Even more cyclists now breaking the law

[DistingusedSocialCommentator]

Most drivers and pedestrians will be aware of this as many have seen or been victims of a cycle rider.

Watching Talktv this morning there was a lady who had lost her mother due to an e-scooter rider on the pavement. The show had a lawyer on talking about what I agree with, IE cyclists are very hard to identify if they get away from an accident.

E-scooters we all know are against the law unless provided for by your local council in central London. Several times over the years, me and the family have had close calls with them on pavements and parks as they zoom down, you cant hear them and they often dress in all black clothing.

Push bike riders are travelling faster and faster as many more have those battery packs on them

With the introduction of 20mph zones in vast areas of London, even more, push bike riders are now breaking the law, EG travelling well over 20mph in a 20mph and passing slower cars travelling at 20mph We are all aware how some push bike riders have ignored the rules for years, EG jump red lights, ignore pedestrians on crossings, cause accidents and walk of or rise off and now, much more able to break the speed limits off 20mph with almost 100% impunity and some that at red lights get o the pavement and cross a red light that way or some just ride on pavements

For the record, note, Its some cyclists not all but we have all seen them more so as going to work, or dropping off children at schools the speed of some of these riders

The Talktv debate also talked about those who kill people while riding a push bike/scooter, I think they said the maximum prison sentence was two years (I may be wrong) but the laws needed vast improvements.

This had been talked about a lot before but nothing happened.

AIBU proposes that all cyclists have number plates/easily identifiable markings, all have insurance, all have a bell and lights, and all wear a helmet and hi-vis jacket (This would in my judgment make many more riders more responsible for their actions and our roads/pavements safer for all)

The police need to be more proactive on e-scooter riders. However, as cyclists are almost impossible to identify, my proposal as above will aid the police and hopefully, modify the dangerous behaviours of those cyclists that are now regularly breaking the law, EG, travelling at more than the speed allowed, jumping red lights, putting pedestrians at risk on crossings and pavements.

I give up. I'm not sure if some are being deliberately obtuse here but my OP would help reduce lawbreaking by cycle riders and save people from injury, serious injury and even death and the turmoil that brings with it.

The point of my OP is clear, being easier to be identified will decrease law braking and make raods a bit safer for all and if you can't regonsie that, then there is nothing more to say.

no one has said that any gorup(drivers/riders and pedestrians) is 100% perfect

Drivers are more likely to drive too close etc to cyclists in helmets, so you want to make cycling more unsafe for cyclists, odd.

Ah.

Lobby for cycle lanes, get those done at huge expense, traffic at a stand still, ambulance not being able to pass.

Still not good enough. Only the pavement will do.

Are pedestrians on wheels in your universe?

Obviously not but pedestrians can trip (someone will come along in a moment to say that cyclists are always falling off their bikes) and pedestrians can be hit by cars both on the pavement and while crossing the road.

Surely it would reduce injuries and costs to the NHS if everyone wore a nice polystyrene helmet at all times?

Blah blah road tax blah helmets blah red lights blah.

Then let’s put jackets on all dogs with a registration number we can use to identify when they shit in public places or tear a child apart. What’s that ? The wronguns won’t comply ? Oh. This is why this draconian punitive authoritarian BS won’t work. And especially not for cycling - instead make cycling incredibly easy, safe and attractive and more people will do it.

The proper way to deal with this problem would be to commit to dedicated fit for purpose cycle-only route for cyclists.

The problem is most cycle routes are not fit for purpose or combined with pedestrian pavements.
The roads are too dangerous, so the problem is that cyclists are not properly catered for in this country.

I don’t agree with number plates for cycles. The admin issues and policing for it would be mind bogglingly difficult.

What about kids on bikes ?

Next, we’ll be pushing for pedestrians to wear hi viz and number plates !

Yabu

Any rules introduced would force more people off their bikes and into cars which would ultimately lead to a more hostile environment for pedestrians and more pedestrian deaths.

Yes some cyclists are arseholes. The same people would be equally arseholey and equally dangerous (but more likely to be fatally so) in a car. However most people aren't. You aren't noticing the non-arsehole cyclists as they aren't doing anything to cause you to notice them.

We need to be naking cycling easier and more attractive to ordinary decent law-abiding people. Registration and regulation will have the opposite effect.

Cyclists often skip red lights as a self-defence because it's a lot more dangerous to the cyclist to wait for green and to then be starting moving at the same time as the cars. Rather than punishing people for trying to avoid death, we need more traffic lights to be converted to the type that give cyclists a 10 second start before the light goes green for cars, so that the danger is reduced and there's less need to skip the lights.

My 15 year old DS has a paper round,
He has lights, a helmet and light reflecting hi viz, he also wears a go pro and rides on the road in cycle lanes where he can, still doesn’t stop arsehole drivers trying to knock him off his bike.

Just yesterday an Audi wanker nearly hit him and then had the audacity to shout out his window at him. They were passing a parked car and a car was coming the other way, the Audi didn’t want to wait obviously.

The problem is the traffic not the bike lanes.

A bicycle is a wheeled vehicle. A cyclist is in charge of a vehicle.

A pedestrian, by definition isn’t, so they don’t need helmets, registration or anything else.

The problem is cyclists on the pavement.

I'm fucking sick of the dickhead pavement cyclists near me. Wankers. They don't give a shit.

Luckily they don't represent the majority of cyclists.

Just like bad drivers don't represent the majority of drivers.

It would be nice if there was some easy way of identifying and reporting them but I can't see it working. Until then they can do what they like with no come back apparently.

Doesn't seem to work on cars!

Pedestrians? Children?

Obviously some bright spark in Tory HQ has decided creating accounts on major social media platforms like Mumsnet , and creating 'topical debate'

That's my takeaway from this thread.

How do you know? You have no idea what it would be like if cars were completely unidentifiable like cyclists are.

People who rant about dangerous cyclists and why are they always getting in the way and jumping red lights and going on pavements should try actually cycling for for a few weeks to see what it's like. They would discover that it's pretty bloody terrifying to be close passed by a car being driven aggressively inches away from you, and even when not a super close pass things like a double decker bus or a lorry going past you can be scary. You're dodging giant potholes that may be a bit of a shock to hit in a car, but if you don't dodge them on a bike then you're breaking a wheel or your face as you go over the handlebars. You get told to "stay in the bike lane" which is a dotted line painted alongside parked cars, where you risk being doored by someone or a driver pulling out without looking. It's a barrel of laughs it is.

And around here in the centre the majority of pedestrian areas are "dual use" and have little bike markings set into the pavement every 10 metres or so - so the council have said cyclists can use it, but pedestrians don't tend to look for those markings, and tut at you for "cycling on the pavement". If they're not taking up the full width of the pavement and wandering around with headphones in looking at their phones, oblivious to the possibility that a cyclist may be there as well.

100% this.

I’m very happy to be identifiable in some way and answerable to laws / the police, but I would also expect the police to follow up my helmet camera video of dangerous driving which narrowly avoids causing me injury on a weekly basis.

Not sure we’re getting either of these things with the current level of police funding.

All of them?

The ones with toddlers, the dog walkers, the disabled, the ones with poor eyesight? The elderly? The ones who cannot afford a bike?

Stop being so self centred and get off the pavement.

Unfortunately, as I said before, the problem is that many cycle routes are actually on the pavement, often unmarked so pedestrians are unaware that they are on a designated cycle route.
This is the case a lot where I live and pedestrians are often, wrongly aggressive towards cyclists.

If we are to reduce car use age and reduce CO2 then there has to be proper planning and spending on cycle infrastructure.

Yes it’s a problem that cyclists have to use pavements but it’s because there are too many cars on the road now ( often with people who can’t drive safely and use their cars as a weapon).

There have been multiple pieces of research done that all show that the health benefits of mandating helmets and/or high-viz are outweighed by two things:

1. Risk-compensation by drivers - drivers are slightly less likely to give adequate space to a cyclist wearing a helmet and/or high-viz
2. Lower participation in cycling (which means some people not getting the health benefits of cycling).

With the introduction of 20mph zones in vast areas of London, even more, push bike riders are now breaking the law, EG travelling well over 20mph in a 20mph and passing slower cars travelling at 20mph

Speed limits don't apply to pushbikes. It is perfectly legal for a pushbike to do 25mph in a 20 limit even though it's not legal for a car to do that (just as it's legal for me to drive my car at 70mph on the motorway, despite it not being legal for someone driving an HGV to do that speed).

OP, I agree that there are some bad cyclists. I also agree there are some sanctimonious ones (especially on twitter). But I'm sorry, what you have written comes over as an ill-informed rant. I guess that isn't surprising, considering the fact you say it's based on something you saw on TalkTV.

There's a trend for teens called 'roadmen', they ride souped-up scooters or ebikes. The scooters and bikes are technically illegal and don't have the 25km ph speed limiters fitted that the law requires. They wear black and facemasks or balaclavas. It's not that different to the old mods and rockers on motorbikes.

A bicycle licensing system would be uneconomic, impractical, put people off cycling when we need more cyclists to tackle traffic, pollution and climate change. It would also not work on the roadmen type teens who don't give a shit in the first place, they're already on illegal vehicles.

The answer is to be more strategic about targeting illegal importers/sellers of these vehicles, and more police resource to seize them where used on the roads and make sure kids can't get away with irresponsible behaviour.

What you're doing is proposing a clampdown on ordinary cyclists who aren't doing the thing you're unhappy about. Better cycling infrastructure that separates cyclists from pedestrians and traffic with physical barriers would help.

Highway code already requires lights and reflectors. It's a cyclist's own decision whether to wear high vis. Most do on a winter's night but maybe less necessary and comfortable on a summer's day.

The police are underfunded to the point they can barely attend burglaries, I don't think they're going to want to stand out checking if bicycles have working bells.

Maybe you should get a bike and join the enlightened, it's really fun and might make you a bit less uptight?

YABVU and also very stupid. Cars and drivers KILL PEOPLE EVERY DAY. Don't conflate e-scooters (illegal) with cyclists. Most people who cycle also drive. There are a minority who do ride on the pavement, ignore red lights. But there are a minority of drivers who do this, with far greater consequences. Cyclists are helping the planet and their own health.

If licensing for cyclists was introduced it should definitely work like driving licenses in that if you get over 12 points, you can just keep going if you convince a magistrate that you don't like getting the bus.