Posts tagged biking law
How to find a policeman
Sep 3rd
It seems that these days, it’s hard to find a policeman when you want one. But here at Bikesure, we’ve found what we think is the fastest and easiest way to distract a copper from his latest doughnut and turn up at your house.
Yes, simply upload a video of your bike travelling at high speeds and overtaking dangerously to your favourite video sharing site, and a member of Her Majesty’s Constabulary will be despatched to take a statement, as soon as they’ve conducted a thorough and wide-ranging nationwide investigation.
That’s what this chap did,
and now he simply has to wait for the police to complete their investigations into who he in fact is, and his next knock on the door will likely be the entire South Yorkshire force.
Say the police:
“We will do everything we can to identify these riders.”
Seriously though:
Bikers: Don’t ride like a muppet (that overtaking was shocking), and if you do, don’t film yourself doing it, and if you must, don’t post the film onto the internet.
Police: Here’s a free tip: instead of scouring the internet looking for dangerous road users, who you then can’t find without a lengthy and extensive investigation, why not look for them on the roads, where they actually are, in real life, and what’s more you might actually catch and stop them in the act?
Need to know Filtering info for Bikers
Jul 20th
Our man Paul is a mad keen biker, and takes a keen interest in the legal issues affecting bikers. Here’s his take on the recent change in case law which affects fault liability in the event of an accident while filtering through traffic.
I should point out that, as far as I know, Paul is not a lawyer, and his post does not constitute legal advice, so don’t rely on this blog in court, please!
FREE BEER FREE BEER
Now I’ve got your attention there is some information that I think you all should know about, now this may make me a little unpopular in some circles, but hey, here at Bikesure we think that you as our customers should have all the facts available to you,
In the past if a biker who was involved in a collision while filtering through stationary or slow moving traffic they were automatically found to be at least 80% at fault under a judgment called Powell v Moody 1966, then in 1972 a case Leeson v Bevis and Tolchard moved the proportion of blame to 50/50.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
New case 2006, an appeal court ruling, Davis v Shrogin, means that if a rider filtering through crawling or stationary traffic cannot be to blame if the rider had no chance to take avoiding action.
Filtering collision cases are normally dealt with by the county court, which must look to the court of appeal for guidance, so they’re going to have to abide by it, BUT while filtering past moving traffic is still technically illegal – at low speed a judge would never find that, but as the speed goes up it depends on his/her discretion.
Now there is no specific mention of filtering in the highway code, so all road users should read the rules on overtaking, being a bit vague and open to personal interpretation like most laws of the land. So, in my view, slow filtering is fine, but passing cars at 60/70 clearly isn’t. The mid-point in between is a grey area so please be careful,
I think that’s about all for now,
Stay safe,
Oneleggedfreak