Earlier this week, Police were stopping cyclists in London to let them know that:
... it might be a good idea to wear a helmet!!!
WTF - it's not even law in the UK so why on earth did the police pick on hapless cyclists to dish up their unwarranted police advice to?
How disturbing is it that UK police have taken it into their own hands to experiment with unlegislated restrictions which we know are nothing more than helmet promoters' marketing strategies.
No-one should ever be stopped by the police for something the police think ought to be the law yet currently isn't.
Among other things, this police exercise is an outrageous breach of civil liberties, and should make us want to vomit when we think of what's ahead for the UK if they go down this mandatory-helmet-law-pathway.
Haven't the police got some real police work to do?
"No-one should never be stopped by the police for something the police think ought to be the law yet currently isn't"
ReplyDeleteNot only that, the police here have already admitted they won't enforce 20mph speed restriction zones.
More than 2,000 fixed penalty notices were issued to motorists and cyclists by the police during the first three days of Operation Safeway in London. But some cyclists who've been on the receiving end have reported that the police don't actually know the laws they're meant to be enforcing and as a result much of the advice being dispensed is plain wrong - including on the helmet issue. One parent using a cargo bike to ferry his kids to school was even questioned whether his bike was legal.
Mayor Boris warned against making knee-jerk reactions in the wake of the six recent cyclist deaths, but his response is exactly that - and diversionary, too.
I doubt whether Operation Safeway will have any lasting effect that will be beneficial to cycling in London. Never mind that it's based on flawed reasoning and seeks to address the symptoms of a malaise rather than the causes, but it's linked to revenue gathering and meeting targets. In other words it's simply a box-ticking exercise, one that could even fund itself if it outlives the original deadline and the fixed penalty notice increases.
Meanwhile people keep talking about the dead cat on the table (another Boris 'debating' technique) while the real issue - the lack of proper safe infrastructure in the UK for vulnerable road users - continues to be ignored.