This morning I counted 16 parked vehicles blocking the cycle routes on a 2-3 mile stretch of road on my way into work. I personally would feel much safer cycling if the law was changed to prohibit this sort of behaviour. I'm sure this could be a real earner for the government if penalties were imposed on those responsible and who knows, it might also reduce congestion and encourage more people to cycle to work at the same time.

Police cycling is abysmal. If they don't know how to ride their own bikes properly how can we expect them to know what is and is not good riding in others?

The police require their car drivers to pass and maintain a higher level of driving test, but seemingly bike riding is too trivially easy for them to bother.

I would like to see regular police out on traffic patrol on their bikes so that they can see the poop we put up with and actual start giving out some tickets, not just warnings.

This is a positive move but if British roads are to be made safer for all there also needs to be a dramatic change in the attitude of the police themselves toward driving crime. It is no secret that many police officers are themselves habitual driving criminals both on and off duty, especially with regards speeding. As the House of Commons Transport Committee highlighted in it’s report `Traffic Law and it’s enforcement` the police often don’t treat driving crimes as being `real` crimes even when death or serious injury have resulted and frequently blame the victims of bad drivers for their injuries, rather than holding the driver to be accountable. See

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmtran/105/10502.htm

The Committee’s report certainly accords with my own experience, with one inspector in my local force admitting to me that it was an unofficial `official` policy of his force not to prosecute motorists who caused harm to cyclist unless the victim effectively ended up in either a coffin or a wheelchair, and sometimes not even then.

To a large degree the police have taken it on themselves to decriminalize criminal driving behaviours, in most cases preferring to `leave it to the insurance companies to sort out`. Similarly, drivers are almost never prosecuted for offences such as driving without due care unless someone has been harmed as a result, even though this charge is supposed to be used in an educational manner, with the consequences of a drivers behaviour being immaterial.

Across the country traffic teams have been scrapped and not just because of the pressure on police resources. Another major factor is the way so many senior officers feel that their polices should reflect what the public want. As the majority of people drive this means cutting back on the enforcement of traffic laws, especially with regards speeding, so as to not alienate` the (law-breaking) motorist. Conversely `responding to local concerns` all too often means sending of teams of police and community support officers who, in response to a few complaints from the local cyclist-hating `Daily Mail Readers taking time off from complaining about `the persecution of the beleaguered motorist`, go out and(completely ignoring the relevant Home Office guidelines on the use of Fixed Penalty Notices) fine any cyclist the see riding on a footway or in a pedestrian zone. The irony is that many of these cyclists will only have taken to the foot way in the first place due to the danger they face on the practically un-policed highways!