ok so after saturdays ride with tirryn my uni buddy in the city we dont wear helmets for trials as u can imagine i dont think many other riders do like how can u hurt ur head at 5kmh? seriously we got pulled over and talked to took our details (standard coppa procedure) then said nothing about a fine and just today i recieved a fine for 80 dollars in the mail WTF! tirryn probably has one too it must be paid by the 22nd of july has anyone else ever had any problem with the local boys in blue? post storys
I havent but i know some who has and they took it to court just make sure you have prof that you dont have to wear a helmet while unicycling
It’s not hard.
Just not quite getting your footing or slightly misjudging where things are at in a UPD and hit your head on an object. Wearing a helmet is a lot like wearing a hat when you get used to it and it may give the impression to others who might otherwise think your are wreckless and inconsiderate.
Several times over my life, a helmet has saved me from a concussion or worse.
I remember several instances where people rushed to a negetive judgement of people who weren’t wearing helmets, where as other times the same people gave pause when all of the skaters or BMXers were wearing helmets. Some of these resulted in getting flat kicked out vs. asked to move to a different part of the property or come back when closed and a couple where they were just talked to.
Edit: also some idiotic driver can hit you w/ their car. I heard a stat a while ago, that 90% of serios bike injuries (requiring hospitalization) are by helmetless riders and 90% of fatalaties are also by helmetless riders.
Objectively, getting hurt really has little to do with your speed - if you decide to ride down a flight of stairs slowly and fail, you can hurt your head. The cops don’t know what you’re going to do on a unicycle…
yea true didnt think that far but we werent doing tricks we were just riding along the footpath it would be stupid to ride in the bike lane like they said on a unicycle as it is a 19 inch trials so therefore slow and yes i do realise about the deaths and stuff but i dont see the need for a helmet if u are just simply riding on the footpath
Check the local (and state / national) laws on how they classify unicycles, or what vehicles require helmets to be worn. They may be phrased in such a way to not include unicycles and you may be able to contest the fine.
Those two stats were linked, so if you ended up going to the hospital, you only had a 1% chance of your injuries being fatal if you were wearing a helmet.
How about a drunk driver spontaneously desides to drive there and runs you over?
I remember reading about 6 bike fatalities in the last couple of years. After reading about the accidents I bet 5 of them would have only had mild to moderate injuries if they had a helmet.
The 6th one had a helmet, but her head was fine. She died of internal injuries from being run over by both sets of double wheels of a recycling truck.
Let’s not start another helmet debate here, but in reply to the OP, do you know exactly what the fine is for? Is it definitely for riding without a helmet or is it for vandalism and damage to public property (aka “street riding”)?
Is it illegal to ride a bike without a helmet where you live?
Rob
yes it is illegal to ride without a helmet on a bike where i live however a unicycle is stated as a wheeled recreational device and is said in the legislation that it is to be only ridden on footpaths or roads without white lines but doesnt say anything about a helmet the police told us that we had to NOT ride on the footpaths but ride on the road
In that case you have a good case.
I think it’s terrible that legislation forces unicyclists on the road. Especially small unicycles. It’s almost like telling toddlers to ride their tricycles on the road because they’re wheeled.
That is a bit vague - I’d say you’ve got a fair reason to appeal against that fine then, as long as it was for riding without a helmet and not for anything else. Still, even if it wasn’t illegal, trials riding is exactly the sort of thing that gets you into situations where a helmet definitely can save you from nasty injuries.
Rob
yes thank u everyone i am very greatfull for all of ur support i shall inform tirryn tommorrow when he gets backfrom his scool excursion how he may be able to appeal against the fine we were innow way doing anytricks when pulled over or rather the police stopped and told us to get off our vehicle we were not doing trials either for tht matter we were earlier say ten minutes ago buyt tht was in a festival centre yard and its pretty banged up anyway
A couple of years ago I was commuting to work on an N36. 99% of the journey was on the road, but at one junction a truck parked really really close to the kerb so I opted to nip up on to the pavement and would rejoin the road after the junction. Except that a copper was waiting there and gave me a £30 fine for cycling on the path.
I looked in to the law, and it is a very grey area. Essentially, it all goes back to the 1836 Road Traffic Act which talks about a “bicycle, tricycle, velocipede or similar”. So, is a unicycle similar to a bicycle (and if so, isn’t a tricycle similar so that wouldn’t need to be explicitly mentioned?).
I thought seriously about arguing over this in court, as I think I would have stood a good chance of winning. However, this would have certainly bought unicycling in to the eyes of the law, and could have set a precedent. If I had won (and saved £30), they may have ruled that a unicycle is not a vehicle so is allowed on the pavements… but not the road. Or they may have ruled that a unicycle is a vehicle, so must only be ridden on the road. Either way it could have spoiled things for a lot of other riders here.
Generally unicyclists in the UK have the best of both worlds, and they undefinedness of the law goes in our favour. It comes down to the common sense of the copper, which I think is normally quite fair.
STM
The Highway Code has been changed some time ago so unicycles are mentioned in the description of a pedal cycle (it now says “unicycle, bicycle, tricycle…”), so that would imply that in the UK a unicycle is to be treated like a bicycle (and therefore should not be ridden on footpaths). That of course leaves the situation where riding a small unicycle on the road is very slow and somewhat silly, but riding it on the path, even at walking speed, is technically illegal.
I don’t know if the actual Road Traffic Act law has been updated in the same way as the Highway Code. I’ve not had any hassle from the fuzz when riding my unicycles on the road - in fact my local policeman seems to think it’s quite cool.
Rob
Yup, unicycles are counted the same as bikes now, but thatdoesn’t mean you should be fined for riding on the pavement.
Firstly (and this doesn’t matter in S.T.M’s case) the path has to be next to a road. You can’t be fined for riding on a path with no road unless there are applicable by-laws that forbid it.
Secondly, when the fixed penalty notice was rolled out, one of the top policeman releaseda statement saying that it was to be used only on those who persistantly and recklessly ride on the pavement, and not on those responsible riders who feel the need to use the pavement occasionally. (or words to that effect - look it up).
Truthfully though, if the copper wants to give you a ticket, citing that to them is just going to make them more annoyed with you. Nobody likes to be told they are doing their job wrong.
Yup, unicycles are counted the same as bikes now, but thatdoesn’t mean you should be fined for riding on the pavement.
Firstly (and this doesn’t matter in S.T.M’s case) the path has to be next to a road. You can’t be fined for riding on a path with no road unless there are applicable by-laws that forbid it.
Secondly, when the fixed penalty notice was rolled out, one of the top policeman releaseda statement saying that it was to be used only on those who persistantly and recklessly ride on the pavement, and not on those responsible riders who feel the need to use the pavement occasionally. (or words to that effect - look it up).
Truthfully though, if the copper wants to give you a ticket, citing that to them is just going to make them more annoyed with you. Nobody likes to be told they are doing their job wrong.
im trying to figure out paying the 80 bucks or going to court over it but i dont yet have enuff proof and as semach said it may ruin it for other unicyclists as to bring attention to our sport and create even sillier laws its either pay 80 bucks or spend like 100 or something just to prove my point and feel good i may just go with 80 bucks easy and everythings back to how it was before it happened i shall read out everything on the notice or photcopy it etc and put it here so ppl can see.
That sucks my friend, everytime i have ridden my unicycle/s in my hometown. Cops have never said anything and sometimes i don’t even wear a helmet to see what happens. 
Also i think its best that you pay for the fine, just so the situation doesn’t end up worse.
yes agreed i never wear a helmet anyway and i never get hassled of course when cops pull up and get out ur gonna think oh s*** wats gonna happen now but this is the first time its happened othertimes theyve just asked the norm where did u get it etc how do u ride i just give a lil demo do a wheelwalk idle one foot idle dont get annoyed at there intimidating lame jokes and smile and wave bye bye officer but now thyis is happened i think ill be more careful next time
Hello,
it’s very interesting to see how different countries handle unicycling.
In Germany f.e. unicycles are “toys” or vehicles of “fun-sport”, so we aren’t allowed to ride on the roads, we have to stay on the sidewalk.
There’s one exception for sure, so if we manage to add all those important stuff, the two-wheelers got to be allowed to drive on roads (brake, ring-ring-bell, front-light, back-light, etc.), we’re “allowed” to ride on roads.
Wearing a helmet while bi- or unicycling is not a must by law, we’re still able to choose if we wanna play some russian roulette or not :P. (but tbh … i’m not wearing a helmet also atm :(, but got one in my shelf :D)
Have a nice day.
Shasaar