I’ve got a confession to make. I broke the law on Friday and then I did it again yesterday. I loaded up a couple of bikes on to a hatchback-mounted bike rack (like the one pictured above), and you couldn’t see the number plate because of them. My eight-year-old son and I went camping over the weekend and went to an area of Suffolk that’s very popular with cyclists, partly because it’s flat and partly because it’s pretty. At the campsite we stayed on I counted at least half a dozen other drivers who had done exactly the same as me. I can totally see the reasons for the law being as it is; the police want to be able to read the number plate. But it’s widely ignored by drivers who can’t be bothered going to the hassle of getting a new number made up – which is legally a whole lot harder than it used to be – and then working out a way of attaching it rigidly to the outermost bike so it doesn’t flap about in the wind. For the couple of times a year I do it, I’m simply not bothering because I know the chances of getting pulled over by the police are almost nil. They’ve got better things to do with their time. They’re only going to worry about me if I’m weaving all over the road or committing some other offence. At least I hope that’s the case, because I’m camping again next weekend.
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