British judges are renowned for eccentricity and inconsistency. Bruce Morgan, the judge who let off PC Mark Milton for driving at 159mph, has bizarrely found a cyclist guilty of inconsiderate cycling for simply riding along a public road in accordance with the national standard for cycling training.
Daniel Cadden was the cyclist. He was doing 20mph when two drivers overtook him, illegally crossing the double white 'no overtaking' lines. The police decided to ignore the illegal driving and stop Mr Cadden for riding inconsiderately for failing to use a less convenient cyclepath. The dinosaur judge swallowed this.
This is an outrage. I've had abuse hurled at me by yobbish drivers for not following a local alleged cycle path. It's nothing of the kind: it's a marked area of the pavement on the Amersham to Watford road that gives way to every drive and side-road. It makes cyclists second class citizens. Mr Cadden would have had to cross the busy three-lane road twice on his journey had he used the cycle path. It would have made cycling far less attractive as a means of getting from A to B.
The CTC - the UK's national cyclists' organisation - is supporting Daniel. See the CTC website for more information. You can support Daniel's appeal through the Cyclists' Defence Fund.
How on earth are we going to encourage people to get out of their cars and onto their bikes when the legal system is so brainless?
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