Do cyclists have a date with death?

[Wang Computer]

Quite honestly I have no problem with cyclists using the roads. It's their legal entitlement so even if I did have a problem I really wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Mostly it’s nothing but a small inconvenience to go around them, nothing more. On the other hand I do sort of think that cyclists using the road should pay tax and require some sort of insurance. It's probably totally unfeasible so isn't really worth considering. That’s another argument entirely though. By the way, you don’t just pay road tax because cars ‘damage the road’. It covers all sorts of things.

The uncontrolled, wobbling, oblivious, unaware of the rules of the road (running red lights, grrrrr!), not wearing visible clothing or using lights at night, sitting in the middle of the road in a national limit zones are another matter entirely... I’ve several run in with these types recently and it’s really left me spitting venom (not to mention my heart moving to where my mouth should be as they appear out of the gloom in my headlights). If I was to knock one of these ignorant morons off their bikes and kill them though their own stupidity, it would still likely ruin my life... How’s that for selfish?

I don’t know what the solution is because dangerous cyclists are all too common (far more common than outright dangerous car drivers in my experience). Perhaps towns and cities need to be made more cycle friendly.

 

[SDK^]

Perhaps towns and cities need to be made more cycle friendly.

Ban all cars in cities

 

[86JR]

So cos you have spent 8k on a bike means you should be able to cycle in the middle of the road ?

****

 

[Housey]

My bike is very ver safe due to the fact it's sat on the wall of my garage most of its life.

 

[izzy eckerslike]

It used to infuriate me when we went to visit the wifes parents in Derbyshire , there's always packs of cycling clubs about & on one particular twisty/hilly stretch of road there's double white lines for almost two miles.
One Sunday we got stuck behind a pack of 25 riding two & three abreast right at the start of the double white line stretch & needless to say there soon built up a massive tailback, One of the drivers in front lost his rag & overtook blowing his horn & they all started shaking their fist at him etc. a few seconds later we heard a screech of tyres & a black van shot past over the white lines.
we didn't realise but it was a police van & it ignored the car that had crossed the whites & stopped the pack dead & proceeded to lecture them about courtesy to other road users. Two of them started an argument & ended up being taken into the van where we presume they got booked.
Then the even longer tailback was waved over the line when the coast was clear, several drivers leaned out & thanked the coppers

 

[SDK^]

So cos you have spent 8k on a bike means you should be able to cycle in the middle of the road ?

I have just as much right to be there as anyone else using the roads.

 

[DanF]

I think you have to realise that what ever thing you can think of, 70%+ of people doing it are going to be really bad at it and have no will to learn to get better at it. This includes car drivers, lorry drivers, cyclists, photographers, pedestrians walking, god even people cooking or trying to use google search. Until you can realise this and get over it then we're going to be left in this state of complete and utter intolerance for any little thing that might affect you in any tiny little insignificant way.

 

[miniyazz]

How can a cyclist be a "motorist" when they dont have an engine on their bikes . The insurance i agree with and i have it (as ive said on many times)

Perhaps motorist is the wrong word. What I meant is they are in the same category as motorists because they are using the roads alongside motorists, therefore being hazards to be avoided by motorists - and it is better to compare them to being a motorbike rider rather than an orange cone (both hazards) in terms of fault/no fault! Although I passed a couple of 'cyclists' the other day on their electric push bikes, the ones that you pedal but they help you, I think they count as motorists surely!

Kudos to you, and any other cyclists, for having insurance. It just means that in the unfortunate event of you being involved in an accident, and it happened to be your fault for whatever reason (it happens), the car driver has some recourse to repairing his car without having the stress etc of going through small claims courts, or whatever is required.

 

[teulk]

Im so bored with this thread now....................


EvilDreams your not interested in what anyone has to say so i dont know why you even started the thread, you obviously think that your right and eveyone that doesn't mirror your views are wrong.

I dont have a problem with your OP and every one is entitled to their views however you have made no effort to even try and understand the other side of the coin. Your not interested what you have been told regarding cyclists and the paying of Vehicle Excise Duty ( thats what is really called).


You come across as ignorant and arrogant. I suggest you get a bike, ride it sensibly and then see what its like to put up with pig headed ignorant and arrogant drivers like yourself.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Are you every cyclist?

Possibly, you accused me of cycling without insurance, queue jumping and holding up traffic like all other cyclists. You are condemning all when it suits you and singling out when it doesn't which must be convenient.

Oh, the police to enforce rules about cycling on pavements and pedestrians have and are killed by it.

 

[teulk]

Kudos to you, and any other cyclists, for having insurance. It just means that in the unfortunate event of you being involved in an accident, and it happened to be your fault for whatever reason (it happens), the car driver has some recourse to repairing his car without having the stress etc of going through small claims courts, or whatever is required.

Im not quite sure how to take that comment (not in a bad way i may add) - Motorist have a minimum of 3rd party insurance for the same reason do they not so i dont what quite understand your getting at.

Also i would guess that any cyclist that has taken the time to get insurance would also be responsible on their bikes and are probably not the ones that EvilDreams seems to pass on every inch of his car journey.

 

[OspreyO]

There are good and bad cyclists and drivers. Most of these threads can't accept that simple truth. As most drivers don't cycle, therefore they don't understand why cyclists do things. Whereas most cyclist also drive.

Theres also a difference between blocking a lane with no reason and blocking a lane for good reason. If your not making that distinction, you don't understand the situation. Thats not defending the bad cyclists, of which there are many, ditto drivers.

 

[teulk]

There are good and bad cyclists and drivers. Most of these threads can't accept that simple truth. As most drivers don't cycle, therefore they don't understand why cyclists do things. Whereas most cyclist also drive.

Theres also a difference between blocking a lane with no reason and blocking a lane for good reason. If your not making that distinction, you don't understand the situation. Thats not defending the bad cyclists, of which there are many, ditto drivers.

Your wasting your breath as EvilDreams doesnt seem to understand that and im sure it wont be long before the "road tax" and "insurance" and "shouldnt be alwowed on the road" drivel starts again............

 

[EvilDreams]

Im so bored with this thread now....................


EvilDreams your not interested in what anyone has to say so i dont know why you even started the thread,

I didn't.

You come across as ignorant and arrogant.

Your wasting your breath

Thanks. You come across as ill-educated.

I suggest you get a bike, ride it sensibly and then see what its like to put up with pig headed ignorant and arrogant drivers like yourself.

I deal with cyclists in the textbook way. They have no idea that inside my car I am shouting "yes, let's all drive at 10mph" etc. as I wait to perform a safe overtake. When I rode my bike I didn't have to deal with "arrogant" drivers because I stayed on the pavement and thus didn't force them down to my speed.

 

[OspreyO]

...When I rode my bike I didn't have to deal with "arrogant" drivers because I stayed on the pavement and thus didn't force them down to my speed.

Dangerous and illegal cycling isn't a solution to not knowing how to cycle properly.

If you have to slow down and wait to overtake. Then there isn't enough room to overtake in the first place. Because squeezing past cyclists on narrow roads is very dangerous.

Theres pattern of behaviour there...

 

[EvilDreams]

Dangerous and illegal? A tad strongly worded there considering we have have hardly any examples of the supposed danger (versus how many accidents happen on the road every day) and despite the police moaning at me for many other things over my cycling career, they never once in years did anything about me or the many others that cycle on the pavement.

Are you suggesting that putting yourself on top of a flimsy bicycle with no means of protection against collision or even a seatbelt, and then surrounding yourself with a load of heavy metal boxes going a lot faster than you and thus forced to get past you is anything other than dangerous?

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Dangerous for the cyclist, just as riding on the pavement would be dangerous for pedestrians. Again, just because you weren't stopped by the police that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but that's probably because you were a child riding slowly. A grown man (man and bike weighing around 95kg) doing 35mph is a completely different story.

 

[miniyazz]

Im not quite sure how to take that comment (not in a bad way i may add) - Motorist have a minimum of 3rd party insurance for the same reason do they not so i dont what quite understand your getting at.

Also i would guess that any cyclist that has taken the time to get insurance would also be responsible on their bikes and are probably not the ones that EvilDreams seems to pass on every inch of his car journey.

Just that if you didn't have insurance (because there is no 3rd party insurance requirement for cyclists), then a car driver who got hit by you and had their car damaged, would have to either claim on their own insurance (if fully comp) and lose their NCB and have their premium go up as well, or would have to go through small claims to get the repairs money from you, or front the cost themselves.
And yes, it's probably true that cyclists who've taken the time to get insurance have probably also taken the time to learn how to cycle.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

One of the issues about learning to cycle correctly is also lack of quality teaching. Hopefully this will improve as interest in cycling inceases (bad news ED, there are going to be more of us).

 

[teulk]

You come across as ill-educated.

Well at least i come across as having been educated at all then, unlike you.

What you have been told has been factual information and what have you done with it - nothing is the answer as you cant see past your your own views. I drive a car, i also see what you see in the way of bad cyclists and those really long delays (which you have still yet to say just how long you are actually delayed) that you say they cause.

Here are your points and here are the answers to them

You - You shouldnt be allowed on the road (your opinion)
Answer - We have just as much right to use it as you do (fact)

You - You should pay "Road Tax" (you opinion)
Answer - Its called Vehicle Excise Duty and we dont need to or have to (fact)
A question i asked was would you pay it given the choice - you didnt answer it.

You - You should pay insurance (your opinion)
Answer - Yes we should and i do ( my opinion) but we dont have to and its not legally required (fact)
A question i asked was would you pay it if you didnt have to - you didnt answer it.


You - You should ride on the pavement (your opinion)
Answer - Regardless of how may people you see already riding on pavements it is in fact illegal and cyclists should use the road or any other designated cycleways (fact)