North Wales welcomes 'safe' bikers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13170408

Insp Hughes spelled out a warning: "If you come here with the intention to ride selfishly, because there is like in any population, a selfish minority who ride with no regard for the safety of themselves or other road users, then we will be looking for those offences, detecting them and taking them to court."

The legacy of Brunstrom slowly eroding?

Trying to boost the tourism that declined due to bikers buying bacon butties and ice cream elsewhere no doubt.

Perhaps, but the implication that you're to be interrupted mid-salmonella roll by 'is this YOUR motor vehicle, sir?' as per the article doesn't really encourage you.

[keith_d]

I liked the bit, "and you drive sensibly and your bike is fully lawful..."

Of course, the only way to be sure a bike is "fully lawful" is to stop it and inspect it. So, it could be business as usual for Jones the Police & Jones the Magistrate.

If anything, that puts me off going there. Apparantly if I stop for a drink/toilet break/quick bite to eat/to clean the visor then I'm going to get lectured about road safety because I'm wearing leathers and am on 2 wheels. Probably even more so because I'm young and am judged to know nothing. Sure I admit I don't know everything, but I'm still experienced and have a fair amount of knowledge about things and can still control a bike pretty damn well, not just throwing it round corners but slow riding and a few manners of practical road riding.

However I do appreciate their concern for bikers, but there are some of us who are sensible. The 75 who were kiled or injured last year were probably turnips riding like pillocks, either that or a car driver got them and they were just added to a statistic.

They say they will leave bikers along their business if their riding and bike are within the law. I wonder how many H-D riders will get pulled for straight through pipes that are clearly over the legal noise limit compared to those of us on bikes that handle and move a bit better for wearing knee sliders.

Sorry if it comes over at bashing the police. It's not what I'm doing at all. I'm just voicing the fact that it seems to come down to bikers being judged because of a few small t**ts.

Magistrates in N Wales are worse than the police. A friend of mine called Steve Parry had a brother, I say had because he got killed by a taxi driver who pulled out in front of him and his BMW bike. The taxi driver was prosecuted, but not banned, merely fined. She was driving her taxi the next day.

A little while later, Steve was riding with his girlfriend on the back of his own BMW, they rounded a bend at below the posted speed limit and immediately found a queue of traffic waiting to enter the local tidy-tip. Steve braked, swerved and clipped the back of a car sending him and girlfriend off the bike. His girlfriend suffered a broken leg. Steve was prosecuted, when he is one of the most careful riders I know. His fine was bigger than the woman who killed his brother, and he got banned.

Justice, my ar5e

Just ignore it and go about your usual business , lived through most of the Brunstrom years on a bike up here and had no worries . Ironically got my points when he had retired though

[Luckypants]

Be happy for them to catch and prosecute the riders like the one on the copper pointy at Maentwrog yesterday. Overtake at junction, on solid whites, causing on coming cyclist to swerve to avoid head on.

/rant

+1 to what badger said. I'm off out to abuse my rear tyre now on Wales' finest roads.

Been Wales loads of time even a lot of time on the main routes that I know LP would avoid on many organised ride-outs and had no problems. I don't believe it was as bad as was made out during the Brunstrom years (unless you were a tool and asked for it anyway) and it's probably the same now. Go and enjoy it or go choose to go elsewhere innit

[christopher]

Wales is rubbish. You're not missing much

I've just come back from doing 250 miles around places I can't pronounce (Ruthin/Denbigh/Betws-y-Coed/Llanberis/Beddgelert/Penrhyndeudraeth/Bala/Llangollen) in fantastic weather with great scenery on all sorts of roads and I saw 3 seperate police cars!

And all the roads out of the towns were empty so you needn't filter, just overtake the odd car/caravan. How boring?!

It also ruins the edges of your tyres riding there, far too many corners. If only Wales was flat so they could build straight roads instead of them meandering through the landscape.

And worse still it's full of people speaking a weird language with the odd English word thrown in just to confuse you.

(2 years riding rather briskly throughout North/Mid Wales and, so far, never stopped once by the Police for any reason... I feel left out missing out on these safety chats)