Cyclists fined for speeding

[Franco Cozzo]

Melbourne police issue big number of fines in crackdown on cyclists speeding along Southbank Promenade

A big number of cyclists and scooter riders have been nabbed travelling along Melbourne’s Southbank Promenade during a police crackdown on speeding.

Although Southbank Promenade is designed to be used by bikes and scooters, it has also been deemed a dangerous spot for pedestrians now that foot traffic has returned to the city.

The speed limit on the promenade for both cyclists and scooter riders is 10km/h.

For a period of three weeks during peak times, local police patrolled the area using hand-held speed measuring devices.

Over 100 offences were identified during the crackdown.

A total of 45 people were charged on summons for riding a bicycle or scooter over 23km/h and 33 were fined for not wearing a helmet.

Nine were also issued infringements for operating an unregistered motor vehicle, which were eight scooters and one skateboard.

Seven people were also fined for using a mobile phone while riding a bike or scooter.

Those who have been charged on summons can be prosecuted with a maximum penalty of $1652.20.

The maximum power of a scooter must not exceed 200 watts and the maximum power of an electric bike must not exceed 250 watts.

Police also issued over 500 warnings to riders.

“We know the majority of people using the space are trying to do so safely, however there were a small amount of people blatantly doing the wrong thing who were penalised or now face charges to be heard at court,” Southbank Acting Senior Sergeant Brett Sidebottom said in a statement.

“Given the overwhelming and positive feedback we received as part of the operation we will continue to conduct regular patrols and activities in the area to ensure both pedestrians and cyclists remain safe.”

https://7news.com.au/news/vic/melbou...nade-c-2363673

Ouch - $1652 and a court appearance for 13km/h over the speed limit

Interesting that they've finally cracked down on it, that being a shared path with pedestrians and cyclists is ridiculous.

[jaydee]

From PerthNow.

"A cyclist is wanted by police after he seriously injured a runner on a dual use footpath in Watermans Bay on Tuesday.

Police say a 45-year-old woman was running south along the dual use footpath on West Coast Highway about 8.05am, when she changed direction and was hit by a man riding an electric bicycle.

The cyclist fell to the ground and became aggressive with bystanders who tried to assist him.

The woman was taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital with a broken arm and ribs., where she remians in a stable condition.

Police would like to speak to anyone who saw or has dash-cam vision of the collision. "

[Citroënbender]

The kicker with the Melbourne cycling fines is, non-payment may lead to loss of driving licence…

[Qld-RTV]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

The kicker with the Melbourne cycling fines is, non-payment may lead to loss of driving licence…

what if they dont have a licence to start with?

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Vic government loves revenue raising. But I do find it rather humorous they are targeting the lycra warriors

I find it strangely satisfying....

[naddis01]

How do you know what speed you are doing on a bicycle?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by naddis01

How do you know what speed you are doing on a bicycle?

I know right?

For those not from Melbourne its the restaurant/bar strip right out the front of Crown Casino and Southgate complexes - its a shared pedestrian/cycling strip.



3:00 onwards is the area in question

[MITCHAY]

These scooters are all over the place and out of control in the CBD here. Seen a lot of ****ed ****s hooning around on them a lot too

Originally Posted by naddis01

How do you know what speed you are doing on a bicycle?

A trip computer or even GPS. I haven't owned a bike in roughly 20 years but I even had one of them back then

[LG17]

Originally Posted by naddis01

How do you know what speed you are doing on a bicycle?

Many cyclists have a speedo/odometer on their bikes, they're readily available.

[naddis01]

Originally Posted by LG17

Many cyclists have a speedo/odometer on their bikes, they're readily available.

Many do but I would say most bikes in this country don't.

I guess the point I was alluding to was, if it is not a legal requirement to have a speed measuring device, how can you be fined for speeding?

[Qld-RTV]

Originally Posted by naddis01

I guess the point I was alluding to was, if it is not a legal requirement to have a speed measuring device, how can you be fined for speeding?

if you want to ride your pushbike in an aread with a speed limit which can easily be exceeded on your pushbike, you're the one who bears the responsibility to fit a speed measuring device.

its like trying to use the excuse of "but I wasnt looking at the speedo" when you're driving down the road

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Qld-RTV

if you want to ride your pushbike in an aread with a speed limit which can easily be exceeded on your pushbike, you're the one who bears the responsibility to fit a speed measuring device.

its like trying to use the excuse of "but I wasnt looking at the speedo" when you're driving down the road

Yep, As a cop told me once.....ignorance is no excuse for the law.

[ivorya]

Originally Posted by Qld-RTV

if you want to ride your pushbike in an aread with a speed limit which can easily be exceeded on your pushbike, you're the one who bears the responsibility to fit a speed measuring device.

Not sure about that!!

Vehicles can still be driven without seat belts but have been mandatory for years.

[MITCHAY]

Originally Posted by naddis01

Many do but I would say most bikes in this country don't.

I guess the point I was alluding to was, if it is not a legal requirement to have a speed measuring device, how can you be fined for speeding?

If you ride on a road why wouldn't the traffic laws apply? Most of them are slow as **** but I have seen plenty fast ones too easily going 40+

You can get done DUI riding a bike too depending on your state laws

In the ACT at least it is considered the same as drink driving and you will lose your licence if convicted.

This a very old article put proof of this https://www.canberratimes.com.au/sto...to-conviction/

[prydey]

I've often wondered about the speeding thing on a bike, given they don't come with any speed measuring device and as far as I know, you are under no obligation to fit one.

I run a garmin on mine so am well aware of my speeds and ride responsibly.

I'm actually fully in support of cyclists getting fines for breaking the road rules as well. The muppets that do the things in the article in the first post deserve everything they get as they make life difficult for everyone that tries to do the right thing. As evidenced by some of the comments in this thread even, if someone sees a cyclist break the law they treat all cyclists as guilty. I would like to be judged by my actions, not the actions of someone else. Unfortunately the world is full of small minded people.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by naddis01

How do you know what speed you are doing on a bicycle?

It's their responsibility to know since they are the operator of the vehicle. If they don't want to or can't figure it out then they are not responsible users and should park the bike up.

I ride bike myself and I don't have a good view of the hardcore cyclist when it come to shared paths.
They say a metre matters and expect cars and trucks to be respectful to them when they're on the road, yet they can't offer the same courtesy to pedestrians and slow moving bikes on shared paths.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by naddis01

How do you know what speed you are doing on a bicycle?

Install a bike speedo. Around $40.

Work very well. Installed one on my Bugeye Sprite and it registered up to 140km/h...

On a... private road, of course... cough cough...

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Install a bike speedo. Around $40...

Sorry officer i was to busy watching my speedo and totally didn't see the Stephen Hawking look-a-like

Now where have i heard that excuse before

[JasonACT]

And are the speed-limits posted? They aren't where I live. I added a gadget to my bike though to measure it, it does 32km/h max, it's got a 500w motor but is driven by a 1000w controller. +Secret switch to bring it down to 250w. Dodgy ebay seller. I wouldn't ride it without a helmet though, even then I don't feel very safe... Fold-up bike!

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by JasonACT

And are the speed-limits posted? They aren't where I live. I added a gadget to my bike though to measure it, it does 32km/h max, it's got a 500w motor but is driven by a 1000w controller. +Secret switch to bring it down to 250w. Dodgy ebay seller. I wouldn't ride it without a helmet though, even then I don't feel very safe... Fold-up bike!

Its called using your common sense.
Riding within a pedestrian mall or strip you simply slow to near walking pace, you don't like it don't ride through these places.
Happens all the time crossing the 10Km/h posted Pyrmont bridge in Sydney, high pedestrian area which allows cyclist to pass over but as alway some commuting cyclist or roadies think it doesn't apply to them.
Funny thing is councils seem to like creating these situations particularly in Sydney's and Melbourne's cases.

Canberra is a whole nother level of sh*tfights on the bike, not with motorist or pedestrians but other d**khead cyclists.

When I'm out riding I avoid places like this if I want to ride at a pace, I don't use a bike computer.
Yep, and if you think you can get away with it if pulled over, it's now a law to carry some form of ID while riding a bike or scooter for adults.
As for cyclist who use the roads, if you want to be treated like traffic act like traffic.

JasonACT not having a go at you personally. mate.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Its called using your common sense.
Riding within a pedestrian mall or strip you simply slow to near walking pace, you don't like it don't ride through these places.
Happens all the time crossing the 10Km/h posted Pyrmont bridge in Sydney, high pedestrian area which allows cyclist to pass over but as alway some commuting cyclist or roadies think it doesn't apply to them.
Funny thing is councils seem to like creating these situations particularly in Sydney's and Melbourne's cases.

Like driving through shopping centre car park, drive slowly because you don't know when someones going to pop out from between cars, and you know, pedestrians all over the joint.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Like driving through shopping centre car park, drive slowly because you don't know when someones going to pop out from between cars, and you know, pedestrians all over the joint.

I feel like everyone aims for a middle speed no matter where they are.

In carparks and city streets up to 50km/h I always have people sitting up my *** and I feel like I'm driving too slow even though I'm just being reasonable.

Then I drive between Sydney and Newcastle down the M1 with my cruise control set to 112km/h GPS verified and I spend half the time in right lane overtaking almost everyone.

It's like everyone aims for 70-80km/h no matter whether the speed limit is 50 or 110.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Ben73

I feel like everyone aims for a middle speed no matter where they are.

In carparks and city streets up to 50km/h I always have people sitting up my *** and I feel like I'm driving too slow even though I'm just being reasonable.

Then I drive between Sydney and Newcastle down the M1 with my cruise control set to 112km/h GPS verified and I spend half the time in right lane overtaking almost everyone.

It's like everyone aims for 70-80km/h no matter whether the speed limit is 50 or 110.

How good is it when you get stuck behind some slowpoke doing 70km/h on a single lane country highway.

Then said slowpoke goes through the 50 zone in town at 70km/h

[Sabantien]

Originally Posted by Ben73

I feel like everyone aims for a middle speed no matter where they are.

In carparks and city streets up to 50km/h I always have people sitting up my *** and I feel like I'm driving too slow even though I'm just being reasonable.

Then I drive between Sydney and Newcastle down the M1 with my cruise control set to 112km/h GPS verified and I spend half the time in right lane overtaking almost everyone.

It's like everyone aims for 70-80km/h no matter whether the speed limit is 50 or 110.

It's funny you say that. I've noticed a lot of people who overtake me while I'm doing the speed limit in a 50/60 zone are the same ones who I then overtake on the highway.

As for the cyclists, I reckon a lot of the hard-core ones are on strava. They probably have their phone or other device strapped to their handlebars showing their speed, and they don't want to slow down because they're trying to keep their average speed up for the particular section they're riding on, or are trying to beat a time so won't slow for pedestrians.

I enjoyed doing that too while cycling, but I tried to avoid places with pedestrians and cars.

[Franco Cozzo]

I was in Adelaide earlier this week and those renta-scooter things were all over the place, I left Adelaide at 3:35AM on a Sunday and there was drunk young adults scooting about in numbers on the footpath

We had those renta-bikes here for a while but they were removed because they kept ending up in trees or in our lovely brown river, visible in the above images

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-...bourne/9860314

There is clear signage with a 10km/h speed limit on the Southbank Promenade.

[MITCHAY]

Yeah the bikes were around and same thing about them ending up in the lake

[Wretched]

About time they are doing this. I took the family down there one day and it was packed with people. Having a 3 and 5 year old they're not going to walk in a straight line ALL the time, after all it is a tourist area. Having some (not all) cyclists using pedestrians as their own personal slalom course, see how fast they can zoom around them is always going to end in disaster. There were some cyclists who could see this and dismounted and walked their bikes just for the 200m or so.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Wretched

About time they are doing this. I took the family down there one day and it was packed with people. Having a 3 and 5 year old they're not going to walk in a straight line ALL the time, after all it is a tourist area. Having some (not all) cyclists using pedestrians as their own personal slalom course, see how fast they can zoom around them is always going to end in disaster. There were some cyclists who could see this and dismounted and walked their bikes just for the 200m or so.

They usually just haul *** down the path and get on their angry bell thing while dodging people

[lumen8]

Whats next will they start defecting push bikes

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by lumen8

Whats next will they start defecting push bikes

They have issued fines in Sydney for that in the past.
No warning device (bell) fitted, no rear facing red or forward facing white reflector. Non working rear brake.

On the licence thing, If you do not have a licence they can still summons you to court if you do not pay whatever fine you received.

[GCRXR6]

Originally Posted by lumen8

Whats next will they start defecting push bikes

Why not?