London: police stopping cyclists for not wearing helmets

[Tonyf33]

It's easy to get through quickly. Stop, ask why you're being stopped. Then say sorry but I refuse your advice and as I have commited no offence nor have you grounds to delay me further I shall be on my way. thank you. Should take all of 20 seconds tops.
Jobs a good 'un

[thirdcrank]

It's easy to get through quickly. Stop, ask why you're being stopped. Then say sorry but I refuse your advice and as I have commited no offence nor have you grounds to delay me further I shall be on my way. thank you. Should take all of 20 seconds tops.
Jobs a good 'un

+1

I think a few hundred clips of this happening posted on youtube might also be effective.

[fluffybunnyuk]

darn wish I could afford a helmet cam...

[Vorpal]

In a probably vain attempt to relate this back to the OP, I'll mention that the police have two statutory powers involving stopping vehicles.

Unders s 35 RTA 1988 it's an offence to fail to comply with police traffic directions (note that this doesn't include a requirement that they should be in uniform, just that it should be in the execution of their duty.)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/35

s 163 of the same act makes it an offence not to stop when driving or cycling on a road when required to do so by a police officer in uniform

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/163

Note that both sections have been amended to include traffic officers as well as police.

This is also a power that the Chief Constables can grant to others under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme. So, in theory, a PCSO could be granted the power to stop and control traffic.

[Geriatrix]

From my perspective, the present situation has been reached through a prolonged reduction in traffic policing, to a point where almost anything goes.

Friday was our company Christmas party, and a time when tongues loosen. A young new recruit from AU was talking about converting his licence when a colleague chipped in "why bother".
He then went on to outline the advantages of ignoring the legal system completely.
- Low risk of getting caught
- No insurance cost
- No MOT/VED expense
- Vehicle untraceable rendering electronic trapping ineffective. You can drive as you please.
- If you cause a crash the legal censure is trivial, probably no worse than a driver legally on the road & they can't cancel or put points a licence that you don't have.
- As evidence he pointed to the travelling community who ignore social and legal conventions and are ignored by the police.

I'm alcohol intolerant (I can't drink, I go straight to hangover) so my perception was unimpaired by alcohol. His argument was fluently enough articulated that I sensed it had been carefully thought through & was more than casual banter. I was left unsure if it was tongue in cheek or not.

[snibgo]

It may have been carefully thought through but is at least partially incorrect. A person driving in the UK on a foreign licence who gets points for speeding or whatever will still get points, and can be banned. The DVLA set up a "ghost" licence for the person.

If the colleague was suggesting that the likely costs of (illegally) evading VED/MOT/insurance were trivial compared to the savings, I fear he may be correct, at least until recently.

However, with increased use of ANPR cameras both fixed and mobile, the balance may have changed.

[thirdcrank]

I'd say that if what you might call a career criminal also completely disregarded the rules about driving documents, then they'd be unlikely to get much extra punishment beyond what they got when they were sentenced from time-to-time for burglary, robbery or whatever. OTOH, they'd risk drawing attention to themselves, especially with ANPR, as snibgo suggests. So, it might be a life of cheap cars bought in pubs etc., dumped even torched as necessary with the occasional police chase etc. and not much in the way of a permanent address.

It's worth mentioning that successful (as in profit-making) baddies eg drug dealers, use frequently-changed, current year reg., rental cars to avoid PNC markers on the vehicles they are using. Even they need some sort of accommodation address for communication with the DVLA No licence = no hire car.

I don't think completely ignoring documents would be feasible for somebody with their own house, fixed address, etc. If they behaved impeccably, they might never come to notice - apart from ANPR - but if they did, there'd be the general arrest conditions, which make little difference to somebody who's probably wanted for all sorts, but would sink an "otherwise law-abiding" person.

[Geriatrix]

Moving back to the topic, I guess you have to stop cyclists for something if you need to make up the numbers:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3933789.ece

[AlaninWales]

Moving back to the topic, I guess you have to stop cyclists for something if you need to make up the numbers:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3933789.ece

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