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More than 40 cyclists fined in Manchester crackdown – but police find motorists are committing double the offences

Fined cyclists can opt to take a £30 course instead of paying the £50 penalty

A two week crackdown in Greater Manchester has resulted in more than 40 cyclists being fined. However, the latest phase of Operation Considerate also involves educating drivers on being ‘cyclist aware’ with police saying they have seen double the number of motorists committing offences.

The Manchester Evening News reports how in the last two weeks police have fined seven cyclists for running red lights, 10 for riding on footpaths and a further 24 for having no lights.

As part of the project, those fined are also being given the option to undertake a £30 online course instead of paying the £50 penalty.

Gareth Walker, a road policing support officer who helped develop the programme, said:

“We are educating cyclists in Greater Manchester to follow the rules of the Highway Code on key arterial routs. Some motorists who commit speeding offences or drive with mobile phones are offered similar courses.

“Over the last three years, we have been trying to devise a degree of parity if you commit minor cycling offences and this course will train cyclists to ride safely. Just like with the driver-alertness course, this gives cyclists the same opportunity to be educated.

“We are trying to make our roads and cycling safer. If we see a cyclist at night without lights then we will give them lights.”

Walker also said that police had never seen a case of dangerous cycling in the two years that Operation Considerate has been running and in the last two weeks officers actually found motorists were committing double the offences cyclists were.

“This is not aimed at penalising cyclists, but educating everyone so we can all get to our destinations safely,” said Walker.

Police say drivers of buses, taxis, and HGVs are also being educated on being ‘cyclist aware’ as part of the operation.

Nick Hubble from Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign said he felt that Greater Manchester Police were targeting cycling when distracted driving was a far more common and dangerous offence.

“We’ve engaged with police on this. We don’t endorse anti-social cycling. However, we recognise that to a very large extent road traffic laws are made for the benefit of motorists and there are certain situations where it’s safer on a bike to break the law.

“The answer as far as we are concerned is to keep pushing for proper separate infrastructure so everyone has an intuitive part of the road.”

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13 comments

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Manchestercyclist | 8 years ago
3 likes

I cycle through manchester city centre twice a day on my commute to Oldham and the story is alwasy the same,

An amber light means go faster

Talking on a phone is a legitimate way to multitasking

The box junctions are entirely optional (even when the include a tram line)

Cycle lanes are actually parking spaces

Finally and most importantly

The likelyhood of the police or a PCSO seeing, then acting upon any of the road rules is so small you've got nothing to worry about

Avatar
Condor Andy replied to Manchestercyclist | 8 years ago
1 like

GREGJONES wrote:

I cycle through manchester city centre twice a day on my commute to Oldham and the story is alwasy the same,

An amber light means go faster

Talking on a phone is a legitimate way to multitasking

The box junctions are entirely optional (even when the include a tram line)

Cycle lanes are actually parking spaces

Finally and most importantly

The likelyhood of the police or a PCSO seeing, then acting upon any of the road rules is so small you've got nothing to worry about

All of these points make me angry, especially the "Amber light means go faster" and the box junctions one.  The number of drivers who occupy their own little world and think only of themselves is frightening.

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 8 years ago
5 likes

Driving in the Bolton area is truly shocking and some of the worst I have ever come across. Cycle lanes are routinely parked in. It's just a terrible place to drive in. Manchgester itself isn't too bad in comparison.

I take my hat off to anyone who has the courage to cycle in this part of the world. And this begs the question of how long it will be before it becomes acceptable to "run a red light"? If there have been no accidents, then surely there is no danger, and we need to look at changing the law. They are not slowing the traffic down they are possibly speeding up the flow, so we should be looking at improving the infastructure to accommodate more cyclist.

Taxi drivers are probably a bigger danger to the population as a whole. They are a law unto themselves.

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Leviathan | 8 years ago
1 like

Wait until you see the money they have spunked away on the disasterous Oxford/Wilmslow Road.

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brooksby | 8 years ago
0 likes

Does "double the number of motorists" mean literally that or 'per 1000 transport-mode-users' or what? Given that I imagine that there're a lot more than double the number of motorists than cyclists on the road then I hope it's the latter. Numbers need context, people.

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AJ101 | 8 years ago
4 likes

Motorists warned, cyclists fined. This policy doesn't seem right to me.

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severs1966 | 8 years ago
5 likes

The police themselves stated that motorists were seen committing double the number of offences, but they didn't stop them and charge them?

Were the officers involved briefed to deliberately carry out an anti-cycling operation, as opposed to performing policing that maximises public safety?

Avatar
crazy-legs replied to severs1966 | 8 years ago
3 likes

severs1966 wrote:

The police themselves stated that motorists were seen committing double the number of offences, but they didn't stop them and charge them?

Were the officers involved briefed to deliberately carry out an anti-cycling operation, as opposed to performing policing that maximises public safety?

The way that this "crackdown" works is as follows.

Pick a busy junction - usually Deansgate or Oxford Road during evening rush hour. Put 1 or 2 Police and about 3-4 PCSO's on this junction, all hi-vis'd up. This of course has the effect similar to seeing a police car on a motorway when everyone puts the phone down and drives at 69mph. Here they put their phones down, fasten their seatbelts and generally behave themselves for a few moments.

Cyclists of course don't have this option - they've either got lights or they haven't. Further up the road (maybe 100m or so) there are another 3-4 Police and 1-2 PCSOs. They've been radioed by their colleagues at the junction, they step out into the road and pull you over.

This is extremely easy for bikes, you just stand in front of one and when pulled over it fits by the kerb no problem, the rider is surrounded.

It's very difficult for cars. Firstly, the driver has suddenly started behaving so although you may suspect them of phone use, you can't prove it without the time consuming effort of phone records. Secondly, when pulled over, cars take up a lot of space so that affects traffic flow and usually there's only space for one car there anyway. So while Car A gets pulled, the 4 law breakers behind him all get though because there's simply no space to pull them over. But you can pull 5 cyclists into the same space using the same resources.

They do film it though so they can always send out a warning letter to the registered owner by post afterwards. Of course, the owner can deny actually being at the wheel and therefore it's just a warning rather than points and a fine.

Don't get me wrong, Im happy to see Police out on the beat, I just wish they'd put their resources into real effective policing than publicity friendly "crackdowns".

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Housecathst | 8 years ago
0 likes

Another police force with a clear excess of funds, where's Gideon when we need him. 

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StraelGuy | 8 years ago
1 like

Crazy-legs is right. I have to cross the chaos that is the huge juction where Trafford Rd crosses the A56 onto White City Way every morning (in my car). There are idiots in the wrong lane everywhere, people ignoring the red lights, ignoring the box juctions and causing gridlock. The traffic management is absolutely appalling, they need red light cameras on EVERY traffic light to dissuade all the cretins.

I wouldn't dream of cycling in urban Manchester and have huge respect for the few of my colleagues who do. 

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crazy-legs | 8 years ago
0 likes

Traffic in and around Manchester last night was awful, really heavy. Near gridlock in places. Literally every other driver was using the phone, presumably texting home to say how late they'd be. Junctions blocked by idiots turning in and across with no exit available. Red lights being routinely ignored.

And yet you get one cyclist without lights and you'll have a SWAT team round them in seconds. Well done Manchester! Focusing on the real issues of the day!

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ridein | 8 years ago
0 likes

Were the drivers cited and fined as well?

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ironmancole | 8 years ago
8 likes

Wow.  Stories like this are beyond annoying, they're anger inducing.

In Northampton the drivers here vary between careful and pretty considerate to outright lethal and will drive through you/at you without a second thought.  It is part of the unofficial war that government refuses to acknowledge.

We too have limited road policing (Camerons 'road safety' cuts but he does at the same time of course think road safety is important - you work that out) so considering the real threat on the roads why do police feel the need to continually compare cycling offences with motoring offences?

When I'm driving (with actual respect for human life around me) yes of course I get annoyed by a cyclist with no lights but you know what, if they choose to court danger by choosing not to be seen they've kind of brought that on themselves (Hey, we're all adults so don't stand on the train line and moan if you get hit by a train)...

However, in Northampton we have various Highways Agency signs attached to lamp posts threatening cyclists with £50 - £80 fines if they're caught riding on the pavement.

Firstly, purely out of self preservation many of them have no other choice.  Police and government refuse to engage with the motorists who are forcing those around them to have to ride there in the first place.

Secondly, we have a huge pavement parking problem and do the council or Police do anything about that?  Of course not...it's a car isn't it.

So, if someone has to step into the road to walk around it and are hit by another driver who is responsible?  The driver of the car blocking the footway?  The driver of the car who hit the pedestrian?  The council/police for failing to promote intolerence to blocking these routes?

I suspect none of the above as the pedestrian/cyclist will have to take the impact solely.

If of course the pedestrian calls the police to remove the car they won't be interested.  If the pedestrian climbs onto the car and walks over it the owner can call the police using a criminal damage claim and then of course the police will be interested.

To wrap up the police are clearly caught up with the concept that cyclists are just as dangerous as motorists when the opposite is categorically the case so why do they choose to use their extremely limited resources targeting the group that represents such marginal peril to society instead of focusing on the real danger out there?

Obvious example of wasting tax payers money if ever there was one.  Can't see the wood for the trees can they?!

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