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Oxford cyclist (CC licensed on Flickr by Janet McKnight)Annual Oxford bike lights crackdown sees 171 cyclists fined
An annual crackdown by police in Oxford that targets cyclists riding without lights has resulted in 171 riders being given £50 fines in the space of three hours. The operation comes shortly after national cyclists’ organisation CTC began providing free cycle training to students at the University of Oxford.
Last Friday’s operation, which took place on Oxford High Street between 6pm and 9pm, follows a separate initiative by police in the city launched this summer that seeks to educate cyclists over the rules of the road.
As in previous years, the cyclists issued fixed penalty notices for riding without lights will avoid having to pay the fine if they can produce a receipt at a police station showing that they have bought lights for their bike, reports the Oxford Mail.
The latest campaign comes after the clocks went back, and also coincides with the arrival in Oxford of new students at its two universities, many of whom will take up cycling as a cheap, quick way of getting around the city.
It also follows a Thames Valley Police initiative running over the summer that sought to reinforcing to cyclists the importance of following the Highway Code, as well as highlighting ways to prevent bikes being stolen.
Last month, Sergeant Matt Sulley of Oxford’s city centre neighbourhood police team, told the Oxford Mail: “The idea is to keep people safe. We are here for their benefit.
“Ultimately we want to reduce casualties. Only by education can we do that.”
Under the campaign, called Operation Bike, riders were fined for ignoring red lights as well as riding through zebra crossings and no entry signs.
“We do find some cyclists just do not know what road signs mean,” said Sergeant Sully.
“Some cyclists consciously break the laws, but some just don’t know what is going on.”
He added that the initiative would return in spring next year, explaining: “We are going to keep it running indefinitely now. It has been working really well. There has been a massive interest from the public.”
Oxford has the second highest levels of cycling in the UK after Cambridge, with 28 per cent of people riding a bike at least once a week, according to a Sport England survey for the year ended October 2012.
In 2011, a total of 33 cyclists were killed or seriously injured in the two parliamentary constituencies covering the city, Oxford East, and Oxford West & Abingdon, down from 43 in 2010 and 36 in 2009, but above the 2005-10 annual average of 30.
Meanwhile, CTC has been providing cycle training to the new intake of undergraduates at the University of Oxford.
Free training was made available to students signing up to the CTC Commuter Tutor course at the university’s Fresher’s Fair.
The course is run by CTC chief training officer Greg Woodford, who said: “We will be developing on road cycling skills and learning how to deal with all traffic conditions during the training.”
The initiative followed an observation during September’s parliamentary debate on cycling from Oxford West & Abingdon MP, Nicola Blackwood that no training was available for students coming to the city for the first time.
Dan Tomlinson, Vice-President for Charities and Community at the Oxford University Student Union, commented: “Oxford is definitely a cycling city and we want our students to enjoy cycling safely during their time here.
“We have a good cycling focus at the Fresher’s Fair this year and are also helping students make sure their bikes are safe with a discounted bike lock scheme,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
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I did a Cytech 2 course some years back with a mechanic from Wiggle who told me that he'd seen bikes in Halfords with the forks mounted back to...
- Backladder 2 hours 37 min ago
I don't disagree with you about drivers but surely the whole point of manslaughter is that there wasn't an intent to kill and what I saw on the...
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NEVER understood narrow shoes, never still I ever, Lakes all the way, even the Lake 333 is possible to get in wide, these no, poor show Decathlon,...
- jbuckx2 2 hours 59 min ago
Your right, it's not finished, but if this was road works (for motorists) would this be acceptable? ...
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Well that's some pretty spectacular nonsense you've got going there. Everyone I know who uses Zwift is also a keen road rider with multiple bikes...
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and we're all left squabbling over drivers' leavings as ever...
- Backladder 3 hours 45 min ago
But how many drivers are they actually locking up, they can barely be bothered to fine them!...
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I think queues of traffic might be very vulnerable to a cyclist swinging a U-lock at their windows! Bring on the revolution!
Add new comment
36 comments
Who are you talking to?
(and why does the 'reply to poster' function here appear to serve no useful purpose?)
Personally I wish the police would be a little more consistent and stop picking-and-choosing which laws to enforce and which to ignore. Or at least be consistently random about it - toss a coin or something.
Victimisation?
What like when the Police stop perfectly safe car drivers in the run up to Christmas who have been to the office do and enjoyed a few 'sherbets' with their friends, but who are absolutely certain they are still safe to drive.
Is that the sort of victimisation you are talking about?
Areyou seriously comparing students without bike lights in a well lit city centre to drink driving which kills and injures thousands every year?
In spite of how emotive it all is, it's not an unfair point - cyclists who have lights are let through because they're able to identify those who are breaking the law. In random stop and check for drink driving there is no reason to specifically test that person - if a similar approach was taken to pulling over any cyclist incase they, say, had a tendency to jump red lights, we would rightly be upset about it.
It also works the other way though - you could equally well say that cyclists without lights are easy for the police to spot, while drivers using mobiles, not having seatbelts, or being under-the-influence are most of the time able to get away with it because they aren't immediately obvious as doing so.
Anyway, all cyclists should just get lights and we can all move on to more important matters.
Also, having been challenged before here when mentioning I've seen cyclists with white lights on the back, I have to mention I've since then twice seen cyclists round here with red lights on the front! Green lights on the front seem not to be uncommon either - wonder if the cops would fine them for that?
I doubt it was anything like 171 in the space of three hours in the entire country, let alone the centre of just one city.
Good grief, our brightest students supposedly go to study in Oxford and Cambridge and demonstrate such an alarming level of dimwittery when it comes to basic road safety.
The mind boggles.
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