Police

If you feel strongly about this, please join me in taking direct action as part of a protest on 22nd March. Facebook event here. When a football match takes place in Sheffield at Bramall Lane, coaches carrying fans need somewhere to park. This task is managed by South Yorkshire Police who direct them to park along Asline Road cycle track. This is part of the Sheaf Valley Route and is one of the few safe ways to avoid cycling along the terrifying Queens Road or London Road. ...

It is already on record that South Yorkshire Police do not consider road safety to be a priority. The recently elected South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright said so at one of the very first meetings he attended. Whilst the remit of road safety fell under the remit of the Police and Crime Commissioner, unless there was a particular road safety issue, traffic policing would not be high on the list of priorities as some other issues. ...

Blocking a contraflow cycle lane - 30th March 2013 Sheffield Police seem to be under the impression that they can leave their vehicles in mandatory cycle contraflow lanes even though they have a car park across the road. The people on the front line (receptionists, policemen) seem to think that I’m wasting their time complaining. I was made to feel like an idiot and that I was in the wrong for asking the vehicles to be moved to their car park. ...

Today in the Get Britain Cycling inquiry on Safety, the MET police said Metropolitan Police CI Ian Vincent tells inquiry that road safety is a high priority for the Commissioner and the police #getbritaincycling — APPCG (@allpartycycling) January 30, 2013 South Yorkshire Police How about locally in South Yorkshire? Well recently at the Police and Crime Panel Shaun Wright, the new Police and Crime Commissioner said Whilst the remit of road safety fell under the remit of the Police and Crime Commissioner, unless there was a particular road safety issue, traffic policing would not be high on the list of priorities as some other issues. ...

I’ve just had a talking to by a police officer for taking photo’s of a police van parked in the contraflow cycle lane on Castle Street. He wasn’t too keen on me doing this, he said that I was very conspicuous and perhaps putting myself in danger, he understood that I was there because of the taxis. I was stood outside the police station, scoping out current behavior, not taking photos, there are still plenty of taxis parking illegally, I saw 4 in a 15 minute window, I started taking photos when the police van turned up. He said that the police have to park in this location to drop officers off at the station, I asked about their car park, he said that the vehicles could not fit because of low clearance. ...

South Yorkshire Police I’ve blogged about Castle Street cycle lane before here: /the-ongoing-saga-of-sheffields-castle-street-cycle-lane/ Today I headed down to try and film some taxis blocking the cycle lane, but I came across another set of vehicles using it… The police have given us assurances that they know it is dangerous to park in this lane, that it causes traffic problems, that they will move vehicles on when they see them there, but I don’t think they are sincere. ...