Police mistakenly stop cyclist for flashing rear light

Police stopped a cyclist for having a rear red flashing light last week before Googling it and realising it is legal after all.

Kingsbridge Police, part of Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, posted on social media – a post which now appears to have been removed - that they had stopped a man and reprimanded him for having a flashing rear light on the back of his bicycle, only to post later on with a message saying ‘seems it’s legal. Every day’s a school day’.

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According to Kingsbridge Today the police wrote: ‘I believe it is an offence to have any flashing lights to the rear - however to give a ticket is at an officer’s discretion.’

‘Our current traffic theme is ‘road user visibility’ which means we may stop pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders or cars to advise them about how visible they aren’t being to others.’

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However a few hours later they issued a clarification, saying: ‘Ignore what I said. We were curious and just googled it and it seems it’s now legal. Every day’s a school day.’

According to Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations cyclists must show a front white and rear red light, which can be flashing or steady, as well as rear red reflectors and amber pedal reflectors.