Police action on anti-social cyclists
Thursday 26th November 2009, 9:46AM GMT.
Police in Shrewsbury are stepping up patrols against anti-social cycling in an area of the town, threatening to hit offenders with £30 fines.
Officers will be looking out for cyclists who ride on pavements in the Meole Brace area of the town after a number of complaints from local residents.
Sergeant Darren Smith said the local policing team will be making a concerted effort to tackle the problem, including the issuing of £30 fixed penalty fines.
There has been growing concern that pedestrians, especially elderly people, will be injured if the practice continues unchecked, Sergeant Smith said.
He said: “The issue has been raised on several occasions and is close to the hearts of many of our more elderly residents on the estate.
“We will be going into local schools and advising children of the dangers they pose to others when riding their bikes on footpaths.
“We also want to highlight the dangers to adult offenders, as it is by no means just children who are responsible.”
He said there was no excuse for riding on pavements and officers would be challenging offenders.
He said: “We will be advising them of the concerns and dangers they are causing and issuing a fixed penalty for £30 if they do not comply with the rules.
“If a cyclist knocks over an elderly person, it can easily cause serious injury affecting their mobility and well-being for the rest of their life.
“I am sure cyclists will understand why we will be targeting the area if they stop to consider this.”
The police clampdown coincides with the current Justice Seen Justice Done campaign.
Run nationally by the Home Office and supported by West Mercia Police, the campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding of what the public can expect from the police and partner agencies.
Earlier this year, work was completed on installing a new crossing near the Meole Brace Retail Park.
It is sited in Hereford Road and was designed to improve safety for cyclists and walkers.
By Andrew Morris
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What about motability scooter users???? no bottle to knick them i suppose.
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I think more cyclist are killed riding on busy, dangerous and overcrowded road… than injuring pensioners on pavements. Stick to PC policies and forget about real policing eh?
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In reply to comment 1, most motability scooters are restricted to a max 4mph about as quick as walking speed and have lights and a warning device. Also it is against the law to cycle on pavements unless it is a designated cycle path.Most scooter users are sensible when using a scooter, that more than I can say for Lycra louts, ignoring traffic lights pedestrian crossings, one war streets, I could go one with more.
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Not very good planning this West Mercia Police is it?
Making your officers go out in the cold and wet to do their jobs, tut, tut, what about health and safety?
Oh well hopefully the idiots who ride their bikes on the pavement will read this and stop their anti social behaviour and you can all stop in your nice warm offices or police cars !!
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Whilst you are on about safety to pedestrians why not impose a cycling ban on Pride Hill in the town centre before someone is seriously hurt !!
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Geoffb, limited to 4mph may be but dam heavy when the oafs run over your foot or knocks in to you and they just drive off like happy moron’s. Also I have not heard of any cases what so ever with regards cyclists knocking down in shrewsbury walkers, but I have heard of many cylists knock down by car drivers in shrewsbury.
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Hope they look out for cyclists with no lights on at night as well – a danger to themselves as well as the public.
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Hows about coming out and enforcing the penalties against dog owners who cover the pavements in excrement? Never seen anyone pulled up for this or any initative to enforce the littering policy.
And before any dog lovers join in, no I dont tar you all with the same brush!!
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This is just the kind of thing that Living Streets, the national charity that stands up for pedestrians, likes to see. Well done West Mercia!
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This is just the kind of thing that Living Streets, the national charity that stands up for pedestrians, likes to see. Well done West Mercia! Find out more at www . livingstreets . org . uk.
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jeffb
Yes cyclists are by law allowed to use the road but what annoys me is when they’re on the road when there’s a perfectly good cycle path running alongside that has been provided for their safety (and they’re usually along the busy 40mph+ roads) They’re more likely to get knocked off there by some silly impatient sod not giving them enough room. Just do not understand why cycle paths were campaigned for and then are not used when they are a safer option.
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Most week day mornings on Mount Pleasant Road there are cyclists riding on the pavements and the ones using the road overtake cars on the inside swerving in and out of traffic.
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rather than targetting individual groups who use pavements, why cant the police just generally police the streets? And jeff b – what are you talking about when u say lycra louts? u obviously have not seen a cyclist for at least 10 years.
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Get a life and get back to Policing basics. It is far safer for cyclists/children to ride on the footpath.No million pound enquiries per death either. Perhaps more cycle paths are required and ban walkman/stereos, walkers do not hear traffic never mind cyclists. A polite cyclist with proper lighting etc is far safer on a path as opposed to careless drivers and pot holed roads….
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Why can’t cyclist and pedestrians co-exist?
In Germany I rode on pavements where pedestrians and cyclist are both allowed. Its just they are very disciplined and all walk/cycle on the right making the two modes of transport compatible.
They also have train, trams and horses on the highway and all get along – why can’t we manage that?
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Interesting story this.I regard myself a responsible cyclist living in Telford and using national cycle route 55 & anyone who uses it will know it is divided by either a white line or half bricks at its end towards the A518 & marked which lane is for cycles but many a time pedestians are walking on it when the pedestian side is empty or allowing their dogs not on a lead & mobility scooters using it.I checked on various sites online & they state that Class 2&3 are not allowed on cycle tracks. Class 3 are allowed to go on public roads at 8 mph & restricted to 4 mph on pavements which cyclists are banned from using .Someone can correct me but I believe this law dates back as far as around 1860.
Dispite contacting Telford & wrekin Council on their understaning of the law regarding use of cycle tracks I am still waiting for them to have the courtesy to reply to me dispite reminding them 2 weeks ago that I contacted them originally a month ago, yes they were the same council a couple of years ago when a cyclist was taken to court at great expence to you & I the tax payers for cycling on a main road instead of using a nearby cycle track .Incidently the case was thrown out at a higher court when after national publicity & the cycling federation took up his case.
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As a cyclist I’ve no problem with the police action against cycling on pavements, they should be for pedestrians and roads for cycling.
However I just wish they would look at the full picture and why so many people cycle on the pavements in the first place. That is because they have let the roads become too dangerous with vehicle drivers breaking the law on a very regular basis.
Still it’s far easier to catch the odd errant cyclist than try and upset loads of motorists by enforcing laws
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Imagine this conversation….
“Sorry Mrs Miggins I’m sure your burglary is important to you, but I was busy capturing that 69 year old for riding on the pavement…”
If it’s not chasing targets, its’ bowing to every demand. West Mercia Constabulary – sort out your priorities…..WE PAY YOUR WAGES!
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“Officers will be looking out for cyclists who ride on pavements in the Meole Brace area of the town after a number of complaints from local residents.”
Wonder whether the local residents are aware that half the footpaths around Meole Brace are also cycle paths?
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the roads are only too dangerous to cycle on because the cyclists are too stupid to drive :P
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#18
I bet you get involved in many ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad’ arguments.
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mark @ # 13: “And jeff b – what are you talking about when u say lycra louts? u obviously have not seen a cyclist for at least 10 years”.
Perhaps you’d care to visit Shifnal on a weekend then mark; you’ll be hard pressed to miss packs of the above mentioned lycra louts who seem to believe that they are above the laws of the road. Like it or not, Jeffb is spot on with his comment.
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Cyclists can’t win can they? There are those who think they shouldn’t be on the road because a) they can’t bear to be held up for two nanoseconds as they obviously own it personally b) cyclists don’t pay road tax – which car drivers don’t because it no longer exists. If they thought about it logically it is that type of attitude and impatience exactly what drives SOME cyclists onto paths – quite illegally, putting them into conflict with pedestrians.
the growth of cycling mean LESS CARS on the road – less congestion means car drivers get there faster overall, even if held up passing occasionally. Cyclists (and i’m one of ‘em)shouldn’t be on the path – they are however LEGALLY ENTITLED to be on the road – the Cyclist Touring Club, proably the best known of the national cycling organisations campaigned against – and won – the case against segregated facilities, e.g. cycle paths, which only confuse the issue of where the cyclist should be as long ago as 1926. They are NOT compulsory and are often strewn with glass, dead and slippery leaves, undergrown tree roots, poorly lit, not salted in winter and often useless. Most adult cyclists are car drivers too – it needs a bit of courtesy and observation from those who aren’t for all to share the road happily – the impatient ones should try it sometime from the other side of the fence to see just why the more nervous cyclist does take to the path agaianst the law…..
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I was just wondering just how the police are going to enforce this so called anti-social cycling?
After all cycles don’t have registration plates? Will the previously desk-bound, donut eating officers be taking off in hot pursuit mountain bikes fitted with ‘blues and twos’?
Of course I fully appreciate that the officers will need full H&S training and certification before being issued with a deadly, hi-tech push-bike, to make sure they can sit on it the right way without instructions, assuming that they are physically fit enough and mentally suitable to be a Certified Bicyle Pursuit Officer in the first instance.
I can see this making yet another boring Police ‘reality’ fly-on the wall TV show, just wonder what it will be called?
Police, Camera, Puncture?
Any suggestions?
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Telfordfan #23.
Care to explain what you mean by road tax no longer existing for motorists? Like a fool I’ve been paying mine for years.
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#25
You pay vehicle excise duty, also known as car tax. You do *not* pay road tax, a term which is often wrongly used in place of V.E.D.
You know all that money you spend on that tiny little paper disc? It goes directly into the central overlor… I mean, government coffers, and rarely, if ever, finds its way into any potholes or road markings. You’re paying for the right to licence a motor vehicle, and nothing more. Another argument against any notion that we live in a free society, incidentally, but that’s a wholly different discussion.
Road maintenance is largely covered by council tax, with the exception of certain public highways such as motorways.
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Charlie Drake #25
Road tax was replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). VED is a tax on owning the vehicle, not for using the roads. VED goes to central government coffers and road repairs etc are paid for through other means, such as council tax etc.
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mark @ 22 – you’re obviously on about “roadies” How many of these would you expect to see on pavements though? Yes – there are those who wear lycra – and evenn though im an off road cyclist who is suppose to despise the roadie lot – which I don’t BTW – the use of pavements is generally by those either who are not confident on the roads, kids, families, or those who do use them in an anti social mannner. It’s been said already that many of the pavements round there are dual use anyway. From my experience of cycling that way, the pedestrians don’t know the rules regarding cyclepaths and shared paths but you would never expect a copper to pull one of them up. There will always be an ongoing dispute between cyclists, drivers, pedestrians, coppers and those who even though they may not fall under any of these categories will have an opinion. I drive, I walk, I cycle, though I’m not a copper I beleieve my opinion counts. See you out there one day!
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