Woman, 74, fined for using M25 as bike ride “short cut”

Pub bike wrote:

oozaveared wrote:

kitkat wrote:

so rather than building decent infrastructure to help non-car people get around they just ignore them and even better, get 50 quid by fining them.

Well this might not be popular but... I think the police should enforce traffic laws more rigorously. I consistently stick to this position. Riding your bike on the motorway is dangerous. And the cyclist is not the only person in danger.

I want the traffic laws to be enforced because as a vulnerable road user that's in my best interest. I'd be a hypocrite if I thought some road users should be exempt from enforcement just because they used the same means of transport as I did.

I wonder how many times motorists have been fined for driving in cycle lanes. According to the Highway Code, motorists are told "Do not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable”. I suspect the answer is smaller than the number of times they have been fined for blocking ASLs

Well if you read my post you'll see that I want more rigorous policing of traffic rules and laws. So yes I'd be happy to see more enforcement of infringements like that. But if you just call for some traffic rules to be enforced but not ones that affect your chosen form of transport. Then that will be seen as merely self serving and hypocritical.

Because I am on a bike and somewhat vulnerable I want the police to take action that makes all road users drive and ride more safely. I'd prefer that road users did this because they wanted to be nice civilised people who want safe and courteous roads, but if some only act that way for fear of prosecution then so be it.

I also happen to think that had the 74 year old woman been merely confused and/or lost and mistakenly ended up on a motorway that she would have simply been assisted off it by a friendly copper. However the "short cut" element indicates that she knew she should not be on a motorway but went on it anyway because it was a shortcut. Hence the fine.

In any case I can't abide it when other drivers moan about enforcement of speeding laws, claiming the police should have better things to do or that that they (motorists) are being victimised. It is far less common that cyclists endanger others by excessive speed but that's not say that other things some of them do like riding on busy pavements RLJ etc should not be enforced Likewise I don't have much truck with cyclists that think they should have carte blanche to break rules and that if they get fined they are being victimised.

Paul J wrote:

Yeah, riding a bicycle on a 70 mph multi-lane road, on the hard-shoulder that's guaranteed to be there, is dangerous.

Cyclists should stick to the much safer 70 mph dual-carriageways without hard-shoulders, and the 60 mph single-lane roads.

UK road/cycling safety logic at its finest.

Well true enough. So what are you saying? They should allow cyclists on to motorways (I presume along with milk floats, mopeds, tractors etc) or alternatively ban us cyclists from A roads. And what do you think is more likely?

We frequently cycle on motorways here in the UAE. Great big 12 lane motorways with most cars doing 120-140km/h and lots of heavy traffic.

It's not really a problem if you're just cycling on the hard shoulder. I don't know what everyone is getting upset about.

In fact I'd say it is safer than most urban riding because you are not having to interact with the cars - they don't have to move around you, slow down for you or do anything that involves a driver making a decision in favour of a cyclist.