Vikeonabike said:
Somone in York go round and SLAP Marin for me......
PCSO.....FFS
I am not particularly interested in what you are, all I can say is if you are a police officer, you should really carry yourself a bit better and learn your road knowledge a bit better, there's quite a large scope for improvement there.
Vikeonabike said:
Yes....We all want the same rights as cars, lorries and busses. We want to share the road, and being ON the road we should be treated the same way....Break the laws of the road and you should be punished the same as and other ROAD USER! I would also hope that we would also then benefit from the same protection as other road users get.
I don't want the same rights as cars, I have the right to use the roads in general terms because cycling is not perceived to be the case to need a license, let alone a fairly lengthy learning process one that happens here or in other countries for
various types of motor vehicle to differing extents. That is a totally and utterly different emphasis than for cars, let alone buses and lorries. Similarly I don't want similar rights to motor vehicles when I'm a pedestrian, I can already walk on the roads in general terms and have a right to do so.
On the balance of benefits to cost it would also be rejected being treated the same whether in terms of license or clamp down on quite a few of the offences. This apples and oranges business is silly, both laws and punishments should be consistent - treating motor vehicles and bicycles as outlined in your plan above it not that, so I have no interest in that. They should also be weighted proportionally in terms of the problem and consequences. There is also the public interest argument and whether it is worth it on tight resources - again I'd rather people behaved but I'm not really interested in grumpy residents complaining about a few questionable cycling incidents and diverting resources to there instead of much more serious offences.
Vikeonabike said:
Just to wind up Marin I would also extend this to other offences. Including using a mobile phone whilst cycling on a road.
Yes, I know, you didn't quantify that either. You do seem quite keen on sorting out mobile phone problems with cars though, which is one big plus in your favour, which I'm not sure whether it makes up for other areas, people would probably give you the benefit of the doubt if you didn't start going on about these other ideas with little justification.
Speaking more generally if one believes there is this so called RLJ problem - which there isn't (cyclists often exaggerate how often it occurs outside of London vs the proportion of cars doing it) one can just up the fine to say £90. One would then really probably have to look to upping the fine to cars too.
P.S. if you want some justification as to the other stuff, go and look up one of the many debates about 'respect' and out groups we've had on this forum. Cyclists won't get respect from motorists until as dellzeqq says we take over. All this silly lizban type silly gesture politics I believe would probably backfire rather than appease motorists (who misbehave anyway).