Red-light runners: London motorcycle procession caught on camera

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Throngs of motorcycles roaring through a busy intersection all at once can be an arresting sight, but especially if they’re running a red light.

Dozens of the two-wheelers in a convoy poured through a busy London crossing, with many of their drivers openly flouting traffic rules – all of it captured on video.

The one-minute clip of the eyebrow-raising spectacle last Saturday was posted on the social media forum Reddit, where it generated more than one thousand interactions.

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In the video, the motorcycles in one long, unbroken stream can be seen turning left onto Oxford Street from Richmond Street, including about half of them after the traffic light had turned red from green.

Through it all, one motorcyclist – an apparent outrider for the group – sat stopped on his machine in the intersection, effectively blocking traffic, until everyone in the two-wheeled procession had cleared the crossing.

Plenty of people weighed in online about the motorcycle procession, and others like it.

“Biker culture is so cringe,” one respondent wrote.

Others wondered whether any traffic tickets will be dished out, the short answer to which appears to be no. A red-light camera, which captures the vehicle information needed to ticket red-light runners, is planned for that intersection but, according to the city’s website, is not active yet.

The episode drew the attention of London police, who urged the public to report any similar rule-breaking on city roads.

Police received at least one complaint about a group of motorcyclists, but the riders were gone by the time police arrived, said spokesperson Sgt. Sandasha Bough.

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“While we are unable to speak to this incident, as we do not have a police report generated, members of the public are encouraged to contact police if they encounter anything similar in the future,” Bough said.

The motorcyclists might have been recreational riders or a riding club, since there were no signs in the video – such as special clothing patches – that they were part of an outlaw motorcycle club.

A large procession of Hells Angels bikers and their supporters was also reported in London over the same weekend.

Members of the world’s largest motorcycle club gathered in the city last Saturday for a fundraiser for a longtime member seriously injured in a motorcycle crash last month.

Shawn (Stacks) Stacpoole was seriously injured in a collision near Wonderland Road and Springbank Drive on Aug. 31. He spent time in the intensive care unit at Victoria Hospital, where members of the Hells Angels and the Gatekeepers, one of their support clubs, kept vigil.

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The investigation into the crash that injured Stacpoole is complete and an adult man is charged with careless driving, police said.

It has been a dangerous riding season for motorcyclists on London-area roads, where 10 people have died in crashes involving motorcycles since July.

Most recently, motorcyclist Joe Gowers, a former hockey trainer for the Jr. B London Nationals and St. Marys Lincolns, died in a crash at the intersection of Colonel Talbot Road and Southminster Bourne on Sept. 20. The other motorist involved in the crash remained at the scene and police say their investigation continues.

Railway City Ontario Chapter, an organization that honours fallen motorcyclists, said Gowers, known as Poet, was their “biker liaison and events co-ordinator” and died while returning from his aunt’s funeral.

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