This really winds me up there is a clear bias against bikers and for no real reason, yes some people ride like idiots but the vast majority of us actually have a sense of selfworth and arent going out there to try and get anyone killed, infact most of the time i spend on the bike is trying not to get knocked off by some idiot in a car! If they really want to reduce road deaths then please please start looking at people who pull onto a motorway at 30mph. or people who stare and smile at you and then still pull out or cut you up .or the tossers that sit on the central line and grin at you in their mirror when all your trying to do is filter through. the list goes on and i aleays feel like being on a bike puts you in a minority where people treat you differently but theres so many bikes on the road now we shoull be treated with the same respect as car drivers, id argue that with the strict and defensive training required to ride a bike we are probably among the safest people out there!!
Following up with your training theory I know I became a better and more observant driver in the car due to what I learnt during my rider training! This was evident heading home after the first day of the intensive course when simple things like the life savers stuck and I found myself doing them in the car and still practice this easy but very benificial act of looking over my shoulder and out the window to check blind spots and not relying on the mirrors alone!
I guess as I live in Cambridgeshire I should know about the visor thing but I don't - is it just the darkness of the tint or are you not allowed any tint and if you have a tinted visor surly if you carry a clear one that must be ok or NOT? OR ARE THE POLICE JUST BEING THE POLICE THAT WE KNOW AND?
I wasn't saying I don't deserve a fine, I know the law and its my decision to flout it, I will take it like a man without argument should I get stopped. I also don't agree that all our boys in blue are a bad lot, far from it, I have absolute respect for 99% of them. I also know one or two as personal friends and therefore tend to take slight offence at some of the names they are called. Interesting to hear you are on the right side if you carry a standard visor with you but of no use to me as I only ride in fine clear or sunny weather and never after dark. Sent from Freedom's Hellberry
I have no respect for the police and they've earned that lack of respect by their actions. Maybe I wouldnt have that view if I didn't ride a bike?
Call me old fashioned and maybe a bit sensitive... But trying to mingle in with the general public, picking out menial faults and slapping fines to everyone for absolutely sod all, is laughable. And to know every biker would detest me and call me a knobber behind my back whilst being nice to my face, would depress the fook out of me. If these guys get a kick out if it, then they are not at all nice human beings. I certainly wouldn't be friendly towards them. Pond life, and it's easy to line the coffers if the police and government... Easy target. no discretion means breeding contempt from us all, and rightly so. no wonder traffic have no mates.
My number plate is the correct size but the font type is carbon letters and the ANPR cameras can read it clearly so no argument there (which they usually use). I just don't display the name and number of the place that made it and that apparently is not acceptable?!?! Contemplating putting the plain original plate on for a few weeks until this active police prosecution of bikers calms down a bit....
I think the police in general understand the need for the dark visor and I have been pulled a few times without comment .We all know that its impossible to see the road with the sun being low so the visor must be an important safety aid and yes you can wear sunglasses under your clear visor which is great until you come off the bike and the cheap plastic lense embeds itself in your eyes I once discussed this issue with a bike cop and he said he got over it by taping a band of carpet tape over the top of his visor .So for me I will continue with the use of the dark visor without any thoughts other than my safety .
i Having done London Bikesafe courses, and knowing some of the London diplomatic protection bikers, they all wear dark visors, all agreeing its much safer than being dazzled or risking sunglasses smashing your face in if you crashed. Most of the bike cops I know are good guys who allow discretion, but most of these'roadblock' cops are NOT bikers, and don't know who their fathers are IMHO. This is why as Bikers we have to stick together and try and fight these kind of initiatives. Minority group discrimination of any kind should be fought. The best way to do this (advice from a serving bike cop) is to log a complaint each time you are stopped quoting the coppers number. This way they have more paperwork than is justified by fine income received, and the coppers involved start to worry about their service records. Just a thought.........but they started it.
When traffic cop stopped me for speeding ( fair cop ) he gave me a friendly nod about changing small plate . But never mentioned race can , or black visor
Spot on with the London Bike coppers, riding here daily, they are fine, never an issue with visors, cans etc unless you stick it right under there noses and give them cause. ie you purposefully piss them off. In 30 years of London riding, often with race can, smaller plate, black visor, and never displaying a tax disc (as they get nicked regularly), I have only been done once for a small plate, and been asked to reveal my tax disc a couple of times. I think the sheer numbers of bikes in London means they have a different approach, also unlike rural areas, they don't have to deal with the summer Rossi wannabees whizzing around, and are generally more tolerent, which is just as well as there are probably more bike cops in London than the rest of the UK put together.
