Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Transport
Miscellaneous
Woman, 74, fined for using M25 as bike ride “short cut”The M25 (CC licensed image by Highways Agency:Flickr)

Woman, 74, fined for using M25 as bike ride “short cut”

Surrey Police stop cyclist between junctions 10 and 11 of busy motorway
by Simon_MacMichael
Fri, Aug 08, 2014 13:59
34

Police in Surrey have fined a 74-year-old woman £50 for cycling on the hard shoulder of the M25 motorway.

The woman, from New Haw near Weybridge, was apparently using what is one of Britain’s busiest stretches of road as a shortcut, according to a tweet from Surrey Roads Police.

She was stopped on Wednesday afternoon between junctions 10 and 11.

Cyclists take to the M25 with alarming regularity, with a number of instances of bike riders being spotted on the motorway flagged up by Getsurrey.co.uk.

According to the website, a cyclist from Ghana was arrested in June after police caught him cycling on the hard shoulder in Surrey and discovered that his visa had expired.

In May, a cyclist was seen by a driver riding the wrong way on the motorway, while in February a rider was caught by CCTV footage as he made his way across the slip road onto the hard shoulder.

The same month, another cyclist was found on the motorway after following instructions from his GPS unit as he sought to find a quicker way home from work.

Elsewhere, just a fortnight ago cyclists from the Sri Lanka national team who were in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games were discovered riding on the hard shoulder of the M74 while on a training ride.

Surrey Police
M25
Simon MacMichael

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.

Add new comment

34 comments

Avatar
Pub bike replied to oozaveared | 10 years ago
0 likes
oozaveared wrote:
kitkat wrote:

so rather than building decent infrastructure to help non-car people get around they just ignore them and even better, get 50 quid by fining them.

Well this might not be popular but... I think the police should enforce traffic laws more rigorously. I consistently stick to this position. Riding your bike on the motorway is dangerous. And the cyclist is not the only person in danger.

I want the traffic laws to be enforced because as a vulnerable road user that's in my best interest. I'd be a hypocrite if I thought some road users should be exempt from enforcement just because they used the same means of transport as I did.

I wonder how many times motorists have been fined for driving in cycle lanes. According to the Highway Code, motorists are told "Do not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable”. I suspect the answer is smaller than the number of times they have been fined for blocking ASLs 2

Avatar
oozaveared replied to Pub bike | 10 years ago
0 likes
Pub bike wrote:
oozaveared wrote:
kitkat wrote:

so rather than building decent infrastructure to help non-car people get around they just ignore them and even better, get 50 quid by fining them.

Well this might not be popular but... I think the police should enforce traffic laws more rigorously. I consistently stick to this position. Riding your bike on the motorway is dangerous. And the cyclist is not the only person in danger.

I want the traffic laws to be enforced because as a vulnerable road user that's in my best interest. I'd be a hypocrite if I thought some road users should be exempt from enforcement just because they used the same means of transport as I did.

I wonder how many times motorists have been fined for driving in cycle lanes. According to the Highway Code, motorists are told "Do not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable”. I suspect the answer is smaller than the number of times they have been fined for blocking ASLs 2

Well if you read my post you'll see that I want more rigorous policing of traffic rules and laws. So yes I'd be happy to see more enforcement of infringements like that. But if you just call for some traffic rules to be enforced but not ones that affect your chosen form of transport. Then that will be seen as merely self serving and hypocritical.

Because I am on a bike and somewhat vulnerable I want the police to take action that makes all road users drive and ride more safely. I'd prefer that road users did this because they wanted to be nice civilised people who want safe and courteous roads, but if some only act that way for fear of prosecution then so be it.

I also happen to think that had the 74 year old woman been merely confused and/or lost and mistakenly ended up on a motorway that she would have simply been assisted off it by a friendly copper. However the "short cut" element indicates that she knew she should not be on a motorway but went on it anyway because it was a shortcut. Hence the fine.

In any case I can't abide it when other drivers moan about enforcement of speeding laws, claiming the police should have better things to do or that that they (motorists) are being victimised. It is far less common that cyclists endanger others by excessive speed but that's not say that other things some of them do like riding on busy pavements RLJ etc should not be enforced Likewise I don't have much truck with cyclists that think they should have carte blanche to break rules and that if they get fined they are being victimised.

Avatar
Ashfordian replied to kitkat | 10 years ago
0 likes
kitkat wrote:

so rather than building decent infrastructure to help non-car people get around they just ignore them and even better, get 50 quid by fining them.

35

There are perfectly of good roads to cycle on in the area instead of taking J10-J11 of the M25 that I have used before. She deserved the fine for her stupidity.

Avatar
Chris S replied to Ashfordian | 10 years ago
0 likes
Ashfordian wrote:
kitkat wrote:

so rather than building decent infrastructure to help non-car people get around they just ignore them and even better, get 50 quid by fining them.

35

There are perfectly of good roads to cycle on in the area instead of taking J10-J11 of the M25 that I have used before. She deserved the fine for her stupidity.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. Wait 'til you get to 74 - maybe you'll develop a death wish too.

Pages

Latest Comments