Take that you lardy wheezing gammons.
-------------------------------

Anti-social or dangerous cycling “has not been flagged as a priority”, police in Hertfordshire have said, after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request found that no one has been prosecuted for cycling-related offences in St Albans or Harpenden since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic..

The FOI request, submitted by the Herts Advertiser (link is external), revealed that Hertfordshire Constabulary has not logged any cycling offences or taken any action against cyclists in the two locations during the past two years.

The newspaper submitted the request in the wake of a controversial proposal by then-transport secretary Grant Shapps – the MP for the nearby Welwyn Hatfield constituency – to implement tougher laws for cyclists and to review how people on bikes who break the law can be tracked and prosecuted, including the much-derided and swiftly discarded pledge to introduce bike registration plates.

A spokesperson for Hertfordshire Constabulary told the newspaper that the lack of cycling-related prosecutions is a result of the police force’s decision to prioritise educating and informing motorists of their responsibility to keep more vulnerable road users safe.

The spokesperson also explained that, since 2020, there have been no incidents resulting in serious injuries or fatalities in which a cyclist was at fault in St Albans.

“Anti-social or dangerous cycling has not been flagged as a priority in St Albans,” the police spokesperson said. “Local policing priorities are updated using feedback submitted by members of the public via our community voice platform echo, and through local forum meetings.

“We do support national road safety campaigns, in conjunction with the Hertfordshire Road Safety Partnership, but as per the latest Highway Code cyclists are now considered vulnerable road users and as such the priority for these campaigns is to educate and inform other motorists about their responsibility to use roads safely, to ensure that they are safe for all users.

“If someone was seen to be cycling dangerously or in a manner that puts other road users at risk, and this was witnessed by an officer, they would seek to engage, educate and inform them.

“In terms of our Road Policing Unit, a cyclist would only be prosecuted if they were the cause of a serious injury or fatal road traffic collision – none of which have (sic) occurred in St Albans, therefore the lack of prosecutions/offences recorded.”

https://road.cc/content/news/dangerous-cycling-not-priority-police-force-says-296279

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> A spokesperson for Hertfordshire Constabulary told the newspaper that the
> lack of cycling-related prosecutions is a result of the police force’s
> decision to prioritise educating and informing motorists of their
> responsibility to keep more vulnerable road users safe.

I can see Hertfordshire Constabulary heading for a new Chief Constable.

To overlook the wrongdoing of cyclists while lecturing drivers on how to
‘keep cyclists safe’ shows massive disdain for the rights of pedestrians
and how cyclists are supposed to keep them safe.

> https://road.cc/content/news/dangerous-cycling-not-priority-police-force-says-296279

--
Spike

Seems very reasonable to me. Are they any good at dealing with cyclist cam footage for capturing poor and dangerous driving?

Who knows? But that's not the point. They've shut up the rabble rousing local rag, by a calm and clear explanation of the facts, so that seems like good solid British policing to me.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Who knows? But that's not the point. They've shut up the rabble rousing
> local rag, by a calm and clear explanation of the facts, so that seems
> like good solid British policing to me.

‘Good solid British policing’ = ignoring crime in order to lecture people
on non-crime.

--
Spike

In terms of our Road Policing Unit, a cyclist would only be prosecuted if they were the cause of a serious injury or fatal road traffic collision – none of which have (sic) occurred in St Albans, therefore the lack of prosecutions/offences recorded.”

Needs to be louder for the dickheads at the back.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> In terms of our Road Policing Unit, a cyclist would only be prosecuted if
> they were the cause of a serious injury or fatal road traffic collision –
> none of which have (sic) occurred in St Albans, therefore the lack of
> prosecutions/offences recorded.”
>
> Needs to be louder for the dickheads at the back.

IOW…for the dickheads on their bicycles….pedestrians will continue to need
to be martyred before the scourge of the cycle is controlled🚶‍♂️🚴🚓

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Spike

Look at the twitter feed of the person who raised the FOI request. It's utterly pathetic, he's complaining about old ladies cycling on the pavement in St Peter Street (the high street in St Albans, often massively traffic congested, no cycle infrastructure at all).

Yeah, I'm not surprised the police aren't prioritising enforcing the law against old ladies getting home from the shops a bit more safely.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Look at the twitter feed of the person who raised the FOI request. It's
> utterly pathetic, he's complaining about old ladies cycling on the
> pavement in St Peter Street (the high street in St Albans, often
> massively traffic congested, no cycle infrastructure at all).

> Yeah, I'm not surprised the police aren't prioritising enforcing the law
> against old ladies getting home from the shops a bit more safely.
It’s the Lycra Louts that are the problem, decking people with one punch,
etc.

--
Spike

On Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 6:35:36 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> Take that you lardy wheezing gammons.
> -------------------------------
>
They stated there had been no incident where cyclists were responsible for a case of death or serious injury and those are what would be prosecuted.

They also pointed out that if a cyclist was seen committing an offence (such as running a red light) they would be spoken to.

NONE WAS NEEDED.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 6:35:36 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Take that you lardy wheezing gammons.
>> -------------------------------
>>
> They stated there had been no incident where cyclists were responsible
> for a case of death or serious injury and those are what would be prosecuted.

> They also pointed out that if a cyclist was seen committing an offence
> (such as running a red light) they would be spoken to.

> NONE WAS NEEDED.

Nelson pulled a similar trick at Trafalgar.

--
Spike

Well I notice the Herts Ad is an Archant publication,same group who own the majority of local newspapers in Suffolk & Norfolk, it being based in Norwich, though actually owned by Newsquest now I think.

And it's a fairly common tactic of that stable of publications, to "create" stories out of FOI requests into the police as filler, some more examples like these that are very similar tone

https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/all-16-cyclists-fined-riding-paveme... (link is external)

https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/fall-in-cyclist-fixed-penalty-notic... (link is external)

Inevitably they promote lots of reader debate in comments, more so on Facebook and ad clicks which generates revenue, so you can see why they do it as local newspapers just dont make any profit anymore