police stepping it up?

Just googled a little and there is news about a guy next to my home town
being given a police order for standing around.

http://tinyurl.com/gou4s


--
zippy
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That's almost certainly not the whole story. It never is.

The fact that he is refered to as a "stunt unicyclist" even though
stunts do not appear in the narrative shows that the journalist was
trying to make bricks without straw - during a clay shortage.

It does sound like heavy-handed policing. On the other hand, the
police officer's first reponsibility is to protect the public as a
whole. The problem with cyclists in pedestrian areas is a serious one.
It is dangerous for old people and children. The police officer may
well have felt that the argument for an appearance of consistency was
more convincing than the bar-room lawyer's argument that a person
riding on a unicycle is a pedestrian because a unicycle has no brakes.

As unicyclists, we no doubt all feel some tribal loyalty to this
particular rider, and it may well be that he was doing nothing
inherently dangerous. However, I think he was unwise to try to be
clever about legal definitions. At least he got some free publicity
for his charity ride.


--
Mikefule

Is it the gods who put this ardour into our minds, or does every man's
irresistible desire become his god?
(Virgil)
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There is another thread somewhere about this - actually it may be in
JJuggle's thread. I've met Pete a few times and always found him a
quiet and unassuming person. I can't imagine him deliberately causing
trouble. He's MrBoogiejuice's mate.

Cathy


--
cathwood

Say no to unicycle genre discrimination! - MrBoogiejuice

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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Mikefule wrote:
That's almost certainly not the whole story. It never is.

However, I think he was unwise to try to be clever about legal
definitions. At least he got some free publicity for his charity ride.



Just to clear things up a little. My understanding of what happened was
that Pete was just riding, and definitely was not doing anything
dangerous.

I don't think he was trying to be clever, he was just saying why he
thought unicycling was allowed on pavements and didn't quote any laws,
just an assumption that we all make that unicycling on pavements is
legal.

Being a smart-arse law student I feel the need to be clever about legal
definitions (come on, it's all we can do )

Unicycling on pavements is legal. The liberal theory of the state that
underpins all British (and non-dictatorial for that matter) legal
thinking and lawmaking is essentially that outside of the law we are
free (J.S. Mill etc)
Since unicycling on pavements is not prohibited by law as biking is,
Pete was well within his rights. Any attempt by the police to stop him
is an abuse of their power since they can't just go around making the
law up as they see fit. I know he wasn't prosecuted but that's beside
the point, the officer had no right to stop him and issue that form.

Personally I think what the policeman did was disgusting , and if
he thought it was dangerous he could have asked politely and Pete would
have obliged. There was no need for what he did and I think people need
to stand up to the police if and when they try things like this for our
own sake. It's just not safe to unicycle on roads all of the time apart
from anything else.

UNICYCLISTS UNITE! FIGHT THE POWER! AND OTHER SUCH ANARCHIC SLOGANS,
MANY INVOLVING "THE MAN"


--
matt_t

You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless. You gotta hope even
more, and cover your ears and go 'bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla!'

Arrrrrr. Yarrrrrr. etc.
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matt_t wrote:
Just to clear things up a little. My understanding of what happened was
that Pete was just riding, and definitely was not doing anything
dangerous.

Being a smart-arse law student I feel the need to be clever about legal
definitions (come on, it's all we can do )

Unicycling on pavements is legal.




When riding on pavements I keep a clear distance from any pedestrians.
The distance is larger than that at which I know I can guarantee the
pedestrians safety. I will stop, lean against a lamp post and wave
them past at times. The better the unicyclist the closer the distance
at which he is safe. But the pedestrian and the policeman do not know
that.
I suspect this was more a "Stop what you are doing because I judge
that the public might be in danger" rather than " Unicycling is a
danger to the public and therefore you must stop it."


Nao


--
Naomi

I am not renowned for my political correctness. I apologise profusely
if I have, as yet, said absolutely nothing to offend you. An oversight
I shall no doubt deal with at the first opportunity.

Every breath you take, every move you make... contributes towards
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Your household insurance pokicy no doubt refers to pedal cycles, rather
than bicycles. If your unicycle was stolen, would you claim under that
section? I think you would.

On that basis, if a sign or law says no cycling, then the same logic
should apply.

If a police officer feels, rightly or wrongly, that someone's actions
may be dangerous, or intimidating to ordinary members of the public,
then the police officer has a duty to deal with the situation to reduce
the eprceived risk. He or she can only act on the strength of
experience and training. There are cases every day which fall into
legal grey areas, or where a literal interpretation of the law is
unreasonable or impractical.

I am not saying the unicyclist was wrong to be unicycling here, or that
he was riding dangerously. I accept the opinions of those who say he
wasn't. I do not agree with his interpetation of the law, but that is
open to reasonable debate and quoting of statute and case law and so
on. I do think he was -unwise - to approach the situation in this
way.

"I'm sorry officer. I didn't realise it wasn't allowed here," may
well have led to a mild chiding, followed by a more friendly
conversation, followed by the copper making a generous concession to
let him ride after all.

As a motorist, motorcyclist, and cyclist, the respectful "sorry
officer" approach has worked for me on every occasion except once.
(And that was at a place notorious for coppers stopping bikers, on a
very wet day when I was the only biker for miles, and the policeman's
lot was a particularly unhappy one.)

As soon as you tell a copper he is in the wrong, you have forced him to
prove that he is right - regardless of the facts. There is a simple
Freudian explanation that would be obvious if you were to see a police
officer in the shower.


--
Mikefule

Is it the gods who put this ardour into our minds, or does every man's
irresistible desire become his god?
(Virgil)
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Years ago(like 32) I was riding to school on my Uni and a police officer
pulled me over for alledgedly running a red light. After a friendly
conversation, he let me go saying "It is just as well as I did not know
whether to write you up as a pedestrian or vehicle." By the way, I did
not run the light.


--
jrdugueod

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right!"
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apparently you're not allowed to ride bikes on the pavement but if the
police ever stop me on my uni then my plan is to say, tell you what if
you can ride it then i'll let you stop me but if you can't then i'm
going to carry on, (this is probably going to end up with the poilce
being called Sergant Holm then i'm buggered!)


--
treepotato

Some unicycles can give nasty pedal bites.....i still have the scars to
prove it
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But how can they claim that you're not allowed to cycle on the pavement
when at least half of the cycle paths round here are on the pavement.

Cathy


--
cathwood

Say no to unicycle genre discrimination! - MrBoogiejuice

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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I'm surprised no-one's posted 'this'
(http://unicycle.org.uk/thelaw.html) yet

Whilst I would be the first to agree with the others in this thread(not
to mention common sense) that the obvious place to ride a 20" unicycle
is on the pavement, under the law a unicycle is counted as a pedal
cycle and as such subject to all the cycling laws. And to be honest, If
you're trying to argue that a unicycle should be counted as a cycle
then its probably unwise to say you're taking part in a bikeathon



cathwood wrote:
But how can they claim that you're not allowed to cycle on the pavement
when at least half of the cycle paths round here are on the pavement.

Cathy



I'm not really sure I see your point here. Cyclists are -not- allowed
on the pavement unless specifically stated otherwise. Similar to the
idea that a stretch of road with streetlights is -always- subject to a
30mph speed limit, unless specifically stated otherwise.


--
theamazingmolio

Luke Duller )
Never trust anything you read on the internet
'~*~*Random Forums*~*~ ' (www.randomforums.tk)
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