Old discussion from 2009, police fining moped riders £150.

[ninja_butler]

This story is from four years ago but it still makes for interesting reading, and I bet sooner or later we'll be seeing another wave of crackdowns what with the rise in popularity of cheap Chinese scooters, and I'm wondering if it was still going on but I just never heard about it.

Police in 2009 were having a crackdown on 50cc learner riders (16 year old kids mostly) exceeding 31mph by seizing their bikes, putting them on a dyno run and then impounding them when they exceeded a simulated 31mph. Fine of £150 + £20 a day "storage fees".

https://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=42477&st=0


The two critical points I gleaned from this story are:
1. The law states mopeds must have a designed top speed of no more than 30mph. This does NOT mean the moped/scooter is illegal if it is capable of more than 31mph.

2. Dyno testing is not a reliable way to measure true top speed and the police are ignoring the normal requirements for conducting such tests; the machines are not correctly and regularly calibrated by a qualified expert.

I was particularly irritated by the story that the French police have a militant approach of drilling a hole through the cylinder and piston of any bike that fails the dyno test. I'll have to look that one up to check the validity of the story but I don't doubt it's true.

[Kickstart]

[thepuma]

To be honest they probably werent fining those doing 31mph...the same as they dont fine you for speeding doing 31mph in a 30.....id imagine theres a 'beyond reasinable doubt' cut off where they have a pretty good idea that the bikes been modified....nearer 40mph is my guess.
____________________
YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
765 RS

[Kickstart]

[ninja_butler]

From what I've read the police were pulling over mopeds doing less than 40mph which includes a large number of bikes that were not modified. I briefly rode a 50cc Peugeot Buxy scooter I knew had not been touched and it reached an indicated 37mph on the flat - sure took a long, long time to get there but it did make 37mph.

[Rogerborg]

As I've noted, the riders should have invited Plod to pass it to the CPS for prosecution, because I fully expect that's the last they'd hear about it.

However, I imagine 16 year olds are easy pickings, being told that a FPN is the easy way out. Great job, really looking after the public interest there.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Kickstart]

[ninja_butler]

Could well be, but I was pulling away from cars behind me in a 30 zone.

[Kickstart]