Purely out of curiousity

MichaelB wrote:
> I was wondering, what might happen to you if you whizz past a speed camera a little over the limit
> and it catches you. Now I hate people who speed in their cars and whinge about speed cameras, but,
> cycling is a sport and getting the most out of yourself involves going fast. If this puts you over
> the speed limit, purely by accident you understand, what might happen to you? What can anybody
> possibly do? You must also appreciate that cars are about 20 times heavier than a bike and rider
> so consequently a cyclist has a twentieth of the energy to dissipate in an accident.

Nothing. a) the offence of speeding does not apply to bicycles, only to motor vehicles, b) they have
no obvious way to identify you and c) the camera evidence could not be used as evidence of cycling
without due care etc as they are not authorised for that purpose nor would the evidence give
sufficient evidence of the circumstances to determine whether or not it was without due care. So
relax and cycle past as fast as you like.

Tony

"MichaelB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I was wondering, what might happen to you if you whizz past a speed camera a little over the limit
> and it catches you.

You'll keep on cycling until you get where you're going. Then you stop. Nothing otherwise
significant will happen.
>
>
>
> --

"MichaelB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I was wondering, what might happen to you if you whizz past a speed camera a little over the limit
> and it catches you.

It won't. You'd have to go a fair speed over the limit, and you are radar "stealthy" enough to be
difficult to detect.

I believe spokes may reflect radar quite well, but will give back reflections at all sorts of speeds
- rather than consistent reflections required to set it off.

>I was wondering, what might happen to you if you whizz past a speed camera a little over the limit
>and it catches you.

B*gger all - the speeding laws in the UK apply only to motor vehicles.

>but, cycling is a sport and getting the most out of yourself involves going fast.

Cycling *can be* a sport - it isn't for many, it's a means of getting from A to
B.

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame &
fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

"MichaelB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I was wondering, what might happen to you if you whizz past a speed camera a little over the limit
> and it catches you.

I've been curious as to whether bikes do trigger speed cameras.

Around my neck of the woods we have a lot of 20mph zones with the speed advisor things (they
just show your speed on big LCD display). I've been meaning to give one a go to see if it does
pick up a bike.

"Frank X" wrote ...
>
> Around my neck of the woods we have a lot of 20mph zones with the speed advisor things (they
> just show your speed on big LCD display). I've been meaning to give one a go to see if it does
> pick up a bike.
>
>

By the time the speed advisor thingies around here pick up my bicycle, I'm so close that the angle
between my line of travel and the speed advisor creates a very inaccurate reading. They're fun to
play with just the same.
--
mark

W K wrote:
> "MichaelB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> I was wondering, what might happen to you if you whizz past a speed camera a little over the
>> limit and it catches you.
>
> It won't. You'd have to go a fair speed over the limit, and you are radar "stealthy" enough to be
> difficult to detect.

Hand held guns can detect hockey pucks at about 90mph going directly at them. Don't know if its the
same technology in fixed cameras though. Anyway there is no compulsion for a speedo on a bicycle let
alone a calibrated one like on a motor vehicle. How are we meant to know if we are going faster than
the limit or not ?

MSeries wrote:
>
> Hand held guns can detect hockey pucks at about 90mph going directly at them. Don't know if its
> the same technology in fixed cameras though. Anyway there is no compulsion for a speedo on a
> bicycle let alone a calibrated one like on a motor vehicle. How are we meant to know if we are
> going faster than the limit or not ?

Easy. When you are going at 35mph you are keeping up with some of the cars ;-)

Tony

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 18:35:34 GMT, MichaelB
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I was wondering, what might happen to you if you whizz past a speed camera a little over the limit
>and it catches you. Now I hate people who speed in their cars and whinge about speed cameras, but,
>cycling is a sport and getting the most out of yourself involves going fast. If this puts you over
>the speed limit, purely by accident you understand, what might happen to you? What can anybody
>possibly do? You must also appreciate that cars are about 20 times heavier than a bike and rider so
>consequently a cyclist has a twentieth of the energy to dissipate in an accident.

If your lucky you will be undertaking a 4x4 with bullbars at the time and the 4x4 driver will end up
with a speeding ticket.

> >but, cycling is a sport and getting the most out of yourself involves going fast.
>
> Cycling *can be* a sport - it isn't for many, it's a means of getting from
A to
> B.

Heh, on my cycle home to Battertia, there're a particular set of lights that are right before a nice
'n' fast piece of road. Every night, the cyclists line up... andtheyreoff!

Actually had quite good fun tailgating a bus tonight. Always fun going even faster than normal
past the dweebs who insist on going through red lights and then holding up the Real Cyclists
amoungst us

Tom.

"Thomas Buck" <La de la de la> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Actually had quite good fun tailgating a bus tonight. Always fun going
even
> faster than normal past the dweebs who insist on going through red lights and then holding up the
> Real Cyclists amoungst us
>
Perhaps they thought jumping a red light was much safer than tailgaiting a bus at high speed?

Tony Raven wrote:
> MSeries wrote:
>>
>> Hand held guns can detect hockey pucks at about 90mph going directly at them. Don't know if its
>> the same technology in fixed cameras though. Anyway there is no compulsion for a speedo on a
>> bicycle let alone a calibrated one like on a motor vehicle. How are we meant to know if we are
>> going faster than the limit or not ?
>
> Easy. When you are going at 35mph you are keeping up with some of the cars ;-)
>
> Tony

You presume the cars are breaking the speed limit then.

"Frank X" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Thomas Buck" <La de la de la> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Actually had quite good fun tailgating a bus tonight. Always fun going
> even
> > faster than normal past the dweebs who insist on going through red
lights
> > and then holding up the Real Cyclists amoungst us
> >
> Perhaps they thought jumping a red light was much safer than tailgaiting a bus at high speed?

Strangely enough, as I neared the end of Baker Street, I was beginning to think the same thing.

Live fast, die young. Stupidity at its finest, that be me.

Tom.

"Thomas Buck" <La de la de la> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Frank X" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]
> berlin.de...
> >
> > "Thomas Buck" <La de la de la> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > Actually had quite good fun tailgating a bus tonight. Always fun going
> > even
> > > faster than normal past the dweebs who insist on going through red
> lights
> > > and then holding up the Real Cyclists amoungst us
> > >
> > Perhaps they thought jumping a red light was much safer than tailgaiting
a
> > bus at high speed?
>
> Strangely enough, as I neared the end of Baker Street, I was beginning to think the same thing.
>
> Live fast, die young. Stupidity at its finest, that be me.
>
> Tom.

"Thomas Buck" <La de la de la> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Live fast, die young. Stupidity at its finest, that be me.
>

You're not alone (. It's quite easy to do 40 behind a good double decker.

"MSeries" <[email protected]> wrote in news:c0bgmk$1577sp$1@ID-
207671.news.uni-berlin.de:

>> Easy. When you are going at 35mph you are keeping up with some of the cars ;-)
>>
>> Tony
>
> You presume the cars are breaking the speed limit then.
>
>

Yeah Tony, that was a really rash assumption, 40mph is more likely ;-)

Graeme

What Tony said, plus d) It's unlikely that the camera will go off anyway. At least, the one at the
bottom of Stamford Hill never has when passed by rapidly descending cyclists.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

There's a few of those around my neck of the woods. Some work. The one on Orient Way - when it works
at all - has repeatedly told my motorcar that it's doing over 100 mph.

Which is a lie.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

Frank X wrote:

> You're not alone (. It's quite easy to do 40 behind a good double decker.

They must have differently-abled buses round your way, Frank. Mr Larrington's bus law states:

A bus with a cyclist behind it is capable of 15 mph tops. A bus with a cyclist in front of it cannot
drop below 30 mph in case the bomb goes off.

Or something.

Fully-loaded four-axle tippers are what you want. I once followed one down the Edgware Road all the
way from Hendon down to Maida Vale, and the driver must have had some kind of arrangement with God,
Stan or the Traffic Light Pixies coz I don't think we met a single red light all the way!

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================