If a biker rides through a cool series of curves, but no one takes any photos or videos, does it even really happen?
That's seemingly a question you could ask following a letter that three photographers recently received from their local West Mercia Police force. The letter is an official notice, termed a Community Protection Notice Warning. One of the photographers in question provided the warning he'd received to the photography website PetaPixel.
It reads, in part, "Numerous complaints have been received by West Mercia Police regarding anti social riding of motorbikes on Fish Hill, Broadway which is causing alarm and distress to local residents and a nuisance for other road users."
It goes on, "We are aware that a number of photographers are actively advertising their attendance at Fish Hill, on biker groups and the village Facebook pages. When these adverts go out it attracts large quantities of bikers, sometimes hundreds throughout the day, to the hill."
"The bikers will race up and down the hill, exceeding many traffics laws [sic] by the way they ride, speed, overtake in a dangerous manner and do wheelies. In addition, a number of the riders are removing their registration plates to avoid detection. The noise these riders cause can be heard throughout the village and is causing significant disruption."
The riders' behavio(u)r is clearly in the control of the photographers, I guess? But wait, there's more! This letter isn't through letting the snappers have it yet.
"You have been identified by the Local Policing Team as one of the photographers, who often stands/sits on the grass verge on one of the bigger bends, potentially causing a distraction to all road users, as evident when a crash occurred recently between a motorcyclist, who sustained broken bones and another vehicle, in front of one of the photographers [sic]."
The missive concludes, "This letter is formal notification that you are required to stop behaving in such a manner in order to avoid further consequences."
By the tone of that letter, you'd think that if you're the police and you make the photographers stop coming, there will magically be no bikes showing off on Fish Hill anymore, right? I mean, that's clearly the level of deductive reasoning in evidence here.
Oh, wait.
Now, I've never been to Fish Hill, so I can't offer an informed comment as to its particular level of riding (or driving) charm. But I've been to plenty of good curves and roads elsewhere, and from all that I've observed, enthusiasts of all types of vehicles tend to know where all the good spots are in their area.
And they'll seek them out just to go and drive (or ride) them, whether or not anyone's shooting photos or video. You know, just because it's fun. I think this recent Facebook post from a different local police unit makes that argument very neatly for me.
So what's the point of targeting the photographers? It's a bit strange, and doesn't seem like it'll do very much.
