads Policing Officers from Devon & Cornwall Police have been carrying out increased roadside speed checks.
https://www.devonlive.com/news/news-opinion/our-roads-need-safe-places-8...
Not unreasonable by the Police there; just becasue you are not breaking the law doesn't mean you should go do it.
Hopefully the conversation went, "I know the speed limit doesn't apply to you but don't be a ****ing bunch of ****holes as you know riding like this will wind the residents and other road users up; plus it may earn you a much more serious injury if you crash. Thank you and enjoy your ride."
Spoken like someone who has never travelled at the speed limit in a residential area on a bike.
That will wind motorists up far more than cycling at 39 in a 30.
Written by somebody who doesn't know the difference between spoken and written.
Written by someone who doesn't understand that common phrases needn't be literally true to be readily understood by readers.
Written by a straw clutching resident from Bell End who hasn't got a particular point to make.
Word salad.
Reading comprehension disorder.
Yummy.
Which was the bigger problem in this case, the cyclists, or the police car doing 40mph when not engaged in an emergency response?
Myself, happy to exceed speed limits on a bike, typically on a downhill into a village where the speed limit is away from the built up area, but cyclists should cycle at a speed they can stop in, be it junctions, bends or other obstructions, so advice about excess speed in a built up area is appropriate.
Strangely, one place I seek to exceed the speed limit for my own safety is in a 20mph, yet over 20 is not sufficient for motorists to get frustrated and "need" to overtake, mainly because many believe that 20 is a war on motorists therefore does not apply (which also there excuses overtaking into oncoming traffic, and past obstructions and close passing... and holding up the cyclists you've passed).
Good observation - the 20mph is an example of the converse, where the speed limit is deemed to apply to cyclists but not to motorists!
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