Cyclists ‘a real worry’ says North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner – before conceding they aren't actually doing anything wrong

My area's PCC was previously the director of a large family bakery business which went spectacularly bust, so clearly has lots of experience of law enforcement (?).

Someone on my village fb group was complaining that when she was in her front garden there were people passing on the footway outside her garden who weren't staying more than two metres away from her (...?)

eburtthebike wrote:

Surely it's the police's job to enforce the law, not to listen to whinging idiots.

Yes, but she isn't police. She is a police and crime commissioner. In the UK, that is a position made up by the 2010 coalition government precisely for the purpose of listening to whinging idiots. That and to provide £70K+ jobs for local party grandees who have failed at business and failed as candidates in more hotly-contested political posts.

Given that she is clearly incapable of seeing beyond the statistics telling her what the NIMBYs in her area are "anxious" enough to complain about, anyone bothered by this ill-judged TV appearance should consider making her "mindful" of alternative views by posting a calm and reasonable complaint here:

https://www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/how-can-we-help/complaints/pfcc/

Use Google maps to find a postcode in North Yorkshire or it'll probably be ignored.

I thought about doing so, but ultimately decided she probably just flubbed making a legitimate point about everyone showing respect for people's frayed nerves at a time of crisis. Pinning it exclusively on cyclists is lazy and stupid, but as I outlined above these comissionerships aren't roles designed to attract the best and brightest. And there are steps cyclists could take to help the situation, such as bringing an extra bottle and energy bar to avoid having to use village shops, not stopping for rests directly outside cottages, and taking it easy on some of the sketchy descents in the Dales and Moors.

Given the job is

The principal obligations of a police and crime commissioner are:

to secure the maintenance of the police force, by setting the budget;
to secure that the police force is efficient and effective;
to hold the chief constable to account for the exercise of his functions and the functions of the persons under his direction and control, namely the police force of which he is chief constable; and
to establish a police and crime plan, to which the chief constable must have regard.

She clearly has remit to direct the plan which includes

the police and crime commissioner’s police and crime objectives;
the policing which the chief constable is to provide;

So spreading scaremongering is not helpful.

I've seen large numbers of cyclists out too.  And large numbers of joggers.  But mostly what I've seen are walkers - vast numbers, many, many more than normal.  It's almost like people have rediscovered what those raised pieces of land are that line both sides of most roads.  Apparently they are not just for parking on, they can be waked on too!

Interestingly, pretty much all of the Lycra-clad cyclists I've seen over the last couple of weeks have been the same cyclists I see out every week.  The only real changes is that there are also plenty of "families out on bikes", which is pretty unusual.

It's almost like people are following the Government advice, to go outdoors to get some exercise.

Yes this is my observation as well - I'm seeing lots of families out and people cycling around on bikes with casual clothing on, so essentially rediscovering cycling as the roads are so much quieter than normal.  These people will likely to stop when the cars get back to normal.

From Strava?   I had a kudo yesterday (for a turbo ride) from someone I didn't know and had never heard of.

When I looked at his profile he had done a 65 mile ride in Yorkshire yesterday.

I don't understand why people get so triggered by "long" rides (65 miles isn't that long).

It's a piece of piss to maintain social distancing out on a bike ride, particularly outside major cities. I get close to more people walking a couple of miles around the block than I do on a 100km ride.

What's your fallback if you have a mechanical?

I suspect that is where the concern comes from. You shouldn't be planning for someone to drive out and get you and relying on a train is hit and miss.

Of course, you may be very self sufficient but the average reader wont know that.

My anecdotal view is that there are too many morons out that on a 100km ride your risk of being hit is higher than normal !

edit to add based on handlebarcam

Are you self sufficient interms of water and food for a period beyond your normal time? I can see people would object to someone buying up a food/water resource which may be in high demand in their local area.

hirsute wrote:

1. What's your fallback if you have a mechanical?

2. your risk of being hit is higher than normal !

3. Are you self sufficient interms of water and food for a period beyond your normal time? I can see people would object to someone buying up a food/water resource which may be in high demand in their local area.

1. A tool bottle full of every conceivable spare thing I could need. And cable ties. There's nothing that can't be fixed with cable ties.

2. It's not, the roads are empty. Unless you mean chinned by an "angry villager" type?

3. People aren't running low on water. The taps still work. And last time I checked, people weren't panic buying Mars Bars.

"2. It's not, the roads are empty." - the risk IS higher - your'e out there. 
"3. People aren't running low on water. The taps still work." - are you conflating the two sentences/statements? If so, a tap in my bathroom is not working, but I have plenty of running water elsewhere, the two are not related.
Which village are you from?
 

climber wrote:

"3. People aren't running low on water. The taps still work." - are you conflating the two sentences/statements? If so, a tap in my bathroom is not working, but I have plenty of running water elsewhere, the two are not related.

If you can't work that out for yourself, I'd suggest it's you who is from the shallow end of the gene pool. Either that or you use your intelligence to make pedantic non-points on the Internet, you colossal bore.

I kinda thought you were interested in why people would take that view.

As to the roads being empty - judging by posts in here, the roads are significantly less used but the speed of drivers is much higher and attention is lower. So whilst your chance of encountering a motorist is much lower, the risk of an adverse outcome in the case of an incident is higher.

hirsute wrote:

I kinda thought you were interested in why people would take that view.

Ah OK, I misinterpreted the post as your own opinion.

Just don't drop your guard when out.
Here's Thursday's little episode. Often you find drivers coming the other way are on or slightly over the middle line.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FF6j06fkSr7DHsj3x5VZHLsjHIt0BEHr/view?u...

Just answering the question, no need to get touchy.

hirsute wrote:

"some of them travelling long distances; long routes"

And she knows this how ?

 

Well, it's obvious - some must have been wearing lycra.

The trouble is that the voting public would rather (to quote Malcolm Tucker) their politicians lived in a fucking cave. They don't get paid anywhere near enough for the responsibility they hold and the scrutiny they face, compared to what they'd earn in, say, a bank or hedge fund. MPs get paid just over £80k, oft-fiddled expenses excluded. A grad joining an IB or hedgie and doing well would be on that by the time they're in their mid twenties. The PM gets paid £150k - for running the country! That's a junior manager's salary, at a mediocre institution, in the City. Why go into politics? If you're doing it purely for the public service angle, it's very unlikely you'll end up in parliament, party machines being what they are. It's a route to a decent wage and a gold-plated pension for unimpressive people.

I know it's an unpopular view, but paying MPs properly (and commensurately holding them to account) would improve the quality and, in the grand scheme of things, not cost very much.

Of course, we can all cite examples of highly-paid yet incompetent execs (Fred Goodwin comes immediately to mind), but you don't hear about the competent ones, because they're not newsworthy.

Well you get rewarded in different ways - money is one, but so is power, prestige and the very common subsequent career path for MP's of taking highly paid jobs in the private sector.

What happened to public service or duty? 

jasecd wrote:

Well you get rewarded in different ways - money is one, but so is power, prestige and the very common subsequent career path for MP's of taking highly paid jobs in the private sector.

What happened to public service or duty? 

This is part of the problem; most ex-MPs wouldn't get anywhere near the sort of private sector roles they find themselves in, if they didn't still have mates in positions of power. Paying MPs salaries similar to those that could be garnered in the private sector, by capable people, would see today's divs nowhere near the levers of power, outcompeted by those more talented, and therefore deserving of those lucrative post-politics jobs on merit, one would hope.

Public service goes out of the window as soon as they get anywhere near being selected as a candidate in a winnable seat. Loyalty is to party, not public, whatever the colour of thier rosette.

“In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill... we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one.” Plato.

jasecd wrote:

“In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill... we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one.” Plato.

This is a great quote. However, the public does actually seem to express a preference, at least when polled, for dull, administrative politicians. Anyone with a vaguely colourful life, fallible like all humans are, gets pilloried for it once they're in office. Tweets are trawled, decades-old university photos published, protest march attendance recounted. We do actually seem to demand the dullest people to represent us, flawed though we all are.

Legin wrote:

The trouble with our democracy is that we have such a dearth of talent that we end up electing (generally well meaning) morons.

With the current government an excellent example of that theory; apart from the well-meaning bit obviously.