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Selfish Cyclist


stigli
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@aaa22

 

Well, for starters, I didn't say anything about licencing bicycles !  I suggested some kind of test for cyclists and, most of the infrastructure for that (DVLA) is already in place.

 

As for policing(?) them, why not restrict "unlicensed" (?) cyclists to 'B' roads (or lower) and only permit them to use 'A' roads if they are "qualified" ?

Why not oblige them all to wear "Hi-Viz" and helmets ?

 

I'm not a great supporter of rules/regulations/laws but, sometimes, there has to be a little "common sense" applied.

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@Colin

I was not aiming at you but it did seem that it was going this way. I am looking at this as if you’re the guy who wants to ride/buy/sell and the ones who would have to police it.

If you introduce a DVLA system for bicycles what happens when you scrap that bicycle? Do you  have to take it to the approved scrap dealer? When we sell the bike for £20 we have to go and find the V5 and register it to the new owner?

How do you ID a bicycle? It’s easy with a car put a big plate on it. But there is not enough room on a bicycle for even the motorcycle ones. If you did fit one it would just get broke off. so if there was no way to look right away you will have police pulling over cyclists for the fact that they may have no licence and having to waist allot of time to try and ID them. Then there is the question of age restrictions, but that’s still not solving anything.

As I said earlier we have licences for cars and still there are some who drive like idiots or do not have a licence. I am not saying to get rid of licences/insurance/tax for cars as they are way more powerful and in most cases faster than a bike.

Banning unregistered bikes from “A” roads and leaving them on “B” only, well here in Shetand that does not make sense as most “B” roads are linked by our main “A” road, which also makes its way around Lerwick. I used to ride my bike from Sandwick to Cunningsburgh to see a friend when I was at school, then when I went to college I would ride my bike from there to the Viking bus stop, both use the routes that include the A970 and A969. I can see why they are band from motorways but that’s already in law.

I do think that it should be mandatory to wear a helmet, and if its night, appropriate lighting, not the pinkie sided dim blinking LED. A hi-viz jacket or add-on would be recommended too. But is the helmet not in law here? or is that Australia?

I am more for the common sense approach, taxing/licensing is just going to let the big guys make it harder for us the small guys to enjoy our time without having to pay a fortune for it. But there are those who just think they are invincible and when reality hits, well it hurts, there is nothing you can do to stop them until it happens.

Edited by aaa22
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I'm a cyclist, or used to be, and I can't help wondering if the time hasn't come to issue some kind of licence before cyclists are allowed to venture onto roads.

 

Not very practical but, as someone who has ridden motorcycles and driven cars, it has always disturbed(?) me that cyclists are able to take to the highways without any kind of basic proficency test.

Enlighten me. I thought I was expanding my thoughts on this. But as I said, maybe it came out wrong

Edited by aaa22
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Christ almighty, we’re speaking about Shetland here, not some major road somewye sooth.

 

We have excellent roads and they’re hardly overrun at any time of the day with either vehicles or cyclists. If the two can’t coexist on the roads here there’s little hope of them coexisting anywhere else.

 

Surely all that’s needed is a bit of mutual respect on both sides?

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@aaa22

 

You keep saying that I want to licence bicycles when I did not suggest that.  I suggested a licence for cyclsts NOT their machines !

Colin I have never said you wanted to licence bicycles. I expanded on it. As I said how can you tell if someone has a licence without stopping them wasting there time and police? It’s simple the bike would have to be registered. Complete with vehicle like plate, AMPR friendly, for the red light jumpers. Now it’s easy to think up a system that works here in Shetland, but when you involve governments it grows arms and legs gets "features" that seem grate but turn out to be worse than before. eg the licensing system for 4g is horrifically more expensive for the rural areas than cities, it was put to us the people to be the other way around. They had to then introduce their own scheme and now here we are getting a system (an old spec system) that kind of works but the moment it’s put under load it dies. The Shetland approach does not always work in cities, but the majority of people and officials live in cities, thus tending to think on grander scales. The same could happen here with bicycles, and for all you know maybe it would be worse for the average rural driver than those in the cities, and just to remind you I am against such a thing, licensing of bicycles and / or cyclists, as I have said in my past posts, if you would take the time to read. As I said in my last post, you can educate as much as you want but at the end of the day people (cyclists and vehicle drivers) make mistakes or are just arrogantly blinded to the situation they find themselves in, until they get hurt they won’t learn.

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