"Should cycling be banned altogether?"

[dondare]

Surely we should be banning bad/dangerous/reckless road users by actually having traffic police on the roads so people are caught or at least have a good probability of being caught. Unlike the present situation where traffic police seem to have become extinct and road users standards are dropping fast.

Road deaths are dropping fast too.

 

[mcshroom]

Road deaths are dropping fast too.

+1

A 4% drop in fatalities (146 to 140) between the first 9 months of 2009 and the same period in 2008 in London according to TfL.

 

[hackbike 666]

Road deaths are dropping fast too.

That makes it alright then.

 

[dondare]

This is simply not pragmatic - why make someone do something that they don't want to do? All this will do is reinforce the negativity towards cyclist once said person goes on the road.

Apart from which, most people simply don't know how to ride a bike and lack the cordination needed to ride a mbike.

Being in control of a car or larger vehicle is a very great responsibility. Requiring higher standards from drivers is not asking too much if we want safer roads, or simply less stressful ones.

Making trainee drivers show that they can control a bike could raise the standard both by giving them the experience of being a cyclist and by removing from the pool of potential drivers those who lack coordination and other intrinsic abilities that would make them safer behind the wheel.

(Sorry if that's too long to use as a sig.)

 

[HLaB]

Most of the responses on Yahoo are drivel but there is some hope IMO:

No, I was taught by my driving instructor to treat cyclists just as you would a car, give them the same space. I think if more drivers did this then it would be much safer for cyclists, but some drivers seem to treat cyclists as an affront to them and actually drive aggressively around them.

For some reason eye is only attracted my positive responses ;-)

 

[dondare]

No I agree with what you say, but my point is that some people simply cannot ride a bike and when they do it'll take an age to bring them up to an acceptable standard (which is what?). Some form of training is needed but in a car would be more suited (after all this is what they are going to be using) or some form of classroom training.

"Train for driving by driving" sounds like a truism.

But supposing that it could be proved, or even convincingly argued, that experienced cyclists make safer drivers is it right to allow drivers to refuse any cycle training on the grounds that they don't want to do it?

 

[dondare]

Most of the responses on Yahoo are drivel but there is some hope IMO:
For some reason eye is only attracted my positive responses ;-)

I noticed that and some other sensible replies, but astoundingly none of these were chosen as "best answer" by the OP.

 

[dondare]

That makes it alright then.

Not completely but knowing that the roads are getting safer is a great comfort when it appears that standards are getting worse.

 

[hackbike 666]

Not completely but knowing that the roads are getting safer is a great comfort when it appears that standards are getting worse.

So how can roads be getting safer if we know for a fact driving standards are getting worse?

 

[HLaB]

So how can roads be getting safer if we know for a fact driving standards are getting worse?

Unfortunately or fortunately cars are getting safer, pity about some drivers though.

 

[mcshroom]

So how can roads be getting safer if we know for a fact driving standards are getting worse?

I'm not sure we do know for a fact that driving standards are getting worse; although I would agree it seems like it.

I would guess assuming the standard of driving has at best stayed similar, the introduction of traffic calming, lowering of speed limits and the changes of design in newer cars to make them less dangerous to both the occupants and pedestrians they hit would combined explain it.

Also as there are more and more cars the speeds get reduced as they all sit in traffic jams

 

[tmcd35]

I don't understand this 'cars are evil' attitude that some cyclist appear to have, or the 'bikes just slow me down and should be banned' attitude some drivers have.

I do both, I hope pretty well. And I enjoy them both for different reason. There are days I like to jump in my car, put the ipod on, open the sun roof, choose a B-road and just drive.

There are other days I can't wait to get on the pedals and spin off 20 or 30 miles just for the sheer hell of it.

Both cars and bikes have thier place on the roads and their uses. (I'd sooner drive to work if it's p*ssing with rain).

I think as usual this is mostly a case of the bad few, on both sides (both bad drivers, and bad cyclists (they do exist)), casting a shadow of the otherwise law abiding majority.

I bet there are rather more OK/Good drivers out their who respect other road users, including cyclist, than there are drivers who would happily over take at 80+mph on a blind bend with the wing mirror barely missing the handlebars.

Whats probablt needed is more undercover traffic cops to knuckle down on the bad eliments of both side and make the roads safer.

But hey, that's just my 2c that runs through my head everytime this argument comes up...

 

[dondare]

So how can roads be getting safer if we know for a fact driving standards are getting worse?

Fewer cyclists are being killed on the roads, even tho' levels of cycling are starting to rise. Fewer pedestrians and car occupants are being killed on the roads. Ergo the roads are getting safer.

We do not know for a fact that driving standards are dropping, even if it seems that they are. Perhaps we're getting more critical of drivers.

 

[dondare]

I don't understand this 'cars are evil' attitude that some cyclist appear to have, or the 'bikes just slow me down and should be banned' attitude some drivers have.

I do both, I hope pretty well. And I enjoy them both for different reason. There are days I like to jump in my car, put the ipod on, open the sun roof, choose a B-road and just drive.

There are other days I can't wait to get on the pedals and spin off 20 or 30 miles just for the sheer hell of it.

Both cars and bikes have thier place on the roads and their uses. (I'd sooner drive to work if it's p*ssing with rain).

I think as usual this is mostly a case of the bad few, on both sides (both bad drivers, and bad cyclists (they do exist)), casting a shadow of the otherwise law abiding majority.

I bet there are rather more OK/Good drivers out their who respect other road users, including cyclist, than there are drivers who would happily over take at 80+mph on a blind bend with the wing mirror barely missing the handlebars.

Whats probablt needed is more undercover traffic cops to knuckle down on the bad eliments of both side and make the roads safer.

But hey, that's just my 2c that runs through my head everytime this argument comes up...

They poison the air.
They deprive children of exercise, daylight and fresh air by replacing the walk to school by the school run. They are therefore degrading our future.
Oil-dependency has caused massive environmental harm and each time it's worse. Remember the Torrey Canyon? The Exxon Valdez? And now that mega-leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Bad, worse, worsest. Evil, evil, evil.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeevil.

 

[downfader]

I don't understand this 'cars are evil' attitude that some cyclist appear to have, or the 'bikes just slow me down and should be banned' attitude some drivers have.

I do both, I hope pretty well. And I enjoy them both for different reason. There are days I like to jump in my car, put the ipod on, open the sun roof, choose a B-road and just drive.

There are other days I can't wait to get on the pedals and spin off 20 or 30 miles just for the sheer hell of it.

Both cars and bikes have thier place on the roads and their uses. (I'd sooner drive to work if it's p*ssing with rain).

I think as usual this is mostly a case of the bad few, on both sides (both bad drivers, and bad cyclists (they do exist)), casting a shadow of the otherwise law abiding majority.

I bet there are rather more OK/Good drivers out their who respect other road users, including cyclist, than there are drivers who would happily over take at 80+mph on a blind bend with the wing mirror barely missing the handlebars.

Whats probablt needed is more undercover traffic cops to knuckle down on the bad eliments of both side and make the roads safer.

But hey, that's just my 2c that runs through my head everytime this argument comes up...

A good post. I agree with a lot of that and a real Police presence is needed again imo. Though I have to say I love riding in the rain.

One of the reasons I started the new yahoo question and deliberately omitted "ban" from its title is to try and concentrate on the negative aspects of driving and driving behaviour that I see.

I'm never entirely sure banning things always works when you're talking about transport. Safety yes, transport no.