You are hereForums / General Discussion / Off Topic / Police Cycling Blitz in Sydney - Tuesday (tomorrow)
Police Cycling Blitz in Sydney - Tuesday (tomorrow)
Bells, reflectors, bike lights - no red light running, no track standing, no riding on footpaths.
From the Bicycle NSW Email
Scheduled police operation in Sydney
As a result of the working relationship Bicycle NSW has with key stakeholders in NSW, the NSW Police have advised that there will be a Police operation focusing on cyclists tomorrow: Tuesday 28th June. The operation will concentrate on inner Sydney and Centennial Park areas. As always, we ask that you please ride safely and consider all road users and road rules when you are riding your bike. Police can fine cyclists riding without helmets, without bells, not stopping at designated stop signals and any perceived dangerous riding. Know your rights and the road rules, familiarise yourself with the laws at the Centre for Road Safety website.
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
Why no track stands?
There were reports earlier in the year of riders getting fined for it.
Cyclist fined $425 for 'track standing'
Read in deep booming newsreader voice, with mild static crackle.....
And tonight in the news, NSW has declared it illegal to hop, skip, or stand on one foot while touching your nose with a fingertip. Under debate this evening, in a special session of the nanny house,... whether children should be allowed to play in sandpits without gloves?
Time for secession.....
good ol' Duncan saw an easy target, upped some fines by %300 and others a little less and now the police are raking in the cash for consolidated revenue......
I got close shaved by a tool in his ute on Warringah Road on Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago.
What said tool didn't realise is that my lights front and back conceal built-in HD video cameras. Even more fortuitously, he did it right on the yellow paint panel that has the big number "40" on it at the western end of Forest High. Some nice easy reference points for taking measurements.
Turns out my estimate of about half a metre was pretty close. He gave me between 0.4m and 0.7m (absolute max - and I'm being generous) on a section of road where the new rules say 1.5m minimum. Thank you very much.
Said footage has gone Registered Mail to the Forest cop shop on DVD with a written statement, a request for action, and offer to go to court if necessary to back up any charges they may lay (this last part being vital if you want their attention on a complaint).
I'm expecting the creation of a doumentary paper trail will help circumvent the typical police lethargy.
Will let you know how I go.
I will be interested to see how you go with this, Hawkeye. Hopefully, with documented evidence handed to them on a platter they will actually make the effort to pursue it. And, also when the word gets around that cyclists are running video cameras, then these tools will think twice about their actions.
However, given my recent experience involving the Police regarding my wife's vehicle accident, I was astounded by their lack of competence & due diligence in following up details. It's like it was all too hard for them & too much bother.
to know how this ends. I have close shaves every bloody day riding to work and have been pondering if there is anything one can do. Going home up Corrie road every day there are a few close shaves going up that hill and then Griffin road up to the top of the headland, no one allows any clearance. Going to work by going down and then up Harbord road is lethal. I ride on the foot path now, concrete trucks and bogans in utes drive so close that a small wiggle from me and they will clip my handle bars. Once away from the northern beaches area things seems to be more civilised and cars do the right thing. No issues going up Parriwi road and beyond.
If you get results out of this, I'll start using a cam for the commute.
I was busy concentrating on the handlebars of some cycling coppers today, trying to see if they had bells (I couldn't see any), but afterwards it dawned on me the guy was riding down Pitt Street Pedestrian Mall with both hands off the bars!!
sigh
Just had a call back from a constable at DY about an hour ago.
Looking very positive so far.
He explained the process and it sounds complicated, so I'll be sending only the most egregious incidents in the future.
If this gets up I'll walk you through what I did to get their attention. It's not just a matter of rocking up with your laptop, showing the vid and having a whinge. Do that and you'll get brushed off.
It is a criminal matter and takes a bit of work, with carefully worded covering letter, a written statement, stills and copy footage, not to mention being prepared to go to court to testify if the tool decides to challenge the TIN.
More to follow in a few weeks.
What cameras where you using?
I have a Fly6 and considering getting a Fly 12.
We've had a couple of close calls when out on group rides and got footage from a Fly6. The police cautioned the first drover and the second, I think they fined. I'll find out how the rider presented the footage.
A caution hey... I bet there ain't been any cyclists cautioned...
Just checked with Brett who put forward the footage and the guy was definitely fined. He's going to call me tomorrow and walk me through the process to get the police to take notice.
I'll let you know what he says.
So much more fit for purpose than fluffing about with GoPros.
I have a standard covering letter and form of statemwnt from one of the guys behind Safe Cycling Australia that I've adapted, and it has had success elsewhere for other traffic offenses.
I got left hooked awhile back and the Police were all over it when I sent the complaint and video.
It took an investment of a few hours though. Not something I do lightly. With the amount of close shaves I'm getting at the moment (always seems to be worse when school is out and traffic is light) I'd need to scale back to part time work to keep up!
I'm all for holding tools to account but I think the stats recently had like a 1000:1 ratio of bikes fined under new rules for things like no bell and drivers fined under the new passing laws.
Still the police must love the outsourcing of their work to private contractors like Hawkeye
It's about the culture. Many drivers just think bikes don't belong on the road. As long as lots of people think this then the passing laws will not be much use. I think I have had many drivers give me more room in recent times but the fringe dwellers (seems to be tradies and taxi drivers) seem to continue to close pass.
BTW I'm getting a bell for my MTB, buggered if I want to give this government hundreds of dollars extra revenue. I'll mount it on my seat post and look forward to the look on plods face when I reach up my arse and ring my bell.
Update!
The young constable returned from holidays yesterday and I spent about 45 minutes with him finalising my official statement.
Looks like it will result in a TIN.
The constable visited the registered owner yesterday, who dobbed in the driver. He then went to visit the driver, who knew exactly what it was about. He admitted the offense and the excuse was he was "having a sh*t day".
I was asked tonight what I wanted to do. After hesitating a second I advised I wanted the driver TIN'd.
Looks like the Traffic Infringement Notice will go out tomorrow, and then it's a matter of waiting for the 14-day window in which he has to challenge it to expire before we see whether I am going to court.
So at this stage it looks like the infringement count for Rule 144A is going from 4 to 5.