Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has posted a video to Twitter of a motorist driving along a segregated cycle path in Hyde Park before mounting the pavement to get back on the road.
The video was shot on Thursday afternoon as Vine cycled south through the park along West Carriage Drive.
Not every day you find a car on Hyde Park’s cycle path. But of course this is Kensington in @RBKC, where the council is ripping out cycle lanes — so some drivers think they can go wherever the hell they want pic.twitter.com/7HRIZ4rTA7
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) January 7, 2021
Vine pithily suggests that drivers in the area have acquired an increased sense of entitlement because the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is “ripping out cycle lanes.”
This is a reference to the pop-up lane on Kensington High Street, the removal of which the council has today said it is to reconsider.
However, as Vine notes in his video, RBKC does not in fact maintain the roads within Hyde Park, which are the responsibility of Royal Parks.
In 2014 Vine was stopped by a police officer for speeding in Hyde Park after being clocked cycling at 16mph.
Royal Parks later told him that there was no legal speed limit for cyclists in Hyde Park, but cyclists were asked to adhere to the 5mph speed limit that applies to motorists on the path he had been on.
52 thoughts on “Jeremy Vine films motorist driving down Hyde Park cycle path”
Given the road was free
Given the road was free-flowing, I’m guessing the driver got disorientated and accidentally ended up on the cycle lane
Definitely a possibility.
Definitely a possibility. Sometimes people are found going the wrong way around a roundabout or up the motorway. So it needs to be asked, was the defect in the road layout or the motorist?
Erm the motorist.
Erm the motorist.
I really don’t think it needs
I really don’t think it needs to be asked.
From my neck of the woods, a
From my neck of the woods, a number of drivers have got confused over entering the guided bus routes. They are well signed and even when they find themselves driving on raised concrete rails a number still don’t stop until they hit a tank trap.
Nigel Garrage wrote:
Is that an excuse?
If it is, do you think the motorist is fit to be behind the wheel?
Perhaps they were impared through drink or drugs, or were incompetent or other.
What is clear, is that they posed a safety hazzard to vulnerable groups and should be reprimanded and required to go on a driving improving course..
Projectcyclingfitness wrote:
Looking at the video, there was a car park near the start of the segment, if the driver exited from there she would have seen the cycle lane markings which she crossed several times so if she made a mistake why didn’t she just reverse up and exit properly or drive over the kerb onto the road.
From the way she acknowledged JV, I get the impression that she doesn’t agree with bike lanes or doesn’t understand what a bike lane is especially as she drove at a cyclist heading in the opposite direction, typical reaction from drivers who think cyclists are on the wrong side of the road. Either way she’s not fit to hold a driving licence
Projectcyclingfitness wrote:
No it was the most plausible explanation I ciuld think of, as there was no rational reason for the driver to be in the cycle lane (usually drivers make transgressions to save a few seconds from their journey).
I was neither blaming nor excusing anything so sorry if you felt triggered.
It appeared to be a ditzy
It appeared to be a ditzy middle aged female driver.. still, she kept her speed down and didn’t hit anyone, so there’s that.
Nigel Garrage wrote:
I ride through there regularly, the driver must have exited the carpark at the west end of the Serpentine and taken a wrong turn. The signage could not be more clear, anyone capable of mistaking the cycle path for the roadway there should hand in their licence right now and never drive again.
You can see that in the video
You can see that in the video, they must have almost taken out the cyclist that you see first pass Jeremy just when his Kensignton text is on the screen. (Although no lights and black clothing in dusk is not smart, I;ll give the benefit that the camera made it look darker then what it was.)
If they had travelled a few metres and realised their mistake, then oh well. But it is about 600 metres down a busy cycle lane with plenty of spaces to rectify and move onto the correct section of road. At the end they compound it by driving straight over the curb. So not just bikes but peds even more ar risk. Police definitely need a word and maybe they should get their eyes tested as well.
Well said. It’s the same with
Well said. It’s the same with bus lanes, but they are protected by enforcement cameras despite that passengers are not at risk from non bus drivers as cyclists are – proving safety for environmentally friendly cyclists is NOT a priority for authorities, being anti-cylist and cowardly corrupt.
Cars are far more likely to
Cars are far more likely to use bus lanes than cycle lanes, hence the enforcement measures; there is a funny video where a yobbo decides to drive on a bike path to abuse 2 cyclists riding the road alongside – the cyclists were off duty cops..
https://www.bicyclingaustralia.com.au/news/viral-video-he-drove-on-a-bike-path-and-abused-cyclists-on-the-road-who-were-cops
A9JHJ is the VRN.
A9JHJ is the VRN.
In 2014 Vine was stopped by a
In 2014 Vine was stopped by a police officer for speeding in Hyde Park after being clocked cycling at 16mph.
many years ago, before the cycle infrastructure, my brother was stopped by the police for cycling (slowly) on the pavement at the top of the park by Marble Arch. Lots of people used to do it becuase of the hideously dangerous roundabout and the pavement is very wide – in fact it’s where the current cycle lane has now been built. Anyway, he refused to pay the fine. So the Police threatened him with court. He still refused. So they actually took him to court. He went to court, stood up, explained to the magistrate exactly why he was riding on the pavement, the dangers of the road, the lack of infrastructure and the magistrate agreed and sent him on his way telling Police to think more carefully before prosecuting needlessly.
Any chance of providing the
Any chance of providing the court case reference? Just something to quote in case I get in trouble for this in future, particularly when cycling with nervous/inexperienced riders?
By the way, if anyone tells you that you must use the cycle lane, the court case that establishes that cyclists don’t have to is R. v. Daniel Cadden, 2007. Court case was courtesy of the Cyclist Defense Fund.
the little onion wrote:
Or maybe get off your bike and push it when you need to use the pavement? Then you won’t risk going to court
Don’t trade others’ safety for your convenience.
[/quote]
“(Or maybe get off your bike and push it when you need to use the pavement? Then you won’t risk going to court
Don’t trade others’ safety for your convenience.)”
Or perhaps we should order you not to order others.
Let’s see how brave you are at ordering motorists NOT to drive on pavements, nor park on them, nor drive on bus lanes or cycle lanes or in parks or in streets where children play.
Post your video showing how brave you are aswel ordering these reckless motorists to get out of their cars and push them.
pedestrian-pete wrote:
Pedestrian pete
Or perhaps we should order you not to order others.
Let’s see how brave you are at ordering motorists NOT to drive on pavements, nor park on them, nor drive on bus lanes or cycle lanes or in parks or in streets where children play.
Post your video showing how brave you are aswel ordering these reckless motorists to get out of their cars and push them.
Who is ‘we’?
Who is ‘we’?
The equivalent of posting that comment on a cycling website is to post the same on a car user website.
Projectcyclingfitness wrote:
Or maybe get off your bike and push it when you need to use the pavement? Then you won’t risk going to court
Don’t trade others’ safety for your convenience.
— pedestrian-pete Pedestrian pete Or perhaps we should order you not to order others. Let’s see how brave you are at ordering motorists NOT to drive on pavements, nor park on them, nor drive on bus lanes or cycle lanes or in parks or in streets where children play. Post your video showing how brave you are aswel ordering these reckless motorists to get out of their cars and push them.— the little onion
Ridiculous whataboutery that has nothing to do with the issue mentioned. Are you saying that it’s OK for us as cyclists to ignore the law because motorists do? It appears so, in which case you’re being ridiculous. If a rider is too “nervous/inexperienced” to ride on the road then they can walk their bike on the pavement until they reach a place they feel they are safe. It’s not OK for adults to decide they can break the law on cycling on the pavement when they feel like it.
Rendel Harris wrote:
But there is officially sanctioned room for discretion assuming the cyclist breaking the law on cycling on the footway is doing so with good reason and in a responsible manner.
https://road.cc/content/news/108119-transport-minister-responsible-cyclists-can-ride-pavement
Sriracha wrote:
Point taken but I don’t think those two points are mutually exclusive. Unless the footpath is virtually empty of pedestrians and the cyclist rides at walking pace (in which case why not just walk?) I can’t see it being responsible. Thinking of my 8-mile commute through London, I can’t think of any section that a novice might regard as dangerous that can’t be skipped over onto safer roads or cycle paths with more than fifty yards’ walk. For the sake of preventing the ill will pavement cycling engenders (rightly or wrongly) why not just walk?
Rendel Harris wrote:
cyclist pushing a bike is wider than a cyclist riding a bike, and also pedals bashing shins while pushing a bike is annoying.
Riding slowly on the pavement as per the original description should not put anyone at risk.
Meanwhile we face complaints for riding at 20mph on a road, instead of using the shared path which is no different to a standard pavement
wycombewheeler wrote:
Cyclists who are too nervous/inexperienced to brave the road would tend to be the ones who wobble about at low speed, wouldn’t they? And anyone who can’t co-ordinate themselves to push a bike along without clobbering their shins probably isn’t ready for riding a bike anywhere!
10 kph is considered safe for
10 kph is considered safe for mobility scooters to use footpaths, which is running pace not walking pace, so why would it be irresponsible for cyclists to ride at 10 kph, given that a bicycle is half the width and much lighter than a mobility scooter, so less likely to injure a pedestrian.
grOg wrote:
That is not the case. Mobility scooters are only permitted to drive at 4mph (6kph), fast walking pace, on footpaths. You can buy faster scooters (Class 3, top speed 8mph) for use on the road but they have, by law, to be switched to a 4mph setting when taken onto a footpath.
Render Harris wrote:
Oh? I thought that in the UK any electric scooter bought privately was not legal for use on public roads or footpaths, in fact not legal anywhere other than private property.
Sriracha wrote:
We’re talking about mobility scooters, the ride-on sit-down ones used by the elderly and disabled, not the two-wheeled ones that have become so popular recently, which are indeed illegal everywhere unless part of an approved rental scheme.
pedestrian-pete wrote:
I know the law treats walking alongside a bike differently from being on a bike, but it’s the speed that matters. Walking alongside a bike actually takes more of the path up than being on the bike and going slowly. That’s a bigger issue at the moment due to social distancing. Though in an ideal world a cyclist would have decent infrastructure and not need to leave the road constantly to avoid parked cars, potholes, etc.
Jenova20 wrote:
Not sure I follow your logic. To observe 2m social distancing everybody needs a 1m radius exclusion zone around them. Your bike can quite easily trundle beside you within that 1m radius without conflict. If anything, it discourages others getting too close.
It is both really, depending
It is both really, depending on the locale it can either be used to impose a barrier, or depending on the path, other objects and the ability of someone to wait, it can push people closer together where the space the bike is taking is reducing the ability to move out the way and give yourself space.
Sriracha wrote:
Not sure which country you’re referring to mate, but in the UK pavement sizes vary wildly from town to town – anything from half a metre to a few metres wide in some places.
Sure, but if social
Sure, but if social distancing is your concern then we are talking about 2m. The bike is only an issue if you are trying to crowd people closer than 2m. So in normal times walking your bike along a crowded pavement I can see that it gets in the way. But currently with everybody supposed to maintain a 2m clearance from everybody else there is ample room for the bike alongside in that empty space, mate.
Sriracha wrote:
There’s practically nowhere near me, except the high street, where pavements are a metre wide. Walk alongside a bike and you’ve blocked the pavement. A one size fits all approach won’t work, that’s why the police are being asked to use discretion.
I was replying to your point
I was replying to your point that the space taken up by walking (as opposed to being astride) your bike was a “bigger issue at the moment due to social distancing”.
How? You’re saying that the bicycle being beside you gets in the way of keeping people away from you?
Sriracha wrote:
No, i was saying that having the bike beside me would force people, or me, into the road, just to walk down the street. If i wanted to keep people away on generous sized pavement then the bike would act as a good barrier.
Jenova20 wrote:
There’s practically nowhere near me, except the high street, where pavements are a metre wide. Walk alongside a bike and you’ve blocked the pavement. A one size fits all approach won’t work, that’s why the police are being asked to use discretion.— Sriracha
I know of at least one shared use path that is barely a metre wide – and it is a 40 mph limit – https://goo.gl/maps/nXqDhFxx5SZvuXBy7
The mansions next to the path all have enourmous front gardens and could easily spare 2-3 metres to make a nice wide path – heck the path could probably gain at least .5 metres if the council ordered the owners to remove their over grown vegetation from the path.
The obvious logic is that
The obvious logic is that riding a bike allows more distance passing others on a footpath than if the cyclist was walking on the footpath alongside the bike.
How do work that out? If you
How do work that out? If you both keep left when approaching, then it makes no difference. If overtaking, you simply swap sides with your bike if required.
pedestrian-pete wrote:
The prohibition against cycling on the pavement is probably as much for cyclist safety as it is for pedestrian safety – if not more so.
Most states in Australia it’s
Most states in Australia it’s legal for cyclists to ride on pedestrian paths, as long as they give way to any pedestrians; all states allow motorised mobility scooters and postie motorbikes to travel up to 10 kph on footpaths; conversely, pedestrians are not allowed to use bike paths; so best not to move to Australia, as your outrage would fall on deaf ears.
grOg wrote:
That’s a bit disingenuous as Victoria and NSW both ban it and they are home to almost exactly two-thirds of Australia’s population.
It was a while back – and I’d
It was a while back – and I’d have to ask my brother. We are talking 20 years ago.
You have a brave brother
You have a brave brother standing up against the might of cops and CPS (seeminly cowardly anti-cylist), and taking a chance in court.
Did he represent himself or use a brief?
Certainly would be helpful for any details of the cae.
Spotted someone doing this
Spotted someone doing this the other day as well, must happen often. Reported it to the Met and they didn’t prosecute, is there not a specific law against this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZwHX6nzsLI
Howabout driving without due
Howabout driving without due care & attention perhaps…they didnt prosecute because they cant be bothered more like, than there isnt a law they could use.
Part of what annoys me most about the Derbyshire lot fining people for going on a walk with a takeaway coffee, insta £200 fine, but how many drivers have been given more than a warning letter for risking cyclists lives by the manner of their driving, how many insta £200 fines do they hand out for that stuff, answer none because its treated as just one of those things that happens.
Lazy corrupt anti-cylist cops
Lazy corrupt anti-cylist cops explains their lack of care towards vulnerable group’s road safety, despite it being their public duty, that is unless it’s one of their own at risk, and then they expect public sympathises.
lukei1 wrote:
Have you just not heard from the Met? Because they’re taking a fair bit longer than usual to respond at the moment, I got an email last week saying they’d sent an NIP on the back of one of my submissions over three weeks after the event.
Alternatively, they may not have jurisdiction over that road: roads in the Royal Parks are not public highways but and come under the purview of the Royal Parks and their dedicated police force.
More police patrols by bike
More police patrols by bike might help. Then maybe they’ll realise how dangerous some of these drivers are, and actually appreciate that it’s a lot of work to cut and post dashcam footage to them – just for the driver to get a warning.
It happens. Once you’ve made
It happens. Once you’ve made the mistake it’s difficult know how to correct it.
I managed to find myself driving in a cycle lane many, many years ago. It was a dark and stormy night 🙂 I was heading to the Dartford Tunnel when my windscreen wipers failed and I spotted what looked like a handy layby. When I bounced over the kerb I realised my mistake. I got the wipers working again then drove very slowly to the end of the cycle lane, explained myself to the Dartford Tunnel guy, carried on through the tunnel, paid the extortionate half a crown* toll and went on my way.
* Half a crown, i.e. 2/6, two shillings and sixpence (12.5p). I told you it was a long time ago. 😉
* Half a crown, i.e. 2/6, two
* Half a crown, i.e. 2/6, two shillings and sixpence (12.5p). I told you it was a long time ago.
Joy! Another Old Knacker. I feel like Robinson Crusoe coming across Man Friday’s footprint in the sand.