thejoshswin

This question already came up a few times earlier in the thread. The officer asked me for identification. I'm not one to lie to the police so I gave it to him.

A German tourist was robbed of his phone on the cycle path recently - as per our CityROCK Whatsapp group -

An update from COCT - Transnet is the property owner for the unlawful occupation adjacent Lower Church Street. Law Enforcement, Metro Police and Traffic works in support of Woodstock SAPS to patrol the area due to the on-going attacks associated with this unlawful occupation. The City also conducted a month-long operation in January 2025 to address the muggings. Please refer to SAPS for further information.

I've also created a Whatsapp group backed by CityROCK with the hope that people can organize to commute or ride as a group through the unsafe section - anyone can join at this link https://chat.whatsapp.com/CcS2zEoA8DqGOxrFAgy1tZ?mode=gi_t

This is an email I have sent to my employer at CityROCK - had a great chat with him - he is going to send me a few more contact details of people in the city I can contact. He is also on the committee at PPA and mentioned that certain laws are in the process of being changed to make cycling part of urban mobility which hopefully means it will be taken more seriously by government in the future. So that is exciting ! I will be compiling a list of everyone that uses the cycle path and would like to have it safe to use for commuting and sport cycling - if you are interested in being a part of this please fill in this Google form - https://forms.gle/LkrXWig89RcuPhKx9 or shoot me an email at thejoshswin@gmail.com

I agree. I've lived (and cycled) in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KZN and we certainly are privileged here !

Will not do it on my own....

Response from Young Urbanists -

I'll see if I can go through there (will be after Argus) and get some pics for you if no-one else has any ....

I agree. My name is Joshua Swinney so it is neither of those things, just my name 😆

Well we can only try - I also think being able to cycle around the city safely and in a cost effective manner has a knock on effect and can help with some of these larger issues. When you take care of the small things, sometimes the bigger things start to take care of themselves.

I have paid the 'admission of guilt' fine and admitted I was in the wrong already. I think I also would've been too bangbroek to fight with him about where the freeway begins etc. - I'm not too stressed about the fine at the end of the day. But if they going to be fining us for cycling on the freeway now then they must give us a safe alternative.....

He asked for my details/id and I gave it to him

Hey Chris, I'm not sure I would know where to start to head up something like this but I'd also be keen to chat to authorities or do whatever is necessary to allow safe cycling through that area again. It would be so great to be able to link it up with the rest of the cycle path....the trucks on Marine drive are also a problem. I've sent a few emails out will let you know what comes of it.

I've got some contact details for a few different people to do with urban mobility/security so will see where it goes from here. I'm not too stressed about the fine at this point, I'd just like to push to get the cycle path open and safe again, because the N1 is not so lekker with the traffic etc. anyway, especially if you on a road bike.

I also think this is a good idea, but I've heard that the grass verge is also part of the freeway and also technically not allowed to be ridden on. I think there has to be a fence dividing it or something maybe?

I didn't see where he was standing, but he told me the traffic camera operator (there's a tall camera pole close to the Woodstock offramp bridge. They called him in to pull me over, and he pulled me over pretty much under the cameras just after the offramp. On the side heading out of town.

R Claassen - Officer number 10039502 ; officer group 315. He was in an unmarked BMW (I think the I3 or something similar, with blue lights. He gave me a ticket with a court summons in June and payment required about a month before the court date. I paid when I got to work via the City of CT fines website. It's an 'admission of guilt' which makes me worry that I now have a criminal record.

I've been commuting using the N1 - Marine Drive between town and Paarden Eiland for almost a year now. Generally ride in the yellow lane which is mostly quite spacious and feels safe enough - and on the way back I cycle on the grass verge so I don't have to cycle head on into the traffic. I've used this route due to the fact that the cycle path past Woodstock is unsafe due to muggings/ bikejackings. Today on my way to work I was stopped by a traffic officer in an unmarked BMW hatchback and told I was spotted by the cameras and that I have to pay a fine for cycling on the freeway which is of course illegal. I explained to him the situation with the Woodstock cycle path but he didn't offer any suggestions and just ignored me - so after a joke which I thought was in bad taste about my fine being R3000 (which gave me a bit of a fright)- he handed me my fine which was actually R300, which I've since paid. Operating a pedal cycle on a freeway 😆 My question is - does anyone know who we can chat to to get the Woodstock cycle path safe to use ? Could we rally together and sign a petition or something? It's extremely frustrating to have this great cycle path that we can't make use of !