The utility cyclist wrote:londoncommuter0000 wrote:The utility cyclist wrote:As others have said, we've had the discussion on here before re propelling your vehicle and some saying unless it is off the floor blah blah blah, a few scenarios have cropped up where plod have stuck their oar in accusing cyclists of running the lights because they were pushing their bikes.
I've got off on occasion to push the bike around the corner when I know there's a long phase and I'm first up or it might benefit me to get ahead if there's other issues I can see, if plod want to argue the toss I'm simply going to ignore them until they do something else in which case they can demand name etc all they like, they won't get squat from me.
The one rule of thumb you can - indeed,
must - apply to all interactions with the police, is that they will lie. All. The. Time.
There are undoubtedly 'good' coppers. But the system is designed to weed them out, until it is just the mendacious sociopaths who remain. If a policeman tells you it's Wednesday, ask for a second opinion.
Another rule is that they are by and large entirely ignorant of the law. I see this every single day. I've seen coppers arrest and charge people with offences which do not even exist. So when you say that plod will get involved, you can count on it. They've charged cyclists with 'speeding' on public roads before, and in some cases, the poor sap has just entered a guilty plea. And as magistrates aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer either - coupled with the almost inevitable (given the social strata whence most magistrates originate) propensity to believe every word the police spout, however preposterous - a fine is usually imposed, and everyone goes about their business, content that 'the system' has worked as it should.
Oh yes, have met a few of those, luckily none on cycle, in car though a few times when I was doing nothing wrong. My first rubbish encounter was not long after passing my test, was accused of stealing alloy wheels from some high up copper in the locality (this was their excuse anyway), got the sweeny style one up the back, one on the front at an angle despite me pulling over straight away (I thought they were simply wanting to come past quickly). They apparently targeted me on the basis of having the same colour car
Got a producer for my troubles despite there being no reason to as I'd done nothing wrong.
I've had the, 'you were going some, we struggled to keep up with you' - we were on a 40 approaching an elongated roundabout near where I live, I had a 75bhp 1.3 carb Astra, they had a 2.0l 16v Vectra, must have been a real struggle to catch me whilst doing 38mph!
A couple of years ago I was threatened with arrest because I didn't have my driving licence on me (I've never carried it), I just laughed at him when he said it was in the Road Traffic Act, he and his pal also made up that my tyres were screeching as I cornered around the mini rbt (despite me going around it properly and on all 4 wheels), refused to look back at his video 'evidence' when I told him how it was he who failed to signal, had poor lane discipline and cut across the mini roundabout so should be having a word to himself about the manner of his driving. The baby then deliberately obstructed me by driving at 10mph and only turned off to keep in front of me as I indicated to turn, he then tanked back down the road exceeding the speed limit (now 30) massively.
Worst was when a sergeant tried to intimidate me off from making a complaint of dangerous driving, that ended up with both he and an Inspector getting warnings on their record. The Insp trying to cover him and blew me out leaving me standing in the rain outside a station because he couldn't be buttocked to turn up to our meeting
It's not surprising that people on bikes who are assaulted and injured by motorists have no faith in them and don't bother to report because they'll do next to nothing, even when injured or killed they are rarely on your side, the Michael Mason case and indeed the Rhyl case were 4 people were slaughtered, the Inspector lied about speed being a factor (when it clearly was) was despicable, the Mason case were the MET essentially blamed Mason for the collision was disgusting.
The less I have to do with them the better frankly.