Met Police relaunch controversial Operation Safeway - fining motorists and drivers who flaunt road rules

The correct word is "flout", not "flaunt".

Putting cyclists in the cabs of HGVs? So that they will know exactly in what way the vehicle that kills them is incredibly unsafe as it bears down on them?

You might just as will let people spend 10 minutes watching knives being sharpened the day before they get stabbed, or show people round a land mine factory the day before they have their legs blown off.

Put HGV drivers on bicycles, and make them ride through rush hour, in order to qualify for their licence category. Make them do it every year, just like they have to go to a Cardio department in a hospital every year to do a treadmill test.

I originally posted this on the story about the police in Cambridge. But it's more apt here as I ride in London.

They had some PCSO's on my route home the other night. Whilst one of them was checking the front of all the bikes stopped at the lights. I pointed out to him that the car behind was in the bike box, about an inch away from my back wheel, and that he entered on a red light. I was told to "Shut up."

Sounds like a great scheme, they're targeting both drivers and cyclists and giving away free lights to those that need them - allowing them to carry on their journey safely.

I think its an excellent use of Police resources to make our roads safer. I left work in the dark recently, I couldn't see the first cyclist who was riding on a dark road with no lights until I was almost upon him.

I then stopped at the red light. The next cyclist almost hit the pedestrians on the crossing, they were all in black and very hard to see as he flew through the lights.

But will the lights provided by TfL be road legal? (i.e. be British Standard, flashing but without a fixed mode, or meet an equivalent EU standard). I suspect not, as front lights that meet these requirements are incredibly difficult to find. A recent check of my local LBS and 2 national chains failed to turn up any.

Whilst I think that any lighting is better than nothing, it's a farce that the UK lighting laws are so antiquated that no one sells legal lights. It just sends out a message that the government consider that's it's ok for cyclists to break the law when it suits.

I think the "controversy" is that there doesn't seem to be any evidence the operation is effective in improving road safety (and it seems good at harassing easy target cyclists).

Whilst I would never advocate not having lights, police resources are limited and every choice of operation will cost money.

However well intentioned this scheme is, do they know that fining cyclists without lights and handing out lights will reduce the number of incidents?

Are there better and more effective ways to reduce the number of deaths and injuries (and dare I say it ways that are more hassle for the coppers).

The police should have some idea of the efficacy of their policies, especially ones that they have done before.

Please let me clarify in case of any misunderstanding - the rules of the road are clear and cyclists should have lights at night and I do not disagree with that rule or flout it myself (https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82/overview-59-to-71) BUT is it a good use of limited resources to crackdown on cyclists not using them. How many incidents investigations have concluded that a lack of lights was the primary factor?

Cheers

FLOUT

"drivers who flaunt road rules"

Flout, flout.

Shame they can't be given the funds to run the scheme all year round. Also the Commissioner should speak out on paid per drop trucks.

Do London hipsters without lights get issued with Fixie Penalty Notices instead?

I kill me, I really do.

No problem with enforcing the law on lights, I'd even say it's quite sensible to have such a campaign following the change of the clocks.

What annoys me is this sort of nonsense, that I've just heard promoted on the radio in London - http://www.lbc.co.uk/brighter-rider-stay-safe-with-our-free-vest-99260

Quote:

Figures from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents show that 90% of accidents involving children on their bikes happen in the day. The most dangerous times are during the school run. They recommend staying safe by wearing a fluorescent vest, so LBC is giving these vests to schools right across the country.

A much better way of dealing with many of the offences is not fines but towing away the vehicle and placing the driver/rider into a sin bin for two hours. Jump red light to save a few seconds and risk loosing several hours of your time. Late for work/meeting/delivery.... Time is more precious than cash to some people.

Having lights to give away to cyclists in addition to the fine seems like a very sensible idea.

Can someone explain what makes this "controversial", though? I see that word in the article title but there's no mention of controversy in the article itself. People breaking the law being issued with FPNs hardly seems like an outrageous idea.

Contravening lights- good job we didn't cross on the green man

see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGyTGord8iY