Fine warning to cyclists witout lights

OXFORD: Cyclists without lights will be stopped and fined £30 by police in bike checks on Tuesday.

The checks will take place in High Street and Botley Road between 6pm and 9pm. Cyclists can avoid the fine by buying lights within a week.

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Comments(21)

Bartsimpson_uk says...
11:50am Wed 24 Oct 12

What a farce. Can the police please let me know when they are going to set up a speed trap in St Giles again, or let me know which speed cameras are live. Once again, one rule for law breaking cyclists and another for motorists.

Sid Hunt says...
11:52am Wed 24 Oct 12

"Cyclists can avoid the fine by buying lights within a week."

Alternatively, they could purchase said lights and use on cycles before having to be threatened with a fine.

train passenger says...
12:06pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Finally some new supply of lights. An excellent opportunity for bike thieves to nick a few! Keeps the (Chinese) economy going I suppose. I wonder how many thieves of bike lights the police has caught this year?

Dilligaf2010 says...
12:16pm Wed 24 Oct 12

It might've been better if the OM hadn't printed this story

Paul0 says...
12:57pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Perhaps all new bicycles should have built-in lights, with batteries and a backup dynamo. Then the cyclist would not have any reason not to use lights. No-one has a car without lights, do they?

Mark L. says...
1:31pm Wed 24 Oct 12

If the Police are that bored then they can come to my neighbourhood and try and catch the burglars who have carried out seven burglaries in the last three weeks. Or does that sound like too much hard work?.

Dilligaf2010 says...
2:25pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Paul0 wrote:
Perhaps all new bicycles should have built-in lights, with batteries and a backup dynamo. Then the cyclist would not have any reason not to use lights. No-one has a car without lights, do they?
Now you're just being sensible, on the continent dynamos have been a standard fit on bicycles for as long as I can remember (the first time I was there was 1968 - 1971), I've never understood why it's not the same here.

Shaun the Faun says...
2:29pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Pavlov's dogs....

Floflo says...
3:15pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Bartsimpson_uk wrote:
What a farce. Can the police please let me know when they are going to set up a speed trap in St Giles again, or let me know which speed cameras are live. Once again, one rule for law breaking cyclists and another for motorists.
Better still, why not obey the rules of the road and stick to the speed limits?

davyboy says...
6:26pm Wed 24 Oct 12

well done, OM, for giving the game away. these clampdowns should happen more frequently, and without prior warning. high st would be a good place to start! also, the fine needs to be much higher, and cycles should be seized until lights are produced!

Carfax Cabby says...
8:07pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Floflo you missed the point once again, Bart was asking why the police do not give advance warning of speed traps, not that he wants to speed. But as you started on about rules of the road, I spend 70 hours a week on the roads of Oxford, and once of twice a day I have a car pull straight out of a side road, or go over a red light forcing me to take evasive action, and once in a blue moon have one driving at me the wrong way down a one way street, but as for cyclists, the figure is at least 50-100 times a day for the above three offences. So maybe you are aiming your weapon at the wrong person in Bart.

Christine Hovis says...
9:11pm Wed 24 Oct 12

Dilligaf2010 wrote:
It might've been better if the OM hadn't printed this story
The Police did tweet about this.

The point is not to alert people that they might get caught, but to remind them that they should follow the rules. That's the best way of sorting this. It's not fear of the police that should be driving our behaviour, but the understanding that it's not safe.

AJcyclist says...
8:49am Thu 25 Oct 12

Carfax Cabby wrote:
Floflo you missed the point once again, Bart was asking why the police do not give advance warning of speed traps, not that he wants to speed. But as you started on about rules of the road, I spend 70 hours a week on the roads of Oxford, and once of twice a day I have a car pull straight out of a side road, or go over a red light forcing me to take evasive action, and once in a blue moon have one driving at me the wrong way down a one way street, but as for cyclists, the figure is at least 50-100 times a day for the above three offences. So maybe you are aiming your weapon at the wrong person in Bart.
As both a cyclist and a driver, I can only sympathize with Carfax Cabby. However, not all cyclists behave as stupidly as this, and those of us who are well mannered wish the others didn't. With regard to the lights, prevention is indeed better than cure and if the story encourages some people to get 'lit up' then that's a good thing. Many cyclists won't see it, and the law breakers will still be cycling around without lights so that the police can catch them!

Cathena says...
10:13am Thu 25 Oct 12

Add Cowley Road and side streets to the list.

Floflo says...
12:41pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Carfax Cabby wrote:
Floflo you missed the point once again, Bart was asking why the police do not give advance warning of speed traps, not that he wants to speed. But as you started on about rules of the road, I spend 70 hours a week on the roads of Oxford, and once of twice a day I have a car pull straight out of a side road, or go over a red light forcing me to take evasive action, and once in a blue moon have one driving at me the wrong way down a one way street, but as for cyclists, the figure is at least 50-100 times a day for the above three offences. So maybe you are aiming your weapon at the wrong person in Bart.
Police regularly warn of speed cameras.

Carfax Cabby says...
7:41pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Floflo says...
12:41pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Carfax Cabby wrote:
Floflo you missed the point once again, Bart was asking why the police do not give advance warning of speed traps, not that he wants to speed. But as you started on about rules of the road, I spend 70 hours a week on the roads of Oxford, and once of twice a day I have a car pull straight out of a side road, or go over a red light forcing me to take evasive action, and once in a blue moon have one driving at me the wrong way down a one way street, but as for cyclists, the figure is at least 50-100 times a day for the above three offences. So maybe you are aiming your weapon at the wrong person in Bart.
Police regularly warn of speed cameras.

Not wishing to get into an argument with you Floflo (i have enough of that from my passengers) but I have never known the police to publish that there will be a speed trap in St Giles at 10am on Tuesday 30th October, or publish a list of which speed cameras are live or which are dummies at any given time, nor have I ever been given the option of getting off scott free from any offence. But that is only to my knowledge, and I am always willing to be put right and to learn. So if you have a link where I can see the time day and place of a speed trap being publicised in Oxford or an instance of a complete amnesty being offered to drivers then I stand to be corrected, and offer my apologies.

OxonExile50 says...
9:54pm Fri 26 Oct 12

Rather than fine them there should be a short bill which might be called the Road Safety(Cyclists) Bill & it would say that if cyclists without lights are involved in accidents they are held to be liable. I know there are bad drivers but cyclists without lights ALL have death wishes.Clearly they dont value their own safety-or that of anybody else? The argument about cost doesnt wash either. If you cant afford them then bloody well walk.

shipscat says...
2:05pm Sun 28 Oct 12

You can buy a front light and a back light and four batteries fior a grand total of 3quid in poundland so cost does not come into it however stupidity does.

davyboy says...
5:31pm Sun 28 Oct 12

Carfax Cabby wrote:
Floflo you missed the point once again, Bart was asking why the police do not give advance warning of speed traps, not that he wants to speed. But as you started on about rules of the road, I spend 70 hours a week on the roads of Oxford, and once of twice a day I have a car pull straight out of a side road, or go over a red light forcing me to take evasive action, and once in a blue moon have one driving at me the wrong way down a one way street, but as for cyclists, the figure is at least 50-100 times a day for the above three offences. So maybe you are aiming your weapon at the wrong person in Bart.
completely agree with you there. oxfords cyclists in the main are pretty reasonable, but there are those with a death wish, who make it bad for all.

sparky123456 says...
5:23pm Tue 30 Oct 12

did you know that in Belgium if a cyclist is caught cycling whilst drunk or at night without lights etc they get fined but if they have a driving license they can also get points! pretty mad but i bet it stops them.

locodogz says...
5:29pm Tue 30 Oct 12

Bartsimpson_uk wrote:
What a farce. Can the police please let me know when they are going to set up a speed trap in St Giles again, or let me know which speed cameras are live. Once again, one rule for law breaking cyclists and another for motorists.
I drove from Oxford to Southwold this weekend and encountered several notices warning me of the presence of both regular speed cameras and average speed cameras - interestingly I was able to adjust my speed accordingly to avoid falling foul of any of them.

I also believe, if you are stupid enough to get caught speeding, that you may be offered the opportunity to attend a speed awareness course and mitigate part of your penalty?

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