London Banter - View Single Post

Martin Underwood · July 29th 06, 06:18 PM posted to uk.transport.london

Boltar wrote in message
:

Martin Underwood wrote:
Why. If there was a political will, it would happen. I don't know
why it wasn't enacted several decades ago: any vehicle on the road
needs to obey the Highway Code and needs to be identifiable if it
fails to do so.

Bicycles arn't road vehicles. They just happened to be used on the
road by
most owners. YOu can ride them in parks, in fields , up hills ,
wherever its allowed.
In fact its debatable whether they are vehicles at all given they
don't have engines.
If you say they are then perhaps we should call push scooters and
skateboards
vehicles too? No? Why not?

As soon as a vehicle uses the road, it becomes a road vehicle for the time
that it is on the road.

As a cyclist (as well as a car driver) I'd wholeheartedly support a
national bicycle registration scheme with a requirement to display
clearly-identifiable number plates front and back that could be read
by police or traffic-light cameras. It's rare to see cars go through
red

I think you might find yourself in the minority there. You can just
imagine
some bored plod or traffic warden giving some poor cyclist a ticket
for some minor infraction just as happens with cars today. Can't see
cycling lasting long if that happens.

Oh I'm used to being in the minority - happens all the time. Doesn't make my
views any less valid!

And why should a cyclist escape punishment for "a minor infraction" when a
motorist gets penalised for that same "minor infraction"?

they can :-( Likewise for cyclists who drive full-tilt at zebra
crossings with loads of people on, scattering them in their wake - I
saw this in

And you think license plates would stop this? You think these people
would
even bother to register? Whats to stop people who don't? How will the
police
catch them if they head off down an alleyway, call in the helicopter?
Be realistic. Theres a simple way of dealing with idiots like that
because I've
done it. I was crossing a pedestrian crossing about 6 months back on a
green man
and saw a courier cyclist heading across my path but I just carried on
walking whereas
she presumably expected me to stop. I made sure she clipped me and
she

was sent flying badly grazing her arms. Tough.

I witnessed a cyclist ride at a woman pushing a pram across a zebra crossing
when I was at university in Bristol (Bristolians may know Blackboy Hill, a
long road on a downward gradient, crossed by zebra crossings every so
often). Without lessening his speed, he swerved to avoid the pram and
clipped the central refuge bollard, and went flying. As he got up, he was
swearing at the woman for "daring" to cross on a zebra crossing. At one
point I thought I'd have to intervene because he looked as if he was going
to hit her, but my mate, a great big burly guy, "had a word with him" and he
lost interest in this!

I believe that road traffic offences committed while cycling don't
count towards penalty points on a car licence: I'd like to see this
change too.

Don't be an ass. A lot of people cycle because they don't drive.

And they shouldn't have points on their non-existent licence, although such
points should be held in reserve in case the person gets a licence later
(within the validity period of the points). But if they *do* have a licence,
cycling offences (on the road) should constitue endorsable points on it.