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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.
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36 comments
Anyone got any stats on how many cyclists are killed or injured when cycling w/o lights and whether the cyclist who knows they are unseen is more at risk than one who thinks they have been seen? I wonder, do drivers go more slowly if they are constantly coming past ninja cyclists. Does this then save pedestrian lives?
If it is for the cyclists own good, why are so many people who are riled up over this issue completely without voice on any other cycling safety concern, bar maybe rlj, helmet compulsion and pavement cycling? Are they all campaigning to stop skip lorries at rush hour, saying it's for cyclists' good? No they are not.
Most people all fired up about this are not motivated by safety at all, I think - the motivation is the UK's poisonous argy bargy angry media culture and a need to keep outsider groups in their place.
I use lights so I can go at speeds I can't if unlit and unseen. Not interested in other cyclists' choice on this point. They are not cars and almost never kill people.
I am not sure whether this is what you are looking for, but it seems that not having lights is a very minor cause of cyclist casualties. Most bike/car collisions are down to the driver, it seems.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/15/cycling-bike-acciden...
"A tiny proportion of accidents involving cyclists are caused by riders jumping red lights or stop signs, or failing to wear high-visibility clothing and use lights, a government-commissioned study has discovered.
"The study, carried out for the Department for Transport, found that in 2% of cases where cyclists were seriously injured in collisions with other road users police said that the rider disobeying a stop sign or traffic light was a likely contributing factor. Wearing dark clothing at night was seen as a potential cause in about 2.5% of cases, and failure to use lights was mentioned 2% of the time.
Good work, felixcat!
They should crack down on all unlit vehicles, not only bikes!
Good work, some Oxford cyclists really need to engage some brain, and get some lights. Agree it would be nice if road rules were enforced on motorists, too.
Sounds like this enforcement would pay for itself? 171*50=8550
(though hopefully most of them spend a bit on some lights, rather than £50 on the fine).
I'm not against this, though there is much to say cyclists without lights in Oxford are at such a critical mass that all motorists look out for them the moment the sun is no longer visible...
However...
Two years ago I was cycling at around 10pm with a group of friends, some of which had no lights. A couple of police officers at the side of the road beckoned us to pull over so they could admonish the offenders (they weren't fined btw)...
They did however pull us over, across a busy junction with cars waiting to turn left.
TVP also decided to pull a van over, which if it hadn't been due to their being enough space to my left for me to escape, would have driven sideways into me.
I've also seen officers overtake cyclists with less than a foot to spare, slowly roll into ASL whilst the light was red and been tailgated by them fairly regularly.
I don't feel hugely confident about TVP lecturing people about using the roads...
Saw that a few days ago. Then a white van did the same besides the cop car - presumably confident the cops couldn't challenge them over it. Honestly, it really would help if the police actually obeyed the rules themselves.
Hoorah. Get down to London and boost your public funds with more of the same please. RLJs too. I'll personally volunteer to issue the fines if need be. Oh and cars in ASLs, might as well whilst I'm there.
Quick get over to the big City and ticket Boris for NO rear light.
If EVERYONE obeyed the rules there would be no need for crackdowns, in fact there would be no need for a police force.
Unfortunately EVERYONE doesn't obey the rules, and even if you have fully functioning lights, are they certified to British Standard 6102/3, 6102/2, and do you have amber pedal reflectors, and a red rear reflector?
If not you're technically not legal.
Nobody can complain about this, surely? It's for the cyclists' own good and is a sensibly targeted campaign which has a strong likelihood of making a positive difference.
As I said, the police can't enforce every law all of the time so specific campaigns like this are a good thing.
And yes, there are campaigns that target drivers also at different times of the year
This get my full support. I cycle responsibly with hi-viz & lights. No excuses. Roll this out countrywide and it will do cycle no end of good.
No thank you on the forced HiViz, nodders can wear it but no thanks.
Ok Fair enough. It's an offence. If I am driving my car with a defective or missing light chances are I get a "producer" though.
That would be a better use of the £50 than the fine. The bikeshop idea is a good one as well. ie you can have a £50 fine or go over there and buy some lights and get them fitted.
the fitting makes sure the bike has lights in the future and the fine does not.
I got fined for this when I was there - luckily it was only £30 at the time. No legitimate complaints because I should have chosen to walk the bike home. Only frustration is there are so people who clearly thought it was hilarious to a) nick the lights off your bike, or b) turn them on so when you come to use them they're completely drained.
The idea of a "producer" would seem a good one though - go to your LBS and buy some adequate lights to avoid a fine. I know the offence isn't directly comparable to cars where one of two headlights has failed, but if the idea is to educate it would seem commensurate.
Mixed feelings.
On the one hand, the law about compulsory lights seems a sensible one and as lights are now incredibly cheap I really don't understand why you wouldn't have them.
On the other hand I'm constantly irked by the one-sided and weirdly selective law enforcement I regularly see.
E.g. the policeman walking right past a car that just drew up and stopped in a mandatory cycle lane dangerously close to a junction on a double yellow line, and instead going and confiscating the booze of some entirely harmless Polish street-drinkers because its a 'no alcohol zone'.
Or the one stopping and searching some guy for unknown reasons while a white van drew up and parked illegally on the pavement right behind him.
Though giving people a grace-period to actually get lights seems quite reasonable.
Wouldn't be a bad idea to do this near any major university at this time of year. There would be a fair number of takers round here.
they should have a "crackdown" in oxford on bus drivers driving like dicks!
I see wiggle getting bumper sales in lights this week... and bumper returns next week.
think they have 'crackdown's' and campaigns don't they - sometimes car drivers on phones, or speeding, drink driving, sometimes cyclists 'RLJ-ing'/ without lights etc. If you accept that you can't police every infringement all of the time, then this seems an effective way to do it.
Nothing unfair about it, IMO, especially how the police are enforcing this with the 'rectification within x days' rule to avoid the fine
There's no excuse not to have lights. There's also no excuse for driving a car with bald tyres or defective lights. I hope the police are enforcing all construction and use regs fairly: would be a shame if they were targeting one (relatively slow moving...) group, wouldn't it.
They did this in Newcastle early in the year also, really need to prod them to do it again as going through the student areas (Jesmond especially) there are loads of riders on bikes with no lights.
Good job by plod
Shouldnt need an initiative
Should be all year
lights are dirt cheap theses days for a basic set
I agree. It's been a mystery to me for years why the police seem to mainly ignore breaches of such a fundamental law.
Good initiative. I wonder why they don't just get a bike shop involved and have a roadside light-fitting service so miscreants would have to get them fitted immediately. That would also save the considerable administrative expense of issuing and then cancelling penalties.
A fantastic initiative. And well handled by the police. Let's hope those induced to buy lights now use them!
I'd like to know how many motorists were given fines for having defective lights (or unlit lights) during any similar period?
As well as driving through red lights, this is classic victimisation and everyone laps it up as per usual.
So the police do their job and you complain? When they don't do their job, you also complain. What WOULD you like them to do!!!???
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