is helmet compulsory while cycling in the UK?

[Tom Crispin]

On 13 Apr 2007 04:36:00 -0700, "spindrift" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>You MUST NOT loiter on zebra, pelican or puffin crossings.

I wish car drivers would not loiter on zebra, pelican or puffin
crossings. How many times have I seen lorry drivers park themselves
in traffic queues right across a pedestrian crossing? (I've never
obseved a cyclist being that discourteous).

 

[Clive George]

"David Damerell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:zvr*[email protected]...
> Quoting Chris Eilbeck <[email protected]>:
>>Makes a change from "your wheel's going round!" I suppose.
>
> "She's not pedalling" - we had four last time we were out on the tandem, I
> think.

We got a new one to us the other day - "how about a lift?". Made a nice
change.

cheers,
clive

 

[Matt B]

spindrift wrote:
> On 12 Apr, 19:33, "Squashme" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On 12 Apr, 10:44, "Clive George" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>> I can't find it anywhere. Some say it is, some say it's not. Can
>>>> anyone confirm one or the other? Thank you.
>>> Others have pointed out the answer, which is "no". A good place to look is
>>> the highway code -www.highwaycode.gov.uk. It would say there "Helmets MUST
>>> be worn" if it was compulsory, but it doesn't.
>>> cheers,
>>> clive
>> Of course what is compulsory, is ignoring red lights, especially at
>> pedestrian crossings, because breaking cadence is a sin, and
>> pedestrians just love sharing their few miserable allotted seconds to
>> cross the road, with cyclists, their natural allies.
>> I've forgotten where the Highway Code says this, but it must be there
>> somewhere.
>
> It's not merely convention that says that pedestrians should wait for
> a light , it's the highway code...

But it's not law, so they /don't/ have to obey lights. Like for
cyclists wearing a cycle helmet, using cycle tracks, using cycle lanes,
is recommended by the HC, but not the law.

However, obeying traffic lights /is/ a legal requirement for cyclists.

--
Matt B

 

[dkahn400]

On Apr 13, 12:33 pm, Tony Raven <[email protected]> wrote:
> dkahn400 wrote on 13/04/2007 11:58 +0100:

> > Ask the people who say it is to give
> > you a reference to the actual legislation, eg
> > Extremely Dangerous Pursuits Act, 2003, Section 666.
>
> You have to read that one very carefully; the Devil's in
> the detail ;-)

Yes, it's a beast of a section.

--
Dave...

 

[John Kane]

On Apr 13, 7:43 am, John B <[email protected]> wrote:
> POHB wrote:
>
> > Are there any special bylaws on the Isle of Wight requiring them?
> > It's just that we were cycling helmetless there a couple of weekends
> > ago and were subjected to shouted "where are your helmets" comments
> > from motorists.
> > I assumed they were just normal morons, but I suppose they might have
> > known something I don't?
>
> Why do you think Hampshire dug a ditch and pushed the IOW out into the sea ;-)
>
> <ducks.
>
> John B

I remember meeting a very nice pub landlord there. It's amazing how
much the IOW accent is like that of Glasgow.

 

[Andrew Price]

On 13 Apr 2007 14:13:21 +0100 (BST), David Damerell
<[email protected]> wrote:

>>Makes a change from "your wheel's going round!" I suppose.
>
>"She's not pedalling" - we had four last time we were out on the tandem, I
>think.

Or "does your mother know you wear pants like that?"

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:44:54 +0100, "Clive George"
<[email protected]> said in
<[email protected]>:

>A good place to look is
>the highway code - www.highwaycode.gov.uk. It would say there "Helmets MUST
>be worn" if it was compulsory, but it doesn't.

However, the new version will get as close as it can, and the new
version is also unchanged from the first draft we saw months ago in
respect of psychlepaths. We will, officially, be in contravention of
the Code if we ride on the road instead of the glass-strewn strip of
overgrown gravel the council thinks is all we need.

The Driving Standards Agency listened carefully to what cyclists and
cycling organisations had to say, and then ignored it in its entirety.
P**l Sm*th and the Provisional RAC will be justly proud of them.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On 13 Apr 2007 08:58:50 -0700, "dkahn400" <[email protected]>
said in <[email protected]>:

>Yes, it's a beast of a section.

I've got your number, mate.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

 

[Tony Raven]

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote on 13/04/2007 22:53 +0100:
>
> However, the new version will get as close as it can, and the new
> version is also unchanged from the first draft we saw months ago in
> respect of psychlepaths. We will, officially, be in contravention of
> the Code if we ride on the road instead of the glass-strewn strip of
> overgrown gravel the council thinks is all we need.
>

Not strictly true. To avoid embarassing the Under-Secretary of State
for Transport who assured Parliament it would not (Hansard 2 May 2006)
they changed the wording from using facilities "when practicable" to
"whenever possible". According to the Consultation Response by the DSA,
this ensures other road users know there is no legal obligation and its
the cyclists choice. You couldn't make it up!


--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

 

[Martin Dann]

Tom Crispin wrote:
> On 13 Apr 2007 04:36:00 -0700, "spindrift" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> You MUST NOT loiter on zebra, pelican or puffin crossings.
>
> I wish car drivers would not loiter on zebra, pelican or puffin
> crossings. How many times have I seen lorry drivers park themselves
> in traffic queues right across a pedestrian crossing? (I've never
> obseved a cyclist being that discourteous).

 

[Martin Dann]

Tom Crispin wrote:
> On 13 Apr 2007 04:36:00 -0700, "spindrift" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> You MUST NOT loiter on zebra, pelican or puffin crossings.
>
> I wish car drivers would not loiter on zebra, pelican or puffin
> crossings. How many times have I seen lorry drivers park themselves
> in traffic queues right across a pedestrian crossing? (I've never
> obseved a cyclist being that discourteous).

As a pedestrian I get annoyed with this, especially when it is buses.
It happened a year or so ago, and the cross light changed in my favour
So I crossed in front of the bus, whose driver decided to start moveing
forwards whilst I was still front.

Needless to say he did not appreciate it when I hammered on his window.

Martin.

 

[raisethe]

On 13 Apr, 22:38, Andrew Price <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 13 Apr 2007 14:13:21 +0100 (BST), David Damerell
>
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>Makes a change from "your wheel's going round!" I suppose.
>
> >"She's not pedalling" - we had four last time we were out on the tandem, I
> >think.
>
> Or "does your mother know you wear pants like that?"

I haven't heard "Get off and milk it!" for over 30 years. Has this
nugget of folk culture died out?

 

[[email protected]]

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:22:47 +0100, "Jeremy Parker"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>I can't find it anywhere. Some say it is, some say it's not. Can
>> anyone confirm one or the other? Thank you.
>>
>
>The only compulsory helmet law is for children riding horses ( I
>don't know about other animals)
>

Which other animals ride horses and do they make helmets to fit them
anyway.

ME

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Just zis Guy, you
know? ('[email protected]') wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:44:54 +0100, "Clive George"
> <[email protected]> said in
> <[email protected]>:
>
>>A good place to look is
>>the highway code - www.highwaycode.gov.uk. It would say there "Helmets
>>MUST be worn" if it was compulsory, but it doesn't.
>
> However, the new version will get as close as it can, and the new
> version is also unchanged from the first draft we saw months ago in
> respect of psychlepaths. We will, officially, be in contravention of
> the Code if we ride on the road instead of the glass-strewn strip of
> overgrown gravel the council thinks is all we need.
>
> The Driving Standards Agency listened carefully to what cyclists and
> cycling organisations had to say, and then ignored it in its entirety.
> P**l Sm*th and the Provisional RAC will be justly proud of them.

I know that when the recommendation was announced a couple of weeks ago
someone said 'don't go ballistic yet, the CTC are working on something'.
But please can we know what the CTC is working on? It seems to me that the
iron is hot and is rapidly cooling, and the time to go ballistic is now.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I'd rather live in sybar-space

 

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:56:43 +0100 someone who may be Simon Brooke
<[email protected]> wrote this:-

>I know that when the recommendation was announced a couple of weeks ago
>someone said 'don't go ballistic yet, the CTC are working on something'.
>But please can we know what the CTC is working on? It seems to me that the
>iron is hot and is rapidly cooling, and the time to go ballistic is now.

Indeed, especially as it can be used to question candidates at the
forthcoming elections.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:56:43 +0100, Simon Brooke
<[email protected]> said in
<[email protected]>:

>I know that when the recommendation was announced a couple of weeks ago
>someone said 'don't go ballistic yet, the CTC are working on something'.
>But please can we know what the CTC is working on? It seems to me that the
>iron is hot and is rapidly cooling, and the time to go ballistic is now.

You could try calling CTC and talk to either Adam Coffman or Roger
Geffen, I am not really in the loop here (too busy spending all the
firm's annual hardware budget in one hit, thanks to the combined
offices of messrs. Dell and EMC).

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

 

[Paul Boyd]

Squashme said the following on 12/04/2007 19:33:

> Of course what is compulsory, is ignoring red lights

Ah - that must be why so many motorists do this.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[[email protected]]

On 13 Apr, 13:08, [email protected] (Ekul
Namsob) wrote:
> POHB <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Are there any special bylaws on the Isle of Wight requiring them?
> > It's just that we were cycling helmetless there a couple of weekends
> > ago and were subjected to shouted "where are your helmets" comments
> > from motorists.
>
> To which the correct answer is one of: "The same place as yours"; "In
> the shop" or "... off".


"Where's your *bike*???"


Mark, UK, posting via GG <spit>