Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
According to the " My London " news site -
An East London council has vowed to clamp down on boy racers by slapping them with a £100 fine if they are caught driving and treating the streets "as a race track". On Tuesday evening (December 7) Newham Council's cabinet agreed to introduce a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for drivers being a nuisance to residents in Beckton, Custom House, Royal Albert, Royal Victoria and Stratford wards of the borough.
How about us then ?
"If they are caught" seems to be the problem, how is this catching to be done ???
Are we talking just people in cars here, or those cyclists who routinely ignore red lights, crossings, road markings, pedestrians, helmets, reflective clothing and cycle lights, endangering themselves, other road users, the infirm and elderly, or anyone wanting to cross a road at a junction? The completely unrepentant and callous cyclist who killed a pedestrian in Old Street in 2017 is the most egregious example, but there are so many people on bikes who apparently take no responsibility for being road users and assume that their eco-friendly status exempts them from any consideration for others. If the GLA or councils were really serious about promoting cycling across London, then bringing back the cycling proficiency training I remember from my childhood would be a step in the right direction — and cost peanuts in comparison with the engineering needed to create bike lanes and “superhighways”.
Cycling proficiency training is available. Haringey deliver it for free to individuals and schools in partnership with Cycle Confident. It’s taking up the offer that is the problem
Drivers are forced to go through training. And have insurance, pay 'road' tax etc.
None of that prevents a significant minority deliberately driving like ****s, or even supposedly responsible ones causing serious and frequently fatal accidents.
It's noteworthy that the mention of someone being killed by a cyclist is from five years ago.
IanB — Yes, I did say it was egregious and, mercifully, not an everyday occurence; it’s an extreme example, I grant you. But a friend was almost mown down on a pedestrian crossing earlier this year by similar reckless riding and you only have to look around to see numerous examples of cyclists riding across junctions against red lights or turning across pedestrians with signals in their favour. Obviously not everyone on a bike takes risks, but the explosion in pandemic cycling (and availability of Lime bikes, et al) seems to have brought out numerous people who lack basic cycling skills and very often have no regard for their own, or anyone else’s, safety. It doesn’t take much effort to find cyclists in dark clothing, without helmets or bike lights, at serious risk when travelling at night.
Don, IanB may well be a classical scholar if he interpreted your 'egregious' as the original 'egregius' = one who stands out from the 'grex' or herd, thus meaning remarkably good or excellent rather than remarkably awful or horrific - a legal English meaning from the 16th century, probably perpetrated by some half educated lawyer who had forgotten his Latin!
OAE — Thanks for the grammar lesson; that’ll teach me to use fancy words instead of plain English! I’d no idea the original meaning was really the opposite of that intended; should probably have stuck to “extreme”…
Thanks, Michael, I didn’t know that; I’d assumed it might be another casualty of austerity politics and lack of funds. When I was at school, local police visited twice a year or so and used the playground to put people through their (wheeled) paces, but maybe community policing — and playgrounds — are a thing of the past now. No idea how to stimulate take-up of what’s still available.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
