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.

A lorry driver has just been sent to prison for dangerous driving killing a cyclist at the Holborn gyratory in London when he turned without indicating - the 8th cyclist to be killed in the last 15 years at that single junction. How does that compare to deaths caused by cyclists nationally?

Righto. So the money we do have needs to put toward the things that benefit the most people not the things that make Bob in Guildford have a rant. This is a pet project, at best, that would cost tons be unenforceable by a police service that's already on its knees. No more pet projects!

Are you being deliberately obtuse? The OP stated that helmets should be worn to reduce injuries to cyclists. It would reduce pedestrian injuries if they too wore helmets.
My colleague recently took her DP to A&E because he stood up and hit his head on an open cupboard door. Imagine the NHS saving if he had been wearing a helmet, he wouldn’t have needed to be there at all

I really don’t think cyclists do themselves any favours by picking on pedestrians.

YANBU to be very worried about (some) cyclists and fucking e-scooterists.
BUT it is beyond ridiculous to imagine cycles having number plates etc. - just not practical in any way.

I've long thought that, in order to pass your driving test, you should be made to do a certain number of hours cycling in various traffic situations.

I know this is completely impractical to enforce, but most motorists have no idea of how scary it is to cycle in traffic. Whereas the majority of adult cyclists are also drivers.

The answer is that you have to look at it in the round. Introducing those things would lower the cycling rate, decreasing public fitness, and therefore causing more early deaths from ill health.

Also, does my 3 year old have to have a numberplate on her balance bike? Or are we going to ban under 16s from cycling?

This mindset also seems to be behind the unconvincing argument that helmets put cyclists at greater risk. That’s a way of trying to avoid inconvenience by blaming everyone else

Studies have proved that motorists give less room to cyclists wearing helmets and pass a lot closer.

Well it's not cars barrelling around the corners in country paths and pavements. I've had far more near misses with bikes than cars. They speed around blind corners on the paths through to our local woods near play parks where there's loads of pedestrians and do t give a shit

Who is picking on pedestrians? I’m merely suggesting that if helmets reduce injuries, it’s logical for everyone to wear one

Pedestrians, cyclists, escooters, cars - they're all annoying at some stage and all do dangerous shit, but only one causes thousands of deaths every year. That's where I'd focus your anger op.

It's interesting, when drivers are behind cyclists they say they're holding up the traffic, "crawling" too slow, shouldn't be on the road if they can't keep up to the speed limit etc.

But in other situations, they're "barrelling", "flying", "speeding"....

Most odd.

You call for pedestrians to wear helmets, for reasons best known to yourself, and you are calling other posters obtuse!

Blimey.

Erm, you could say the same about pedestrians and cyclists.

So if cyclists say 'we're vulnerable, car drivers are at liberty to crash into us' and this fails to take into account the effect on drivers...

Pedestrians often say 'we're vulnerable, cyclists are at liberty to crash into us' this implies cyclists enjoy randomly careering into things, being hurled across pavements and into roads, seeing pedestrians get injured etc.

As a general principle, people do not like their bodies to hit other objects or people at speed and in an uncontrollable fashion.

From the way cyclists are often described, they basically throw themselves at old ladies for fun. Yes, teens sometimes have a weird perception of risk but basically no one wants to fall off their bike.

Car drivers can be twats, cyclist can be twats, and pedestrians can be twats.
Walking my dog the other evening a cyclist was on the wrong side of the road, no torch, no reflective gear, dark clothing on a 60MPH main road. A car driver wouldn't have stood a chance of missing the absolute plonker. But the car driver would have been at fault.
Everyone needs to obey the Highway Code, and it should be enforced, regardless of your mode of travel, including dog walkers ensuring their mutts are on short leads.

YABVU

Firstly you are conflating e-scooters with bikes; they are not the same thing, e-scooters are already illegal (unless the council-backed schemes; private e-scooters can only be used on private land) and if people ride their e-scooters on pavements, that has nothing to do with cyclists and is not cyclists' fault.

Secondly, electric bikes are limited to 16mph and anything faster is illegal.

Your main problem seems to be enforcement of existing laws?!

Lastly, YABU to call them "push bikes", good old "bike" will do!

Can you really not see the difference between a car free path between fields to get to a road where pedestrians and little kids feel safe and a road?

Please don't lump proper cyclists in with battery-ists, only a terminally lazy person needs a battery on their bike and if it has a battery on it it's not a proper bike!

Chardonnay, nothing obtuse about comparing a pedestrian's head to a cyclist's.

How many deaths of cyclists for road mile driven by cars/lorries?

How many deaths of pedestrians for road mile driven by cyclists?

Raw numbers are meaningless without you putting them into context.

Id love to know where you get your facts from, I dont know anyone who has not rode a bike at some point.

I didn’t say anything remotely like that.

I said that when cyclists ride badly and inconsiderately and cause accidents they can do a great deal of harm, even if they’re more at risk. The need to use the road safely and observe the rules doesn’t go away because one road user is themself more physically vulnerable than another.

I am very, very careful around cyclists. I don’t care if I get beeped or shouted at by other drivers (including by a bus a couple of days ago, though that was for stopping for pedestrian at a left turn!). Part of the reason for care is that the cyclist is vulnerable; another part is that I do not want to be part of a horrible accident that seriously injures a person even if I wouldn’t be to blame for it happening. And there are too many cyclists who do ride inconsiderately and recklessly.

But far more cars who drive inconsiderately and recklessly

I agree. But that doesn’t help with the problem of reckless cyclists.

I’m all for coming down hard on shitty drivers. But that in no way gives cyclists a free pass.

@bizzyloop from Cycling UK

Their surveys found that, in England, 87% of people rarely or never cycle.

In Scotland and Wales its 91%.