Should there be a highway code test for cycle riders?

[ROG.]

I apologise if this has already been covered.

Should there be some sort of compulsory highway code test for riders of bicycles?

Should that test be conducted within the school system?

IMO - a school test on the HC would benefit most as they will usually be using it for cycling or driving in the future but what do you folks think?

 

[suecsi]

Whatever happened to the good old fashioned Cycling Profiency Test? (showing age)

 

[gaz]

Whatever happened to the good old fashioned Cycling Profiency Test? (showing age)

it's called bikeability.
I have had no training for cycling, yet i seem to be called a safe cyclist.

___

lets be honest here.

Having a test is not going to make the cyclist law abiding or safe. Driving a motorvehicle on the road legally means you have to take 2 tests at least. and how many bad / dangerous drivers do we see on the roads?

If they are going to be a inconsiderate road users, they will be.

 

[Norm]

No, absolutely not.

We have a right to be on the roads just as pedestrians have a right to be on the roads and I wouldn't advocate anything which could be considered for ammunition by a motorist.

That said, I'm all for training but without any compulsion.

 

[Dan B]

That said, I'm all for training but without any compulsion.

This. Make safe road use (pedestrian and vehicle) a part of the school curriculum, and teach it in a way that doesn't foster car supremacy

 

[perplexed]

I'd sooner people be compelled to ride, say 500 miles, on a bicycle on the road with an instructor before they're allowed to get anywhere near the driving seat of a car to be honest.

 

[Winnershsaint]

Whatever happened to the good old fashioned Cycling Profiency Test? (showing age)

Certainly existed in 2007 when i was one of the instructors for my daughter's group in her last year at primsry school.

 

[jnb]

I apologise if this has already been covered.

Should there be some sort of compulsory highway code test for riders of bicycles?

Should that test be conducted within the school system?

IMO - a school test on the HC would benefit most as they will usually be using it for cycling or driving in the future but what do you folks think?

The implication of which would be that children, or for that matter adults, who have not yet taken such a test or who attend a school which doesn't offer such a test would be banned from cycling. Given the social benefits of cycling and the social costs of driving anyone suggesting such a move is basically sanctioning an increase in social costs, an increase in RTAs and a worsening of public health, they may not think that is what they are doing but that is what they are doing. So in a word - no!

 

[Bman]

Exactly. It should not be introduced if it would "ban" anyone.

(Re)Introduce the Green Cross code to the curriculum first, then at the next level should be Cycling Proficiency.

Then, add a further level before they get to operate any motor vehicle.

 

[suecsi]

Oh dear, showing my age again - I remember David Prowse as the Green Cross Code man ....

Glad to see the Cycling Proficiency Test is still around, even if it is renamed.

Mind you, I'm not sure any of the kids round where I live have taken it, or give a toss anyway (that's when they are in school, of course), usually they are hanging around in groups on those strange BMX looking numbers that always seem too small for them .... I think I am just getting old sometimes.

I don't think they've had any equivalent of the 'Stop, Look, Listen' instilled into them either.

 

[2Loose]

I still think the most effective method of increasing road safety for all would be to increase the numbers of police randomly dotted about.

Fat chance of any politician justifying that expense though.

 

[John the Monkey]

what the hell, yes, there should be.

and when it's introduced, bugger all will happen to ksi stats on the road, because the people doig the ksi-ing aren't on bikes, for the most part.

 

[Jezston]

what the hell, yes, there should be.

and when it's introduced, bugger all will happen to ksi stats on the road, because the people doig the ksi-ing aren't on bikes, for the most part.

Actually the KSI stats will go down.

Because less people will bother cycling

Reckless and poorly behaved cyclists are rarely a threat to other people's lives in the way that reckless and poorly behaved drivers are, they are more a threat to themselves, hence it should be advisable to have training.

Maybe even the IAM could do an advanced cycling certificate.

 

[Norm]

Actually the KSI stats will go down.

Because less people will bother cycling

Statistics suggest that life doesn't necessarily work like that, as fewer cyclists means that drivers are less able to operate around the cyclists who are left and the ksi numbers increase.

 

[summerdays]

I think they should manage to put it in the school curriculum as even separately to Bikeability training. Not all kids cycle, and I think it would be worth knowing ... can't they fit it in with all the other things they do in PHSE? (Which I'm never exactly sure what it is).