Last year, a forum friend of mine was stopped by the police because he was cycling on the road, there have been a couple of versions of the story going around but my understanding from Daniel is that the police pulled him over because he wasn't cycling left of the white line which marks the edge of the road. Now according to the highway code, it's illegal to travel left of that line except in an emergency, in other words the police were telling him to do something illegal.
Daniel, maybe foolishly, wrote a letter to the station these officers were based at to report the incidence and asking why he was stopped for doing exactly what the Highway Code says he had to do. This started a series of events which culminated in Daniel being prosecuted for inconsiderate cycling because although what the police had said at the side of the road was illegal, by the time it got to court the police had told him he should have used a cycle path which to reach required crossing 3 lanes of traffic.
The judge agreed that while he behaviour on the road was within in the law, by choosing to cycle on the road when there was a cycle path available was inconsiderate of the drivers. The road in question was only about 1/2 mile long, between two roundabouts and Daniel was travelling over 30 mph since he was cycling down hill. The judge pretty much ignored the expert witness testimony from John Franklin, the government adviser for cycling in the UK, who said that Daniel did everything correctly.
John Franklin explained how the cycle path was more dangerous for Daniel to reach than the road, more dangerous to use than the road for Daniel and less convenient since he would have to cross 3 lanes of traffic twice (once to join the cycle path and once to get off it in 1/2 a mile where the cycle path ends at the next roundabout).
This outcome was completely unexpected, unbelievable and cyclist the country over immediately donated money to the cyclist defence fund for the appeal. A total of £25,000 has been raised. In addition, The police force in Telford (West Mercia I believe) were inundated with requests from Cyclist for a map on which public roads they are now not allowed to cycle on to avoid prosecution should they ever visit Telford.
Personally I believe those letter writing campaigns only alienate the cyclists from the police but it did effectively show the can of worms that the case open; a cyclist, a rambler, a horse ride, a tractor driver - anyone who can not move at 60 mph could be done with inconsiderate riding/driving if there is an alternative route regardless if the alternate route increases the danger or is less convenient for that user.
The Judge in charge of this case has got a reputation of controversial decisions when on May 19th he decided PC Mark Milton, an advanced police drive had done nothing wrong when he drove his unmarked police car at 159mph on a motorway and 60mph through a 30mph zone - the charge against PC Mark Milton was brought by his own employers after reviewing the onboard video footage from the police car. The decisions was overturned by a different judge at an appeal.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/England/shropshire/4559173.stm
Today is the date for the Appeal, Daniel is scheduled to appear in court at 11:00 at Shrewsbury Crown Court - Good Luck Daniel
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Categories: Personal_ Cycling_
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