Do cyclists have a date with death?

Your right not all cyclists do, just as there are irresponsible people who ride bikes there are irresponsible people who drive cars. Lets not forget that insurance and tax is a legal requirement to drive a car however its not for a bicycle so really that part of the argument isnt really a valid one. Also lets not forget there are hundreds of motorists who drive around without tax and insurance and MOT's. My insurance is third party for my bicycle as i am more likely to be hit (and that is not through my fault) than me hitting a car. I can understand the frustration at being held up but if your totally honest a set of traffic lights would probably delay you longer. I agree some cyclists are terrible but so are some drivers.
 
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Whether the cyclist owns a car or not is irrelevant.

Insurance is an important one though and I do think that more should be done to make cyclists laible for their damages in accidents.

As for your other points, diddums. Cyclists don't really delay you; I'd put money on the fact that they cause you to slow down briefly but they make little or no impact on your journey time. Most of the time I get overtaken on my commute I catch them up again at the next junction or set of lights.
 
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[DOD]Asprilla;14728744 said:
Insurance is an important one though and I do think that more should be done to make cyclists laible for their damages in accidents.
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Good point and as mentioned i have insurance, the problem is a lot of people use bikes for fitness, commute to work and just for fun and generally its a very cheap form of transport and clean too - the government realise this hense i think they would be very reluctant to make insurance compulsory. I have to say though that bicycle insurance is really quite inexpensive but then again everyone may not share my view and what may just be a few pound too me might seem like a £100 to someone else.
 
I guess the main problem isn't actually insurance, but cyclists just riding off after scratching cars. This isn't unique to cyclists though, as anyone who has come back to the car park to find their door dinged can testify.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;14728811 said:
I guess the main problem isn't actually insurance, but cyclists just riding off after scratching cars. This isn't unique to cyclists though, as anyone who has come back to the car park to find their door dinged can testify.
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Yup insurance for people who use trollies at supermarkets :D
 
Jonny ///M said:
Just out of interest how much do you pay for cycle insurance? Are the bike value and distance traveled main factors?
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I pay around £3 per month (but could be as much as £15 depending on cover selected) but you have varying degrees of cover i.e. for competitions etc. It does (i think) take into account the value of your bike as i had to enter it when i took it out. Distance travelled isnt a factor as far as i can see. I covers me for personal injury upto £10000 and 1 million for 3rd party claims.
 
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I agree that the roads are too dangerous for cylists, that has put me off riding anywhere really. It's a great shame as when I was slightly younger I was scouted to some extent for cycling and was very good at it (probably about 15 yo). I never followed it up though as within two years two people who were friends of the family were killed on their bikes locally by motorists not giving them room and speeding, tragic really. I just drive my bike around and ride off road now. I did try cycling on the pavement but every police offer I went by always asked me to dismount, kind of annoying when you know it's a dangerous, fast road, when you'd most like to be on the pavement.

I don't deny that most cyclists are fine on the roads and probably won't get killed or injured, but it seems like a chance I'm not willing to take when some of the drivers here in Essex are totally switched off, speeding or too old to deal with the hazard appropriately. My own road (a 30 zone) sees a minority of people stick to the limit as I live on a 100m straight stretch just before a corner. That's enough to put me off nowadays.
 
All of the drivers complaining that cyclists should pay Road Tax and using it as reason for them not being on the road are just kidding themselves; using it as excuse to hide behind because they are super impatient and can't wait 10-20seconds before it’s clear to overtake.

If cyclists were to pay £100 or even a £1000 road tax the same people would still be whinging about being held up.
 
For 3 quid a month I would actually consider that if it meant I didn't have some civil case against me for damaging some expensive car. I think a lot has to change regarding bikes. NOBODY sees the value of a bike,they see a thing with two wheels and don't appreciate the difference spending a bit of money gets. There should be higher minimum standards(afaik the new EC standard is bringing this) and selling bikes in boxes for mums n dads to build should be made illegal or something. Have road worthy cycles and I wouldn't mind being 'forced' to pay so little per month for insurance!
 
[DOD]Asprilla;14728744 said:
Most of the time I get overtaken on my commute I catch them up again at the next junction or set of lights.
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....and then we have to overtake you AGAIN after you've jumped the queue.

So you pay no tax, have no insurance, are a hazard to motorists, get to skip to the front of traffic jams, and on top of that, I can't count the amount of cyclists I have seen either run a red light or cycle up to the red light, get off their bike, walk across the road, and then get on their bike again on the other side and ride off.
 
Come on stop this they dont pay tax or insurance rubbish - it has absolutley no bearing on the way the cyclists you have encountered ride their bikes. Are you seriously telling me that just because all motorists pay tax and have insurance that they are good drivers - No they're not so please please please stop that pointless argument about it. Cyclists dont pay them because they dont have too and its as simple as that. I bet if you were given the choice of paying you probably wouldnt pay at least one of them and i bet it would be road tax !

It has already been agreed by people who ride bikes that the behaviour you have witnessed is bad but your tarring everyone with the same brush.
 
teulk said:
Are you seriously telling me that just because all motorists pay tax and have insurance that they are good drivers
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Who said that? My reasoning was that if I have to pay tax on my car and tax on every litre of fuel on my car (i.e basically hand over money to the government on a regular basis ostensibly for the upkeep of the road that I use) and get shafted by the insurance people with NCBs and insurance groups, it's ridiculous that after shelling out all that money I have to share the road with bikes which a) are there for free and b) slow me down. Meanwhile they are paying nothing to essentially have me at their mercy while they trundle along at 10mph.

It's like if you (a hard working tax payer) went into an NHS A&E with an excruciating broken bone and after an hour in a queue, some "traveller" got put in the queue ahead of you....or would you like that?

It has already been agreed by people who ride bikes that the behaviour you have witnessed is bad but your tarring everyone with the same brush.
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Will that stop it happening?
 
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lol what tosh evildreams , they dont jump the queue as there aint one if your on a bike ;):p
you have a choice you dont have to drive you could ride a bike :D
 
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