take a test??

[RedBike]

Not so sure about testing cyclist but perhaps bringing back tuition for kids?

 

[Arch]

I'll pay road tax if you insist.
At the same rate as the least polluting cars, naturally. That'll be nothing, then.
Insurance? Once all the cars have insurance, then maybe insist on it for cyclists. Not before. And good luck policing it.

Someone made a great post recently, they'd worked out that cyclists would pay £0, but that each disc would cost £10 to administer, and based on the number of bikes in the country and the number of cars, it would cost the average motorist an extra £7 to pay for the all the admin. So if drivers want to pay £7 for me to have a free disc, fantastic!

Or, we could all ride bikes made pre-1973. Zero rate on them too....

 

[Cab]

Not so sure about testing cyclist but perhaps bringing back tuition for kids?

Teaching kids is becoming more and more popular. Generally giving them some confidence can't be bad.

But testing cyclists... Fine, I'm all for that. Lets test them to make sure they know to ride predominantly in primary position, assertively and in a vehicular fashion. Lets test cyclists to ensure they all know how they're actually meant to ride, as opposed to how far too many motorists (including all of the ones who keep bleating on that cyclists aren't tested) believe they should. I'd LOVE that. It would gridlock every town and city in the country with all of us riding as we really should, but heck, that would be a small price to pay to make the people who complain that we're not tested shut the hell up.

 

[Arch]

Not so sure about testing cyclist but perhaps bringing back tuition for kids?

Also good. Not just cycling tuition - I'd like to see all roadcraft taught in schools, as theory. Drum it into kids enough when young, some of it will stick. I remember two things from my childhood that have shaped my behaviour. One was my Dad saying "even when it's the green man, you have to still look, because a red light doesn't physically stop the cars" - that's possibly saved my life on at least occasion when a huge 4x4 completely jumped a red light as I was about to cross. And the other was seeing an older girl who'd been knocked down outside a school, lying in the road before the ambulance arrived. My Mum didn't make a big thing of shielding me from the sight, she simply said "she ran out without looking, that was silly" and we carried on, and I can see it to this day, and I make a great effort not to step out into the road without looking.

Get them young!

 

[wafflycat]

who said anything about peds..
its not the peds i worry about its the other road users

So, considering that pedestrians do indeed use the roads. As a pedestrian I have used the roads many times.

If you can't recognise that pedestrians are road users, I suspect you may just have failed that five-yearly re-test

 

[wafflycat]

Yes, I'm afraid Cab is right in a huge number of cases. Although I'd love to see a poll of what "amber" means in a traffic light sequence to some people - I think a lot of people really do believe it just means "red next, but don't bother yourself too much". Saw two vehicles go over a clear amber just on my way in this morning. I don't think many people know it actually means stop, less unsafe to do so. (ie, you have to jam the brakes on,skid and cause the guy behind to rear end you)

Surely, Madam, your eyes deceive you, as any fule noe, it's only the lycra louts riding bicycles who don't pay road tax, ignore all rules of the road and are out to get the poor, put-upon, law-abiding British motorist, that do not know what traffic lights are for!... cont. pg 96

 

[wafflycat]

I'll pay road tax if you insist.
At the same rate as the least polluting cars, naturally. That'll be nothing, then.
Insurance? Once all the cars have insurance, then maybe insist on it for cyclists. Not before. And good luck policing it.

I'll pay road tax too, it doesn't exist. As for vehicle excise duty (which I do pay in respect of my motor), I'll willingly pay at the rate for the least polluting cars. So, yes, that'll be another zero.

As for insurance, those of us who have household contents insurance are often already covered with third-party coverage - as the *real* risk from cyclists is so low, it's effectively a freebie... then there's those of us who are members of cycling organisations who get £10 million squids worth of third party cover thrown in as a benefit of membership... as the *real* risk of cycling is so low..

 

[Cab]

Rule of Traffic lights: If the traffic is actually moving, the first vehicle that could have stopped at amber will go through, and 90% of the time so will the second. In 90% of those cases the next car to arrive will belt straight through the red light.

Thats why sometimes junctions scare the hell out of me, and the closest I come to blatant red light jumping is when the car behind me clearly isn't going to stop. Whats the betting that in those cases other motorists looking on will be cursing me and not the driver behind me?

 

[TheDoctor]

OK, OK, everyone, I know it's actually called VED.
And yes, I actually already have insurance by virtue of CTC membership.

I still daren't ride along the dual carriageway that's on my way to work, because I'd die within a week. And as some of you know, I'm a reasonably confident and able cyclist. God help the newcomers...

 

[snorri]

Which is why I think we need more of the hard hitting adverts we see about road danger these days. Scare a few people into behaving themselves.

Adverts:?: ADVERTS:?:
It's armed traffic police we need. that'll sort them out.

 

[andygates]

Actually, it's just *more* police. They're perfectly capable of doing the job without getting up-cannoned.

 

[Arch]

Rule of Traffic lights: If the traffic is actually moving, the first vehicle that could have stopped at amber will go through, and 90% of the time so will the second. In 90% of those cases the next car to arrive will belt straight through the red light.

Moving? I've seen cars stationary,queueing across a traffic light stop line (the queue went round a corner), and then when the cars in front went, the one behind he line went to follow, despite the fact that the light was red. I glared at the driver (since I was crossing at the time, in the company of about 5 other people) and he smiled, waved me across and then went anyway! Either he had no idea what the light phase was because he hadn't actually looked, or he didn't care.

 

[wafflycat]

OK, OK, everyone, I know it's actually called VED.
And yes, I actually already have insurance by virtue of CTC membership.

I still daren't ride along the dual carriageway that's on my way to work, because I'd die within a week. And as some of you know, I'm a reasonably confident and able cyclist. God help the newcomers...

Yes, sweetie, we know you know it's VED

Driver education is the main way forward. It's also the most difficult to do, and the most long term.

Personally I think strapping any would-be motorist to the saddle of a bicycle and somehow forcing cycling everywhere upon them for a minimum of an entire year before they are allowed anywhere near the controls of a motorised vehicle would be a positive step...

Digression...

A motoring colleague of my dear husband.. a lady who loves her Porsche, who loves driving, says that once she got on to a bicycle, she had her eyes opened as regards the amount of space most drivers *don't* give vulnerable road users. Quite unintentionally: no malice, but purely from being in that nice, insulated metal box travelling at speed, meaning they don't actually *understand* what they are doing (or not doing as the case may be) when it comes to other road users. She says getting on a bicycle changed how she drives: for the better as she's far more aware of the needs of more vulnerable road users as a result of being one herself. Remember we've a generation or two now who probably haven't been on a bicycle since they were a kid and have no understanding of what it's like to be a vulnerable road user any more. Whereas our parents generation - a lot more folk cycled.

 

[wafflycat]

Moving? I've seen cars stationary,queueing across a traffic light stop line (the queue went round a corner), and then when the cars in front went, the one behind he line went to follow, despite the fact that the light was red. I glared at the driver (since I was crossing at the time, in the company of about 5 other people) and he smiled, waved me across and then went anyway! Either he had no idea what the light phase was because he hadn't actually looked, or he didn't care.

Forsooth woman, you be hallucinating again, as any fule noe its only cyclists wot jump red lights. Got to be true, the Daily Wail sez so!

 

[TheDoctor]

Forsooth? Has Waffles been at the chain degreaser?