Have a go on this

[fatblokish]

http://www.thisisbath.com/displayNo...odeId1=163047&contentPK=21180900&page=1#views

 

[yenrod]

Its simply wrong to cycle down a one-way: jump reds etc...

 

[tdr1nka]

I'm not sure it's such a bad idea TBH. I'd like to see it happen in London.

I often get grief from motons based on their experience of 'shoddy' cyclists(RLJ, One Way Streets etc), the only reason they get this chance is because I stop at red lights which I generally have to point out!

 

[Cab]

Same old same old. Plod decide to 'crack down' on cyclists because a bunch of people in their focus group say that they don't like people riding on the pavement. Plod do this as a populist, cheap move that gives them a nice stastic to boast about, without in any way improving road or pavement safety for anyone and without making themselves unpopular with the majority (motorists). The crack down soon comes to an end and things go back to normal.

The lesson here is simple; police forces are generally made up of well meaning, hard working individuals. But they're so driven to hit targets and get good headlines that they'll go for low hanging fruit like cyclists who are breaking rules without harming anyone, rather than motorists who are breaking just as many rules and in the process measurably endangering others.

 

[Riding in Circles]

But they're so driven to hit targets and get good headlines that they'll go for low hanging fruit like cyclists who are breaking rules without harming anyone,

So running a ped down on a crossing because you cannot be bothered to stop is not harming anyone?

Yeeeeaaaahhh, right.

 

[tdr1nka]

I'm a believer in the 'lead by example' approach.

Also, motons would still drive like idiots even if there were no bikes on the road, we are obviously growing in number and simply a soft target, in all senses of the word.

IMO Cyclists breaking laws only encourages and reinforces a sanctamonious attitude in drivers that only adds to the ease of their distraction.
Obviously, measures such as taken in Bath would be preferable if meated out equally among all road users.

 

[Cab]

So running a ped down on a crossing because you cannot be bothered to stop is not harming anyone?

Yeeeeaaaahhh, right.

Anyone care to share with Catrike the annual figures for pedestrians being thus harmed by cyclists?

 

[Cab]

IMO Cyclists breaking laws only encourages and reinforces a sanctamonious attitude in drivers that only adds to the ease of their distraction.
Obviously, measures such as taken in Bath would be preferable if meated out equally among all road users.

Precisely. The rage against cyclists going on to pavements (harming less people than are harme on pavements by motorists) or going through lights (in similar proportions to motorists running reds) is not rational, it isn't based on the number of cyclists doing it or the danger they pose, its to do with the fact that we're an outlier group, we're visibly different and we're doing something different. Want to improve road safety? Crack down on everyone running red lights, or illegally using pavements (including those people who drive on to them to park there).

 

[Riding in Circles]

Anyone care to share with Catrike the annual figures for pedestrians being thus harmed by cyclists?

How many are not reported? My girlfriend was ran into on a crossing by a cyclist who did not stop, most people do not report it, simple as that and these idiots actually think they are never wrong, they never take any responsibility for their actions, I made a guy get off his cycle once when he was cycling on the pavement and barging past peds, the verbal he tried to give me was mad, he had no doubt in his peanut brain that he was above the law and was somehow justified in being a danger to others, sounds familiar?

 

[Cab]

How many are not reported?

A similar proportion to any other class of accident. Whats your point? Is it that we should ignore the available evidence in favour of hysteria?

 

[Riding in Circles]

A similar proportion to any other class of accident. Whats your point? Is it that we should ignore the available evidence in favour of hysteria?

No, that you should try to ground yourself in reality rather than this imaginary state you seem to exist in.

 

[magnatom]

As cab points out, the police continually focusing on cyclist misdomeanors is irrational and is not borne out of any statistics. Any road safety measures need to look at the big picture, which also includes cyclist law braking, although the effects of such are minor in comparison to the real problems.

However, I think publically complaining about focused measures (even though injust) doesn't do us any favours. Imagine how a car driver might view it. Police crack down on pavement cyclists, cyclists moan about it (the details don't matter as often other road users don't understand the details), and the car driver might just see that as 'bloody cyclists think they can do what they want, blah, blah, blah...'


So I think we should be pushing for better focused safety campaigns, whilst, at the same time, not complaining (at least in public, contacting the police is a better bet) about campaigns that focus specifically on cyclists.


Just my 2p worth.

 

[Cab]

No, that you should try to ground yourself in reality rather than this imaginary state you seem to exist in.

So, lets get this right...

Your point is that cyclists are more dangerous because incidents are not reported. You have nothing to back that claim up other than that you think its true, and I'm wrong because I'm somehow in an 'imaginary state'.

Dude... I take my hat off to you. Even at my most stubborn and unreasonable, at my most evangelical, I couldn't manage to construct the argument you're putting forward.

 

[tdr1nka]

How many are not reported? My girlfriend was ran into on a crossing by a cyclist who did not stop, most people do not report it, simple as that and these idiots actually think they are never wrong, they never take any responsibility for their actions, I made a guy get off his cycle once when he was cycling on the pavement and barging past peds, the verbal he tried to give me was mad, he had no doubt in his peanut brain that he was above the law and was somehow justified in being a danger to others, sounds familiar?

I had a bianchi riding lycra lout bust a blood vessel when I advised him against using his mobile while in transit which kicked off a wonderful diatribe about my having 'invading his personal space!'.

 

[PBancroft]

A similar proportion to any other class of accident. Whats your point? Is it that we should ignore the available evidence in favour of hysteria?

Sorry Cab, but personally I don't see how many go unreported in any other accident makes any difference.

Personally I am of the opinion that when laws are visibly seen to being broken by any one set of road users, and they seem to get away with it, it very quickly becomes the case that all of that group get tarred with the same brush.

We've seen it in recent weeks about ourselves in the media. There are posts in this forum about taxi drivers, bus drivers, and numerous others because of the actions of some.

If we, as a group, expect drivers, pedestrians, the police, to all treat all cyclists with respect, then we all must do likewise. It doesn't matter if one pedestrian is knocked down each year by a cyclist, or a hundred, or thousands. Someone has to take the first step, and it may as well be us. We should stick to the rules of the road, looking out for those more vulnerable than us, and be seen to be doing so.