I have been riding to work now since 2007. That's into and out of London roughly 48 weeks a year, 5 days a week for 6 years. I have been stopped by the Police on the Z1000 and the Zx7r around 6 times I think, all for speeding and cautioned and let off each and every time. I had only been riding the Ducati to and from work for two days when I got stopped yesterday. The officers stated that they had stopped me for overtaking at a pedestrian crossing, which was, in my opinion, a little tenable, but after making a brief explanation, I certainly wasn't going to argue with the Police. Just for the record I have a great deal of respect for the Police and what they do. They do the hardest job and get little or no thanks for it. At the end of our conversation we were joined by the second officer who had been checking the bikes details on the computer system and I was free to go, with the standard, but justified warning. Whilst riding home I quickly realised that I had just experienced positive discrimination. The officers had seen a fast, expensive bike being riding in a part of London at the time when these things are rare. They took the opportunity to stop me to see if the bike was stolen under the guise of overtaking at a crossing. Once they found out all was in order, I was free to go. You can look at this event to ways. a) they just wanted an excuse to pull over a fast bike and see what they can find or b) they just wanted to check that the bike wasn't stolen and was indeed in the possession of the person who paid for it. I choose to believe it was the latter and so harbour exactly zero negative feelings towards the officers. Did I overtake at the crossing? No, but that's not the point.
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