Bicycle police out enforcing one-way streets etc.

Faced with the prospect of having to ride way uphill, cross the street and then back down the other way - and, to be honest, never even giving it a thought - I turn left out of a driveway this morning and (shock! horror!) ride my bike the wrong way along the bike path like I've done nearly every day here for the past 10 years. Rounding a corner after a few hundred metres there's a cluster of blue-clad cyclists blocking the way who turn out to be cops! One is ticketing a woman already and the other is flagging me down. I was lucky enough to get away with a polite explanation of the mortal dangers of my evil ways and how in future I should heed the Strassenverkehrsordnung. He mentioned something about me being an Englander (I aways get that) so I guess he was taking pity on my addled mind and how I must have still been thinking it's OK to drive on the left.

So HH cyclists be warned. They've got a lot of nice new gear and bikes to pay off!

And quite right too.

Yes, I realise that. The danger is at the intersections, because the drivers don't think to look in the other direction.

Funny, but I've never seen any accidents caused by cyclists riding the wrong way down the bike path, but I guess 5,000+ km / year I'm bound to see it sooner or later.

I hate rules but this one makes sense.

If I knock you off cos you fly across an intersection the wrong way then you better not damage my car or motorbike with your soft fleshy skin. Oh silly me forgot to look for the indestructable idiot on the push bike coming the wrong way.

As someone who occasionally rides a bike & more often drives a car I marvel at the belief that
many cyclists have that they are immortal and the car-driver will come off worst in an accident.

In particular the riding of bikes without lights in rainy weather on dark Winter's nights
fills me with a mixture of sorrow & anger.

Oh yeah, I agree, that's just senseless. I ride bike far more than drive, but have the same approach to both: assume the other guy doesn't know what he's doing, give plenty of distance, never hesitate when a decision has to be made, and be visible.

How I wish they would police here more often. And yes I agree sad than people do not take safety importantly.

You will not live long in any country except maybe the Netherlands simply by obeying the rules. A cyclist has to watch out for drivers and pedestrians not seeing the cyclist when he/she has right of way.

If you have to look out at all times, and expect drivers and pedestrians to break the rules, you might as well do what you judge to be safe whether its within the rules or not.

Absolutely! That's why I avoid the bike paths wherever I can get away with it. I feel much more comfortable riding - illegally - with the flow of traffic than riding on the bike path. So many zoned-out people wander across it or simply disregard its existence you stand a good chance of smacking one over.

And did you know on pavements where there are no cyclepaths, the speed limit is 6 KMH for bikes. Pedestrians have no speed limit.

I thought you had to ride on the road if there were no cycle paths?