jagur’s advice seems sound
make peace with the fact that u’ll have very little time to make your case and should be prepared to get the judges attention with your first sentence
that should outline (as john foss suggested) the exact reason for not paying the ticket but appearing in court instead
if u have a lawyer friend who can help u with some catchphrases that’ll get the judges ear, that will help
unless u r used to speaking in public, it is very easy to come across as a blithering idiot when u r suddenly called upon to speak in what will be a fairly stressed environment (for u)
best advice i can offer is prepare, prepare, prepare
commit that sentence to memory, practise delivering it (slowly so it is easily understood) and have it neatly written on a card as an emergency back-up
making eye contact with the judge will futher reinforce the fact that u r an upstanding citizen and not some fleety eyed tramp
on the other issue…
i’m so glad to see that the propogandeering has all but been ignored
nb wrote:
>>From various threads unicycles tend to get round the law in various
> ways.
>
> Number of wheels. UK law is 2 wheels or more
Danny will be along in a moment to point out that this law was changed
in 1994(?) to include unicycles.
When it comes to riding in the road or on the pavement I tend to use my
own judgement on safety grounds. I’ve never had a run-in with the law.
When it comes to riding trails, parks etc. if a sign says “no bikes” I
assume that also refers to unicycles - but that’s on social rather than
safety grounds.
Regards,
Mark.
–
Fujitsu Telecom Europe Ltd,| o
Solihull Parkway, | In the land of the pedestrian, /|
Birmingham Business Park, | the one-wheeled man is king. <<
Birmingham, ENGLAND. | O
I’m kind of like that unless it looks particularly exciting in which case I’m a bit more flexible about no bikes rules. One of my favourite bits of trail at the moment happens to be no bikes because it has lots of wooden steps on a steep downhill and is much fun.
I’m not going to read all those posts, sorry. I hope I don’t offend anyone. But I have to say, I am strongly against theft and things of the sort, but if I see a “No Unicycling” sign, I’m going to “borror” it. I’ve never been confronted by a cop or anything. Most people are still to awe-struck when they see me. But I agree, they aren’t bikes and things like that. We have, no skateboarding, no bikes, no rollerblades. Here are my arguements:
No Skateboarding: My Uni won’t fly into the road like a skateboard.
No Bikes: My Uni is smaller then a bike and doesn’t get in the way of people like a bike.
No Rollerblades: My Uni isn’t attached to my feet, so I won’t fall as if I was on rollerblades.
Of course I would have to get more elaborate but not on here.
“pedal cycle” means a unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, or cycle having four or more wheels, not being in any case mechanically propelled unless it is an electrically assisted pedal cycle of such class as is to be treated as not being a motor vehicle for the purposes of the 1984 Act;
SpYdeR v1o wrote:
> I’m not going to read all those posts, sorry.
Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t bother reading your posts - but, hey, I’m nice.
> Here are my arguements:
>
> No Skateboarding: My Uni won’t fly into the road like a skateboard.
True. It’ll fly into the road like a unicycle. See David Stone.
> No Bikes: My Uni is smaller then a bike and doesn’t get in the way of
> people like a bike.
Partially true. It still takes up more space and is less manoeuvrable
than a pedestrian. See Evil Ewan.
> No Rollerblades: My Uni isn’t attached to my feet, so I won’t fall as
> if I was on rollerblades.
True. You’ll fall as if you were on a unicycle. See Arnold the Aardvark.
Regards,
Mark.
–
Fujitsu Telecom Europe Ltd,| o
Solihull Parkway, | In the land of the pedestrian, /|
Birmingham Business Park, | the one-wheeled man is king. <<
Birmingham, ENGLAND. | O
Mark Wiggins wrote:
> Danny will be along in a moment to point out that this law was changed
> in 1994(?) to include unicycles.
Well, I thought about it, but I just decided this had come up so many
times in the last few years that I couldn’t be bothered. nb beat me to
it anyway.
I first researched the subject (and posted the older definition to the
unicycle mailing list) in 1994, before rsu even existed. I only
learned about the newer definition a few years later, when Roger pointed
it out.
ISTR recently coming across earlier UK legislation that changed the
definition of ‘cycle’ to include unicycles. Might even have been as
early as 1989. Unfortunately I didn’t make a note of it. I probably
dreamt it
>“Cops need to fill a quota of tickets.” This is completely false (I
>got a family member on the inside)
Must depend on location. In the Netherlands, quota for tickets are in
place as per official policy, even specified for various types of
tickets. Not on the individual level AFAIK, but per “korps” which
roughly translates to district.
First of all - ARE YOU SERIOUS? Those are some of the most rediculous agruments I have ever heard! HA HA HA HA!! I could have a lot of fun with this! (but I’ll try to behave and just address one of the silly comments - the above) If you are serious:
Yes, it is because of the blood spilled by many heroic american saviors that you have this awesome right to criticize our President. That is exactly why we are doing what we are doing, so you can continue to do so. As wrong as it may be, you are free to do so, and I am glad you can do it too! I’m not going to open the can of worms on whether or not Bush was appointed President by the supreme court! Although that statement is rediculous. Now:
Educate me. Give some examples. Show me when was the last specific example we were bigger “freakin’ bullies” than what Hitler did to the Jews. Then show me what we did worse than Joseph Stallin in Russia to the mere couple million people he killed. Then that leader in China that slaughtered a couple million. (I’d have to go look up his name if you want it) Several others too. Then tell me how liberating a country from this evil dictator, can be thought of as bullying. Are we being mean? I’m sorry mr. Husein but we are not going to let you kill people anymore, sorry to bully you so.
If you are thinking of the atomic bombs in Japan, that is definatly sad, but was the only alternative we had and it in turn saved millions of other lives for where that war would have ended up.
I am not going to reply to every comment you made, mainly because it would be pointless. There is no way of talking sence into someone who actually thinks that way. It’s amazing if you truely do! The other reason is that this is a forum for unicycling and I doubt that the other people using/reading this care to be involved here.
One great thing though!!! I am so excited for the day (very soon!) that the people of Iraq will be free’d and can all learn to ride unicycles as they wish!! Maybe even read and post on this forum without getting shot by their lovely leader! (who for some reason people here want to defend)
at the risk of going more off topic, I know an Iraqi refugee, who had to escape because she was a member of the opposition there. She was on the anti-war march, and the members of her family she’s in contact with (in Iraq) are also against being ‘freed’. Basically, they’re all of the opinion that a very high chance of being bombed by lovely Free American bombs, to be followed by government by whoever the Americans decide to put in, is actually worse than the current situation. They also think that even if America does ‘free’ Iraq, it’ll all go to pot as soon as the TV cameras go off it in a similar way to what is happening in Afghanistan at the moment. If the USA was really wanting to help the Iraqi people, George Bush wouldn’t be promising the biggest ‘smart bombing’ campaign ever launched as a start to the war.
who here wanted to deal with syria?
the country with the worst record of state-sponsored torture?
the place america is sending captives to for 'further interrogation?
and then come here preach about human rights and freedom and stuff?
dont believe anything u hear and only half of what u see…
I just got kicked off of my second school campus yesterday. I was asked by a teacher and told that I was not allowed to do “that” on school property. The teacher pointed to a no trespassing sign. I don’t think I have any argument against a no trespassing sign…do I?
Anyway, I was just mad about getting kicked off of my former elementary school. I already got kicked off of my middle school. Perhaps I should try my high school and college.
Out of curiousity, were you riding while school was in session? I have ridden on a number of the school yards in my town when school is out and have never been hassled by anyone. I would think that it would be a major distraction for students to see a unicyclist riding about and for that reason not conducive to their (formal) education.
When I got kicked off yesterday, I was riding after school had let out. In fact it was about 5:30 pm. The time I got kicked off of the other school it was a weekend. I really can’t understand the way some people think.
Why? Or I should say, why not just take a picture of it, and share it here?
Or, to see it as the law does, "This is not a skateboard, it’s not a bike, and it’s not a Rollerblade.
Because yes, your unicycle can fly out into the road (or into someone’s shins). Yes, you can get in the way of people like a bike. And yes, you can fall in front of, or on people, though you’re not on rollerblades. But rules such as the above don’t exist for an enforcement officer’s interpretation, so it doesn’t matter.
Remember, if you’re on private property, it’s always up to them and not you. On public property, the cop is boss, and you should listen. The judge is the arbitrator, in case you don’t like the cop’s decision.
i realise that this is off topic but, me and thousands of other people in scotland didn’t march in glasgow last saturday just because we were bored.
how many examples do you want.?
just for a start how about veitnam?
laos?
we, the west are in my oppinon worse that hitler and stalin because
we.ve killed more people over a longer period of time and nobody has stopped us.
now that your “patriotism” is aroused now lets look a little closer to home.
i’m sure that your history of the usa is great, but did you ever hear about south america?
basicly it goes like this,
a south american country gets a socialist government.
the british and americans fund terrorist groups who want to overthrow the socialist government, (whatever their motivation as long as their not damn commies)
the (often popular) socialist government gets overthrown by force.
the americans and britsh rejoice because annother country is free of the red scourge.
the new “democratic” government ends up even worse than the socialist government.
the americans an the british sell them even more guns and bombs etc as long as their trade partnerships with the west are worth it.
and how do you think mr hussein came to power?
tell me if you know.
and why dosent the nice mr bush liberate the peoples of north korea?
again, answers on a postcard
the spirit of american forign policy hasn’t realy changed since the days of veitnam, realy has it?
sure youve seen some propaganda on tv,but did you ever think about where the toys in your macdonalds happy meal came from?
this isn’t about weather of not mr hussein is a bad man or not, its about global capitalism using the peoples of the world in a self centred bid for control of the world resources.
perhaps though to be fair you just don’t know what your talking about, there are many other sources of news appart fromm cnn and msnbc, perhaps you should look at them before you beleive propaganda as absoute truth.
i don’t suppose that the america press told you much about all the peace marches that habve been going on latley?
i don’t think that this many people have complained about anything for quite a while.
try:
i’ve been fairly harsh but you should at least look at this web site.
if you have some good alternative rightwing media i’d be more than hapy if you could post a link.(i like to konw whats going on on both sides)
some of the stuff that new internationalist publishes is shocking. go in thinking that the west is in this war because of a love of peace and you’ll come out crying.
of course your could always pretend it was all made up to further our weird socialist adgendas.
but a better point of veiw would be to realise that the truth normaly lies somewhere in between.
p.s. this rant will not affect my ability to talk to you about unicycling.
