Cycling UK Forum

I wouldn't be riding there, even if the road was good!!

I was told to stick far enough away so cars have to take notice, ride like a car was the basic advice for junctions etc so you slow those behind you until you are safe and can move safely to the side.

if they wont clear the gutters of all the glass and crap, I don't see why we should ride in them. and motorists abuse cyclelanes as parking here in birmingham.

I do get fed up with police sometimes they seem to think the only things that count is the car, then wonder why terrified cyclists take to the pavement

Lincolnshire's police are rubbish. Please make a formal complaint about them instructing cyclists to put themselves in danger contrary to Cyclecraft, Bikeability and so on.

My normal position is primary position. If the road is wide, I'll move left to secondary, but never so far left that a fall will clear the verge and put me face-first into the ditch or hedge typically lining roads around here.

mjr wrote:Lincolnshire's police are rubbish. Please make a formal complaint about them instructing cyclists to put themselves in danger contrary to Cyclecraft, Bikeability and so on. ....

I seem to have missed something here. I thought this was a bit of a rant about the riding style of a couple of special constables (volunteers.) Even if they were PCSO's (police employees with few powers and little training) I can't see how this amounts to "instructing cyclists to put themselves in danger." I've carefully searched the rest of the thread to ensure that that hasn't happened to somebody else, but the other posts all seem to relate to local authority advice.

For anybody who does decide to complain about this or anything else, here's the IPCC form. It doesn't ask for details about what happened, so I presume they ask for that when somebody makes contact. An opportunity for careful selection of the wording.

My experience from riding with PCSOs is that if you've got a bright yellow stab vest with the word "POLICE" on it you can ride where you like in the road as everyone gives you loads of room......however, you are best to do it really slowly as those things weigh a ton!

The PCSOs I've been with seem to be OK riders and have been trained (I've helped train some of them and they seemed keen to learn).

thirdcrank wrote:Even if they were PCSO's (police employees with few powers and little training) I can't see how this amounts to "instructing cyclists to put themselves in danger."

Sorry - I misread "2 Specials Constables on bikes pulled out onto the road ahead of me" as meaning they had stopped tykeboy2003 to advise him but I see now it can obviously be read another way. I also misread Leicestershire as Lincolnshire (in mitigation, I suspect there are more tykes in Lincs than Leics).

"In my day" if ever there was something involving police on pedal cycles, it was rarely more than a media opportunity: pictures in the local rag then bikes forgotten in the garage. There are differing views on PCSO's but many now seem to cycle at work as a matter of routine. That seems to me to be a good thing.