i and other taxpayers pay for this?

I ride past the police all the time, on the pavement, on Muni, trials or
Giraffe uni wth no problems. I was stopped once as a joke becasue they
were bored and wanted to ask where my lights were, but they admitted to
just pulling my leg, one of them remarking as i left "You can ride that
thing anywhere". I get more hassle from university security, who have
nothing better to do and not doubt get huge trouble with skateboarders
and have no sense of humour. They usually just ask you not to do what
your doing, but this is on private property so I suppose they have a
right, I've never tried pushing the fact that I am a student and
therefore have a right to be there, although I may one day.

--
kington99

Dave

- what a thoroughly post-modern subversion of the cycling genre -
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kington99 said:

"You can ride that thing anywhere".

mmm- i had thought this was the case when i first bought my unicycle
along with a 'book' (http://tinyurl.com/rwh7n) which states: (and i
quote) "...your unicycle is not covered at all by the Road Traffic laws
and you can probably ride it wherever you like."

however, according to http://www.unicycle.org.uk/thelaw.html this is
not the case, as pointed out to me by the folk at the cambridge CAB.

--
epistolize

my sig is a squiggle, but my keyboard like a trusty secretary always
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scream and beat up my computer when it crashes and i haven't backed
up.

"Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet soup?" 'Bite Me'
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Yep, it's illegal to ride a unicycle on the pavement, but if the police
were to apply the letter of the law it's also illegal for small
children on bikes, wheelchairs, and mobility scooters.

Apparently the Home Office guidelines to police are to apply the law at
their own discretion, and only stop someone if they are causing a
danger to others. I.e. if they see an adult cycling at high speed on a
crowded pavement they should stop him, but if they see a 3 year old
riding a tricycle they should not. Although strictly you were breaking
the law, it sounds like these police were bored and looking for someone
to moan at.

I agree that the law should be changed, having one law for all kinds of
bicycles alone is ridiculous, let alone all the other types of vehicle
covered under the current law.

--
domesticated ape

i like bananas, monkey nuts and grapes
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I see the law as fair enough. We ride "pedal cycles" and so should be
on the road. With lights and reflectors and all that. There can't be
one rule for cyclists and then another for unicyclists. We want to be
treated the same as cyclists (don't we?), this would only seperate us
even more.

When Pebbles and I first started unicycling, we used to ride up the
town centre all the time. At first the cops were as surprised as
everyone else by us and told us not to ride on the pavement. I said to
him "are you seriously telling us to ride these on the road?" (We were
on 20's) He kind of looked at me funny and said "erm, yes.", you could
tell that he knew that it was daft, even though it is the law. We
replied with "we'll just push them........'til you're out of sight."

A few times after that they told us to get off and said we were
dangerous, we told them we can control the unicycles and will not hurt
anyone other than ourselves on them, and walked.......'til they were
out of sight.

Now they only tell us to get off it's really busy with people, which is
fair enough. But if it' a quiet night up town they don't bother us.
Like you say, there's folk doing much worse stuff they could(should) be
chasing.

I don't think you'll ever get the law changed, I reckon you'll just
have to see if the cops (hopefully) suss out that you are safe on your
wheel and leave you be. Like domesticated ape said, they've gotta
"apply the law at their own discretion, and only stop someone if they
are causing a danger to others" I think your cop needs to realise that
you aren't causing a danger, which in time he should. Everyones first
reaction to seeing a unicycle on the pavement is that you are totally
out of control and about to hit them.

Good luck.

T.

P.S Who'd have thought that the cops would be (reasonably) cool in
Glasgow?

--
DarkTom

'*_My_Gallery_*' (http://tinyurl.com/9bnux)
-\"just eat less pies, and then the loads on your seatpost will be
less.\" - johnhimsworth
\"i am a girl\" - amanda.gallacher
\"you could help by not making it look so darn easy.\" - chrashing
-
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I have in fact had a few brush-ins with the law, albeit in the
Netherlands. I've so far been stopped twice by police because I was
riding on the pavement. The first time I was quite surprised, because I
was riding on my 20" trials uni, and I was obviously well capable of
steering through the (very thin) crowd. They asked me to not cycle
here, and I happily obliged. The next time however, I came prepared,
having emailed the ministry and the dutch organisation for traffic
safety and gotten similar replies, both saying I was under pedestrian
law. I showed them the emails, and though they were both not too happy
about me being such a smart-ass (visibily, not orally), they let me
unicycle on through.

The problem with categorizing a unicycle is that they're so widespread
in their application. The problem arises pretty much with 'weird' b*kes
too, such as trialbikes or BMXes. 20" trialbikes should ride on
pavement, having about the same speed as a 20" unicycle. Whereas a
racing cycle obviously SHOULDN'T ride on pavement. Same thing with
cokers and trial-unis. They may have the same design, they're a world
of difference in application, speed and manoeverability.

--
Erant

*"There is power in your wall sockets, too, but I don't recommend that
you plug yourself in to learn a 540 unispin."* - Harper
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Just ride with David Stone, he'll yell at the cops until they leave 🙂

--
Brian MacKenzie

Justonewheel: 'Just put the new uni together in the driveway stopped to
move the car and ran over the uni.'

DVD now available: 'Training Wheel Not Required'
(http://www.LBMmultimedia.com/videos/TWNR_uniTV.wmv)
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🙂

DarkTom said:

There can't be one rule for cyclists and then another for unicyclists.
We want to be treated the same as cyclists (don't we?), this would only
seperate us even more.

we are all cyclists by literal definition. however, the type of
unicycle that i ride and the kind of riding that i practise
(street/freestyle) makes what i do more akin to say skateboarding or
skating.

i welcome the distinction between unicyclists and *bi*cyclists- as it
helps to define exactly what it is that we do. i agree that we want to
be treated as cyclists as opposed to scum, and human beings as opposed
to lesser life forms, but i am a unicyclist and i ride a unicycle, not
a road b*ke. to be more specific, there may be certain forms of
unicycle that are safer to ride on the road than others. For example,
if i had a 36" geared uni, i wouldn't see the need to ride it in a
highly pedestrianised area- it's not designed with that specifically in
mind. however, if i and it were properly equipped, i would feel safer
riding that on a road than i would riding a skateboard on a road in
moving traffic even though i don't argue that it can't be done.

so am I arguing that unicycles should be banished to the road, the
skatepark, the trail and the gym hall?

well it is my opinion that it is fair for unicyclists to enjoy the
pavement -and other urban features- which constitute the concretised
environment in which many of us live, so long as a certain decorum is
maintained- including, but not necessarily limited to:

- not obstructing other pavement users
- not intimidating other pavement users
- abstention from unreasonable destruction of public property
- not riding in a way that unnecessarily endangers other people's
health/safety

if we are to view the street as a resource, just as we view the natural
environment as one, then surely to deprive people of the use of the
street is comparable to (at the most extreme) depriving the climber of
his right to clamber over rocks, the rambler or hill walker of his
right to roam slopes, the kite enthusiast the right to use air.

of course there are places that are too dangerous to practise some of
these activities, both for participant and those about them.

for example, it is unsafe for a kite to be flown near a road or close
to power cables, as it is to walk over railway lines where a crossing
has not been provided, or abseiling from a bridge to the middle of a
busy motorway; just as it is inadviseable or very silly if not
downright stupid to ride in the middle of a busy international airport
or in, say for example the central london underground at rush hour.
sure there may be rideable places there, but why unnecessarily endanger
so many othe people's lives?

i don't think riding an empty street and maybe hopping onto an empty
concrete bench on a sunday qualifies for dangerous riding (i didnt
bench-hop in front of the law) and i think the law should reflect that
so that valuable police time and resources can be spent on tackling,
say, gun crime or domestic violence or theft or something like that.🙂

--
epistolize

my sig is a squiggle, but my keyboard like a trusty secretary always
organises my thoughts into lines of legible text in files

anti-capitalisation, anti-capitalism; neither for nor against always
work well

"Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet soup?" 'Bite Me'
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I've been commuting in central London for some months now, and have
never had a problem with the police. Ok, so most of the time I am on
the road, but some times it's just quicker/safer/easier to take to the
pavement, but even then I've not been stopped by the police.

A few weeks ago, however, a bunch of us were doing trials riding just
on the North side of the Thames. A couple of policemen did ask us to
move on, and explained that the laws in the City of London are subtly
different to the rest of London, and that almost everything is illegal
there.

In the last year or so, there has been a big clampdown in the UK with
regard to using a mobile phone whilst driving if it's not 'hands free'.
Around Xmas time I was riding past some slow traffic, and chatting on
my mobile when I undertook a police car. I was a bit unsure how they
would react though, as it could be argued that you don't need a hands
free kit on a vehicle that doesn't require you to use your hands... but
sadly they ignored me. Pity really, as I would have been interested to
know their stance on that point.

STM

--
semach.the.monkey
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domesticated ape said:

Yep, it's illegal to ride a unicycle on the pavement, but if the police
were to apply the letter of the law it's also illegal
for small children on bikes,

True.

Quoted message said:

wheelchairs,

Not true (nor is it true that you can't push a pram / shopping trolley
/ sack barrow on the pavement).

Quoted message said:

and mobility scooters.

Not true - class 2 vehicles are intended to be ridden on
the pavement only, and class 3 vehicles are intended to be ridden on
either the pavement or in the road (with different rules depending
upon where you are). The next highway code will have a new section
specifically for these (at least, is very likely to - it's currently
in draft, and the consultative draft has such a section).

FWIW, I've never been spoken to by the police when riding my unicycle
on the pavement, even when I've ridden past them.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

semach.the.monkey said:

In the last year or so, there has been a big clampdown in the UK with
regard to using a mobile phone whilst driving if it's not 'hands free'.
Around Xmas time I was riding past some slow traffic, and chatting on
my mobile when I undertook a police car. I was a bit unsure how they
would react though, as it could be argued that you don't need a hands
free kit on a vehicle that doesn't require you to use your hands... but
sadly they ignored me. Pity really, as I would have been interested to
know their stance on that point.

It's not illegal to use a mobile phone when cycling.

The relevant bit of law is The Road Vehicles (Construction and
Use) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2003, which is statutory
instrument 2003 No 2695, and can be read here:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032695.htm

Regulation 110 says:
"No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a road if he is using a
hand-held mobile telephone;"

So as long as your unicycle is not motorised, it's legal to use the
phone while riding it. May or may not be sensible, but it's legal.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

I've ridden everything from a freestyle unicycle to a coker round loads
of towns in the UK including Cambridge. Loads in Cambridge, cos that's
where I was living when I learnt to ride. Including some pavement
riding on main roads.

Basically the rule with the police in almost all cases has been that if
you don't completely take the [censored] or act like a [censored], you can get away
with most things. I'd put deliberately causing an argument with the
police well into the taking the [censored] category though.

If you don't have arguments with the police, then you rarely get into a
situation where they're hassling you. Having arguments with the police
is just a way to make them hassle you and other unicyclists.

There's a real problem with what you're saying to them too, you're
saying that your vehicle is inherently unsafe in traffic, which means
that they have a great reason to stop any person they see riding a
unicycle in traffic and hassle them to ride on the pavement. Whilst you
may lack the skills to unicycle on roads, other people do have these
skills, and use them to get around. Going around causing hassles with
the police and telling them that you're too dangerous to ride on the
road is just causing hassles for those riders. In the worst case you'd
get the law changed so that unicyclists were meant to ride on the
pavement (as inevitably would be the case if there was a law change,
they're not going to want to waste taxpayer's money teaching the police
about unicycle specifications), and bang goes the fun for anyone who
chooses to road ride on their unicycles.

Even without the law change, police are now more likely to hassle
people in Cambridge. I used to ride on roads round the Cambridge area
on a 24" freestyle unicycle, and I know there are other riders there
who do similar, who would probably be [censored] if they get stopped
from doing it.

The magic of the current situation is that we're a grey area. This
means we can get away with so much more than skateboards, bikes, blades
and any other thing people ride round town on. If we don't take the
[censored], we can ride on road without being stopped (as skater and bladers
often are), on pavement without hassle, often even in areas with big
signs saying no skating etc.

Joe

ps. Spence (presuming that's you) - I think there's still no law
against using a mobile on a bike, 'Boris Johnson'
(http://tinyurl.com/zesc2) is very proud of this for some reason.

--
joemarshall

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Well i once had a police man tell me to get off the road... although i
was riding backwards on the wrong side of the road haha

--
unicycleboy

www.unicycleboy.unicyclist.com

MMMM the Bishop

http://tinyurl.com/afror
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joemarshall said:

I'd put deliberately causing an argument with the police well into the
taking the [censored] category though.

please pay attention to detail when you read my posts.

i wanted to ride to argos in letchworth, where i live. i work at argos.
it just so happened that the police drove up the road i planned to ride
down (since my shop was on it). It was a very quiet sunday afternoon.

had i gone out of my way to attract their attention, i would call that
deliberately causing an argument.

also, had you paid a little more attention to my post, you would have
noticed that i didn't argue with them- i complied with their request
immediately and my demeanor was extremely polite (i _asked_ if i could
ask a perfectly reasonable question and didn't begin until i had their
assent (which was freely given)).

joemarshall said:

There's a real problem with what you're saying to them too, you're
saying that your vehicle is inherently unsafe in traffic, which means
that they have a great reason to stop any person they see riding a
unicycle in traffic and hassle them to ride on the pavement. Whilst you
may lack the skills to unicycle on roads, other people do have these
skills, and use them to get around.

_\"...not_due_to_my_competence_as_a_rider,_but_as_a_result_of_motorist's_surprise_and_the_relative_slowness_of_my_vehicle_in_comparison_to_other_traffic-\"_

i was not riding a 36 incher and so my vehicle is bound to be slower
the smaller my wheel gets, providing the cycle is not geared. Did You
Simply Happen To Miss The Underlined Extract From My Original Post
Above?

i can ride and i find it a little insulting and irritating that someone
who evidently doesn't utilise their skill at *reading* as much as they
could should criticise me as you have, joe.

that being said, i don't dislike you yet, i just dislike the tone of
your post and your posting without reading (are you prejudging me based
on my age?).

--
epistolize

my sig is a squiggle, but my keyboard like a trusty secretary always
organises my thoughts into lines of legible text in files

anti-capitalisation, anti-capitalism; neither for nor against always
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i would like to apologise joe, before this gets out of hand. i can see
how easy it is to jump to conclusions and i shouldn't have been so
offended and try to come back at you- that was very childish.

peace?

p.s.

i should have written ' motorists' ' in the original post. i ought to
learn to write better.

--
epistolize

my sig is a squiggle, but my keyboard like a trusty secretary always
organises my thoughts into lines of legible text in files

anti-capitalisation, anti-capitalism; neither for nor against always
work well

"Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet soup?" 'Bite Me'
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police have no problem here in Rowlett..me and Matt ride in parking
lots, and across major roads all the time, and cops just watch us and
laugh

--
monkeyman

GILD said:

Isn't his mom so off topic that she irons goldfish?

'just' (http://oldeenglish.org/gymclass.html) about the coolest thing
I've ever seen
I am an MRian prophet, follower of 768
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I have always had a police experiances, my dad... But as I read this
thread I decided to go out, I left my house road 2 mins up the road and
I saw a police car. I obviously thought of this thread and then the
two policemen slowed right down. I was a bit apprehensive at this
point, but one said he used to do it and they talked to me. They
started to accelerate and I called the one who said he could ride and
asked if he wanted a go.

The guy quickly hopped out and fell off... He then tried again and
again and then rode 3 revs. He was obviously rushing so I let him
carry on with his work, he was extremely nice and fell off a few times.

Mike

--
swarbrim

😄 add me at [email hidden]

'i like things big' Amanda

'I prefer "badunkadunk", myself' Dudewithasock
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