20mph zones

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Last year our local council decided to make the local roads 20mph - given how narrow the roads are with parked cars, kids playing, me being half asleep, it seemed not an entirely daft idea (as opposed to where my parents live - huge wide straight road that is 20mph for miles and miles and miles...)

So I'm bimbling along doing a steady 20mph which is quite nice as it warms the engine up gently, when a local triathlon event is being held and a group of cyclists overtake me and then suddenly find the race route turns left - so I'm carved up and a bit cross.

I mentioned this to our local council officer that it seems a silly idea to hold cycle races on a 20mph roads and he tells me that it's only applicable to motor vehicles. Cyclists can legally do 30mph in a 20mph zone so the council are happy to allow racing to take place in an area where for safety's sake they lowered the speed limits.

I have a meeting with him later this week to tell him what a silly billy idea this is.

[Joeman]

Cyclists seem to have some sort of special protection order on then that makes them immune to the laws of the land and warrants then to get their own lanes built and makes them never at fault if there is an accident.

Try the same on a skateboard or roller skates or any other wheeled, non-motorised transport and you are going to get nicked.

I think it's because the people in charge are all sex pests who enjoy dressing up in lycra and prancing about in public with skinny little bike seats jamed up their CENSORED...

[Throttled]

The law needs to catch up with cycling. Having to use an act from 1861 to deal with a cyclist who killed a pedestrian when riding a bike with no front brake is madness.

[narp]

20MPH limits have been posted around our village, and the village council have freely admitted that it will not be policed in any way - for any vehicle.

The limit only really comes into play if there is an accident, at which time if a police investigation calculates anyone was speeding, they can use whatever laws they have access to in order to prosecute as they see fit.

What the 20 limited really does then, is to lower the defacto speed in the village to something under 30MPH, where if you take a look at a typical 30MPH limit road (assuming no speed-bumps, kerb-narrowings etc), speeds will tend to be something over 30.

[TC1474]

The limit only really comes into play if there is an accident, at which time if a police investigation calculates anyone was speeding, they can use whatever laws they have access to in order to prosecute as they see fit.

 

Unless it is a catastrophic or fatal crash, investigations are not done anymore, particularly forensic investigations, and even then it is rare that the calculations for determining speed is done because of the scientific and mathmatical calculations that need to be done and then verified by the independent forensic labs.

[manxie49]

Cyclists have their own laws, lets face it, no Licence, no test, no insurance and no tax, seem to do what they want regarding compliance with road traffic law, if the road is to congested they just bump up onto the pavement, a cyclist hit my neighbours car which was parked in town, repair costs came to nearly £500, guess who had to foot the bill.....he was told he'd have to take a civil action to recoup his losses........A push bike hitting a child at 30 or 40mph is going to do a lot of damage, I'm not anti cyclist, I ride a mountain bike myself, but lets have one law that applies to everyone who uses the highway.......OK i'll put the soap box away again

[2WheelSolo]

The same law does apply to everyone - the issue is enforcement. And it's the same old issue; resources. In the day of the beat bobby you wouldn't get away with riding your bike like a twat because he would pull you over for a quick chat - and most often he knew where you lived as well! These days the police have to focus on government mandated priorities and, occasionally, on real crimes. It doesn't leave much space for them to pursue 'minor' infringements.

It's broadly similar to the moped crime crisis in London. Once people know the police are not going to bother to pursue / prosecute they lose all respect for the law. I watched one of these 'Police, Stop!' style programmes a while back where the cops did pull a guy for riding at night without lights on the pavement. He spent most of the time demanding to know why they were harassing him and not off dealing with 'real' crimes. No respect for the law or any semblance of taking responsibility for his actions.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I was surprised to find that with regard to the 20mph speed limits imposed by local councils it only applies to motor vehicles. Therefore cyclists are allowed to do up to 30mph. So in that sense the same law doesn't apply to everyone. It would seem however that the police will not enforce the council's 20mph policy and usually don't take any action unless there's been an accident.

[fredc]

I'm not on the side of cyclists but if they were required to stick to a speed limit they would have speedometers fitted

[Arwen]

Yea the 20mph streets have not been well thought out here either. Reasonable sized road, with a skinny cycle lane on each side. 20mph because of two schools near each other. Its on a hill that you can easily reach 35-40mph going down on a mountain bike (well, I can, and i'm unfit!). Witnessed a cyclist gesticulating at a car in front of them to move... Car was doing about 20mph but because the cycle lane is too narrow the cycle couldn't pass.

Wish I had filmed it!

[HowBowDah]

E-bikes that are legal can hit roughly 20mph without assistance on a flat surface. Just a little nudge puts them over that limit. And a lot of effort thrown in will push an e-bike well above the 20mph limit.

Would a reasonable cyclist go any faster than this on a narrow street with numerous obstacles? Probably not.

Would a reasonable cyclist go as fast as he/she would like to on a wide road with next to no obstacles? Absolutely.

Local councils should be doing their due diligence in setting these 20mph limits rather than having the whole area as a blanket 20 mph zone. More people would respect it if this were the case.

OP: Just learn where they place speed cameras / what the vans look like and problem solved.

[2WheelSolo]

There was an article in one of the local rags a few months back stating that our local council had not achieved the reductions in road accidents that they had predicted from the move to a blanket 20 mph for all residential roads. Apparently there was no appreciable decrease in accidents at all in the first two years. Money well spent then.

[mike_1984]

if a cyclist overtakes you while your on a motorbike i thought you were obliged to kick them off?

Joking aside i see people whizzing about on pushbikes at 25mph on footpaths , riding in the centre of 40mph roads doing 15mph. Basically do anything they like.

Ive done it myself when i was a kid so im a bit of a hypocrite but that recent death in london due to a cyclist bombing it on a custom cycle does make you think.

[Joeman]

if a cyclist overtakes you while your on a motorbike i thought you were obliged to kick them off?

 

Ride along just fast enough so they can catch you up, but can't overtake, leave the bike in first gear so they get to enjoy the soundtrack from a real bike very close up.

If they drop back, slow down so they don't miss anything.

[mike_1984]

Lol i need a troll sticker for my helmet to increase the amount of lols i'd get doing that XD

[Guest]

Political rants clog up valuable internet space.

Governments make decisions, not the public.

Protesting is counterproductive courtesy.

Physical warfare is productive.

[Mawsley]

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Funnily enough - came home today to find plod armed with radar gun 200 yards into the 20mph zone. (I was on foot so was therefore under the limit.)(Just)