Solo officer on a bike spotted on Lasswade Road round about Liberton Hospital.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Police Crackdown - New EEN article
(175 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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Two cyclofficers heading east along Morrison Street at about 14:00.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Ooohhhh.... it's like an episode from the Wire!
We're all innocently going about our cycling / drug-dealing business (delete where applicable) and then we have lookouts who shout "Five-O! Five-O", causing us to scatter to the far winds :)
Posted 11 years ago # -
@skotl :-) If you head through the mean streets of Marchmont and there are white kites flying then that's a sign to take your cycling/drug-dealing somewhere else....
Posted 11 years ago # -
I seen a Red Kite in Holyrood park once, does that count?
Posted 11 years ago # -
possibly but I find they are very difficult to train to help with my nefarious activities. I think they have too strong a moral compass.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I noticed the single Trek riding Police officer was out and about again today. Outside the Earl of Marchmont and still looking like he was lost/had lost something. His bike looked like it had been for a particularly muddy session at Glentress.
Posted 11 years ago # -
saw two policepersons of indeterminent gender (they were far away) on police bikes riding up lothian road this morning. YEsterday there were two positioned on Festival square. Assuming to try and catch people scooting across the pavement to reach the cut through to the various businesses there/ rutland square. I had it in my head that this is a legitimate route however? There is bike parking in festival square so would you be within your rights to say you were cycling to your parking spot? (I think cars can get away with that one all the time non?)
Posted 11 years ago # -
"I had it in my head that this is a legitimate route"
It is - and the bridge to Rutland Square
LONGstanding issue with (absent) signage -ask Spokes!
Apparently that is going to change 'soon'.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Where are you meant to mount the pavement to cross? I assume up at the traffic lights by the film house or are they going to fit a drop curb between the two taxi ranks....
Posted 11 years ago # -
No sign of any cops on my route this afternoon: Fountainbridge, Earl Grey St, Potterow, Mound, George St, W Maitland, Haymarket...
Posted 11 years ago # -
"
EdinburghPolice (@EdinburghPolice)
19/11/2013 18:29Edinburgh cops are out supporting @Brakecharity national road safety week addressing road user distractions like mobile phone use. #RSW13
"
Wouldn't it be better if every week was Road Safety Week?Posted 11 years ago # -
You'd think!
I can just imagine that the average road user's increased vigilance regarding their behaviour is matched by the sigh in every police station when they are told what this week's "special action" is.
And too often, these action weeks seem to result in little chats rather than fines and prosecutions, so they actually seem to do less than in the weeks when they aren't targeting (a) particular offence(s).
Posted 11 years ago # -
Re this law? on reflective pedals. I have schimano reflectors on the underside of my spd's and find it useful as a flat surface when riding in shoes without cleats
click for link to imagePosted 11 years ago # -
Gotta love the old satnav excuse...
Love this: "Try getting out of St Andrews square without going up the wrong way or through a no entry.
Its [sic] rediculous [sic]"Posted 11 years ago # -
Also "Euan_1
5:59 PM on 20/11/2013
PC Kirk said:
"If people get stuck in a cycle box when the lights change then obviously that is not their fault, but when we see people inching forward into the boxes while waiting for the lights to change, that's a different matter."
How exactly is inching forward into a cycle box (the most likely case being with no cyclists actually in the box) 'a different matter' or even an offence?
Ridiculous."
Yip. Ridiculous comment.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Another article this morning, in the Scotsman this time.
Drivers face £100 fines for invading cyclist space.
Normal blowhards sounding off in the comments, with a few rational voices thrown in.
Apparently the "crack down" ends tomorrow.
A more cynical man that I might say that the polis have put considerably more effort into press briefings than into patrolling the cold streets.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"
DRIVERS who block advanced stop zones for cyclists at traffic lights face a £100 fine and three penalty points under a police crackdown in Edinburgh."
It's good that the 3 points is being mentioned. There have been suggestions in the past that the police have been reluctant to enforce because some thought points penalty was 'unreasonable'.
Perhaps some drivers will be deterred by the (new?) 'knowledge' about the points???
Posted 11 years ago # -
That article also contains a contrast in attitudes between Daves.
I agree with Dave.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Perhaps some drivers will be deterred by the (new?) 'knowledge' about the points???
IMO, nothing will change until these fines are handed out.
There was an initiative back in May where police gave out warnings, and that was meant to be followed by "enforcing fines".
Of course, naff all happened.
Will this be the same again this time? History would suggest we shouldn't expect much.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"A motorist invades a cyclist space and drives off - he can be tracked down from his number plate. A cyclist mows down a pedestrian on the pavement (as has happened to me frequently) and cycles off - how are the police supposed to find him to impose this ludicrous fine?"
Frequently?
While I agree with Dave B on many things I'm not sure ASLs are the 'spawn of satan' (I think that's an old quote), and certainly while he highlights the dangers they pose by encouraging people to filter to the front, he has quite a few YouTube clips of a heck of a lot of filtering!
Read a few of the comments, but life is too short. All the usual stuff.
Posted 11 years ago # -
There may also be a piece from me along the lines below. As you'll see, like chdot, i agree with Dave:
If you talk to drivers about ASZs, you get a lot of funny answers. Many seem honestly unaware that they have just crossed a stop line. One taxi driver told me that after 7.30pm they didn’t apply. Another driver – hearing my foreign accent - told me to learn the rules of the road (it’s rule 178 of the Highway Code if you want to check it out, and I’ve cycled here for nearly 20 years).
Stopping at a stopline is about the most basic skill driver needs, but it seems to bring out the worst in people. Drivers hate cyclists ‘getting a head start’ while cyclists will desperately try to get to the front of a queue of traffic to get into the perceived haven of the ASZ.
But ASZs aren’t about cyclists getting ‘ahead’. They’re about protecting cyclists from being ‘left-hooked’ by drivers turning while cyclists are going straight.
Every cyclist has had a driver tell them to get ‘out of the road’. But the gutter on the left is the most dangerous place for a cyclist, especially at junctions.
So, yes, it would be good if drivers stayed out of ASZs, and police enforced them.
But ASZs are also a red herring. They’re not big enough to protect cyclists from HGV’s blind spots and they can be dangerous to get to. Painting ASZs on roads is essentially a ‘tick-box’. It means the council can say ‘look we’ve taken cyclists into account’.
But if there’s not road space for cyclists to get there, or if there are parking bays on top of the cycle lanes, then the ASZ is basically useless.
If our junctions were properly designed for the safety of all users – pedestrians, cyclists, and motorised vehicles – we wouldn’t need ASZs at all.
Posted 11 years ago # -
More sensationalist sh*te from the scotsman, intended only to get their website hit rate up. Avoid.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I agree with Sara.
Posted 11 years ago # -
More cynicism or a small move in 'right' direction??
"
Edinburgh cyclists, tweet us your pics of motorists stopped in road stop zones for our gallery #edinburghcycling"
Posted 11 years ago # -
I saw 2 bike police this morning. First was at Cramond Brig, sat alongside a Police car, they stopped me for a chat about how bad the orner is there. I agreed and told them about my off there last year.
Second was just turning out of Buccleuch Pl headed for the Meadows, unfortunately the proximity of him to my office meant I had to walk along the pavement, rather than 'coast', oh well. Had he been 30s later he may have bagged himself £30.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Two police officers on Cramond Brig bridge this morning stopping cyclists heading into Edinburgh and warning them that there has been a report of speeding cyclists from a member of the public. My mate commented, 'if they acted on every cyclists complaint about speeding drivers we'd only have traffic officers.
I expect to see that complaining old man who lives next to the bridge in the EEN stating cyclists have killed hundreds of innocent people on that stretch, again.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Two police officers on Cramond Brig bridge this morning stopping cyclists heading into Edinburgh and warning them that there has been a report of speeding"
Highlights the importance of bike cops.
They can get where the bikes are.
They are likely to be more able to get non-confrontational interaction
AND they'll have a better idea of 'speed' and 'danger'.
Posted 11 years ago # -
More sensationalist sh*te from the scotsman, intended only to get their website hit rate up. Avoid.
Amongst all the dross, the top rated comment from an "Alanmc" is rather good ("We have to be far more responsible to cyclists - a simple collision can kill a cyclist and therefore we have a duty as human beings to be extremely careful, even if it might inconvenience us a little.").
Posted 11 years ago #
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