Bare-faced cheek

The vagaries of cycling laws in New Zealand were laid bare in December after police arrested a naked, drunk cyclist. For police in Timaru, a major port city on the south-east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, it was too much. In the name of decency they would not just stand by and be taunted and teased right in the middle of the high street. Apparently a police sergeant said that the man had not been charged with indecent exposure. Instead, the ever vigilant police decided the main issue was his lack of
May 20, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The vagaries of cycling laws in New Zealand were laid bare in December after police arrested a naked, drunk cyclist. For police in Timaru, a major port city on the south-east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, it was too much. In the name of decency they would not just stand by and be taunted and teased right in the middle of the high street. Apparently a police sergeant said that the man had not been charged with indecent exposure. Instead, the ever vigilant police decided the main issue was his lack of a helmet and subsequently fined him accordingly. Failing to arrest him for naked cycling was no cover-up by the police. And even though there was a whiff of drinking and driving, or cycling as the case was, police were powerless to arrest him – cycling while under the influence is not illegal in New Zealand. The precedent for going au naturel had been set back in 2010 when another nude New Zealand cyclist, Nick Lowe, won his appeal to the High Court against his conviction for offensive behaviour. His original conviction was based on his nudity causing offense to a woman motorist who complained.

Related Content

  • Balanced Mix Design in the US could revolutionise pavement design and testing
    April 30, 2018
    Roads in the US keep failing so the Federal Highways Authority is proposing a new approach to mix design, but what does this mean for tests and testing? - Kristina Smith reports How do you test an asphalt mix for rutting? In the US, the answer could be any one of several tests, depending on which State you are in: Asphalt Pavement Analyser, Flow Number, Hamburg Wheel Tracking Test, Superpave Shear Test or Triaxial Stress Sweep Test. But that could all change. The Federal Highways Agency (FHWA), part of
    Read More
  • Drink driving concern for Europe
    November 24, 2015
    Drink drive enforcement still has issues in Europe, according to Pan-European police body TISPOL. It is estimated that 230 (14%) of the 1,713 road deaths in the UK are due to drinking and driving. Meanwhile drink driving is the cause of around 5,000 road deaths in Europe. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland the limit for driving is still 80mg (0.8) of alcohol/100ml of blood. Scotland reduced its limit to 50mg (0.5) of alcohol/100ml of blood in December 2014, bringing it into line with most other Europea
    Read More
  • Improving road safety a priority beyond politics
    February 23, 2012
    Figures have long since become an important part of our daily lives. Data on all the humdrum events around us is regularly used to shape political policy that is in most instances, designed to improve our well-being.
    Read More
  • Back to front
    July 16, 2012
    A cab driver in the Northern Indian State of Rajasthan has been given a special license by the local authorities, which permits him to drive at speed in reverse. This stems from an incident when his gearbox failed in 2003 and he had to drive home in reverse. The man then decided he wanted to distinguish himself from other cab drivers by becoming an expert in reverse driving and had the gearbox of his Padmini Princess cab (based on a 1950s Fiat) reassembled so that it has four reverse and one forward gear. T
    Read More

Highlighted Content