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news
Surrey Police Brompton (screenshot Surrey Roads Policing Unit / Twitter)Police force unleashes secret weapon... a Brompton bicycle — catches nine law-breaking drivers in two hours
Surrey Police has added a Brompton e-bike to its fleet, with the folding bicycle already helping to catch more than 20 law-breaking motorists in its first few days in operation.
The police force says by far the most common offence officers using the Brompton have caught drivers committing is using their phone behind the wheel. In a two-hour cycling shift on Thursday one folder-riding officer caught five motorists.
Regular readers of the road.cc live blog will no doubt be aware of Surrey Roads Policing Unit's combative approach to dealing with anti-cycling rants and myths being spouted on social media, and the Brompton is the latest addition to the Vanguard Road Safety Team's real-world fleet.
> Surrey traffic cops tell driver spouting Highway Code whataboutery to return licence
What's more, the bike was donated by Brompton meaning the only cost involved — the force estimates — is 5p to charge the e-bike battery and the cost of maintaining the bicycle in crime-fighting condition.
On Thursday, a two-hour operation saw an officer catch five phone-using motorists, a disqualified driver, a drug driver, one vehicle in a dangerous condition, and a motorist using illegal number plates.
The driver of this Ranger Rover was seen driving inappropriately through Guildford town centre by the cycling #VanguardRST Skipper.
The driver failed a DrugsWipe and was arrested.
Bonus of a @BromptonBicycle fold up bike is it can go in the suspects boot when we move it. pic.twitter.com/9kFtMf8WPa
— Roads Policing - Surrey Police - UK (@SurreyRoadCops) August 26, 2022
Yesterday's six-hour shift saw six more drivers using their phones caught, one driver without a licence, another without insurance, one case of driving without due care, a dangerous driver, one drugs seizure...
And 2x vehicle seized (including the one that failed to stop)
Great teamwork with our 4 wheeled friend in RPU and ARVs for assisting with the pursuit.
We’ve got a lot more work to do to make the roads of Surrey safer.
We can’t be everywhere but could be anywhere.#Fatal5
— Roads Policing - Surrey Police - UK (@SurreyRoadCops) August 26, 2022
And the crime fighting continued on Friday evening...
…his handheld mobile phone whilst driving.
The vehicle has been seized and won’t be reclaimed, so it will either be sold on or crushed.#Fatal5 - distracted driving. pic.twitter.com/I0kJhhgVrC
— Roads Policing - Surrey Police - UK (@SurreyRoadCops) August 26, 2022
Summing up the benefit of the Brompton, Surrey Police warned road users: "We can’t be everywhere, but could be anywhere."
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
- galibiervelo 1 hour 8 min ago
That is class news. Super bikes and vision. Bet there will be no stand at the Taiwan bike show next year! Big luck to all the team
- Hirsute 1 hour 30 min ago
"However, he said that by moving his head around Wilkinson, who was driving at around 20mph, could and should have been in a position to have seen...
- Destroyer666 1 hour 50 min ago
Pretty clearly stated several times in the text that the issue was not related just to his son. And besides, everybody watching the races could see...
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 6 min ago
All Fizik and Selle Italia saddles (though not all their other products) are made in Italy I believe, and their 3D printed models definitely are.
- chrisonabike 2 hours 32 min ago
If you're not on the road with a car, I bet its driver is much less likely to swerve into your space *. Because you're not "in the way"! (Any...
- mdavidford 2 hours 48 min ago
The problem with this argument, though, is that it's just not true....
- Legin 4 hours 42 min ago
The tory party will oppose anything that might restrict their tanks rolling at the next election.
- mdavidford 5 hours 13 min ago
Especially since the similarly priced Tickr X did have that functionality.
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19 comments
This is comparatively low cost policing that will have a real benefit on improving road safety. I think a lot of drivers are going to get nasty shocks and start spreadng the word.
Great timing. The London MET police need some so when their new electric cars they spent millions of taxpayers money on run out of power mid chase. they can break out the brompton from the back of the car and continue.
Where can I get a set of their bike sized blues and two's lights?
Asking for a friend. 😈
And it has a siren as well.
Night-Sun used to do police lights, back in the halogen and nimhi days.
And a police siren. I had their horn, bit high pitched, still no one noticed me, unlike the airzound.
You had to prove membership of law enforcement before buying any of their police stuff. They made the big helicopter spotlights, indeed known as Night-Suns.
In fact Nite-Rider make a police set of LEDs, reassuringly expensive too.
Nite-Rider and Night-Sun were big competitors back in the day, Night-Sun never went down the LED route. They dabbled with Li-ion, and did not persist. They did not last.
the ones featured are special-order Exposure Strada and Red-eye combos with special settings specific for the Emergency services.
How many bicycles per car or Motorbikes could they buy just think four bicycles to one e'motorbike could save thousands of pounds and catch hundreds of law-breaking scum and remove them and their cars off the highway. Weldone Brontom I hope your sales go through your roof!
Even better these were donated. Just a quid in electric so far.
Is this connected in to the ANPR databases etc via the camera, I wonder?
Yep. The DB sits on the handheld. When you can get a half terabyte sd card it's easy to get a lot of data there.
Hallelujah! More of these these grey/absent/false plates off the road please. Pretty sure any motorist systematically hiding their reg plate has more to hide besides.
It's not a secret anymore
That doesn't actually matter as per their tweet from the end of the week
Despite the driver of this car seeing us and our #VanguardRST (link is external) bike at the British Motor Show on Sunday, our message clearly didn’t get through - caught using his mobile phone whilst driving in Guildford.
6 points and a £200 fine issued.
Phone users are not aware of anything but what is on their little screen and a little bit of what is in front of their vehicle.
Any viewing of a video from one of those "cycling vigilante" to see this.
Yes indeed, I've photographed plenty while I've been out on my morning run with the dog. I've submitted a few images to the cops and had emails back saying action is being taken. In many instances, the first the driver will know of this is when they get a letter in the post.
I really need to start using my headcam when I'm commuting on my motorbike/bicycle again.
I'm sure a cost:benefit analysis will show that this is an extremely good value addition to the police's armoury. One can only hope that other forces will be informed and act appropriately.
A "drugs wipe" doesn't sound pleasant for the person administering the test. I also had no idea that traces of illegal substances could be detected rectally.
Trainspotting?