BBC dives into cycling debate

As I sit here nursing a broken neck caused by a driver not stopping at th give way on a T junction and thereby pulling out in front of me whilst I was travelling at 20 mph you would think I could, would and should 'hate' all the ambivalent drivers out there BUT..

When I am not on a bike I am in a car and whilst I am very cycle aware and drive with due consideration of a cyclists needs I find myself disheartened by all the cyclists without helmets or lights, or wearing flip flops or riding on the pavement or weaving in and out of standing traffic etc.

As stated earlier there are bad versions of all transport 'drivers' and we just need a little tolerance and curtesy if we are to get along.

In reply to the starting arguement about shoudl a dangerous cycling law be passed I say that in the same way that it is against the law for cars to 'squish' cyclists it should be equally against the law for cyclists to 'squish' pedestrians.

I have been in Toronto now for 12 months, apart from being unable to cycle for three months because you have to hibernate through the winter the cycling is a joy, cars are much more considerate of bikes and pedestrians.
In three months last summer I had one 'near miss' of the type I had daily while commuting in London, I have never been beeped at or had anyone swear at me, again daily occurrences in London... Even though the Mayor here believes cycling is evil the network of cycle paths around the city is incredible.

I dread heading back home to be abused and maimed by cars travelling at half the speed but twice the malice of London commuters

Oh and the press here doesn't hate on cyclists at all Mayor John Ford is an isolated case!

:evil
All this controversy about dangerous cycling brings to mind the recent action in Woking, where the council rescinded a previous decision and decided to ban cycling in the town centre.
Of coure this won't affect the idiot minority who ride dangerously, as they will just ignore the ban, whilst the considerate cyclist, of which I hope I am one will face the dangers of heavy traffic.
In passing I wonder how many riders out there don't realise that they are not only in charge of a vehicle, buut that it is a silent one, which means when passing pedestrians one should give a warning.

I can't really see the problem.

There will be one POSSIBLE prosecution every 3 years because that is the rate of deaths caused by cyclists.

Given the prosecution rate for death by driving a motor vehicle, it will be one prosecution every 12 years.

And a prosecution is not the same as a guilty verdict.

This won't go anywhere - don't get wound up about it.

Hi guys first post on here

I only occasionally have problems on the road with motorists most of the time its all good. I dont agree that the guy who ran over the girl should have got away with it as if he was in a car it would have dedser been a crime!

Regarding those BBC posts there are some abso beauts on there! One guy insists that bikes are less "green" because of the "windy" traffic behind them. Lollersnakes!

I have posting as Nevis on the Daily Maul website and there are some really really depressing comments on it.

Quote:

Religion definitely isn't the answer!

what, the cyclists vs motorists argument wasn't divisive enough?

...or Jeremy Clarkson's severed head on a plate

Can we talk about rear derailleur’s instead?
Basically there poor drivers, poor cyclists, poor dog walkers, poor skateboarders, poor walkers, poor buggy pushers, need I go on?
If everyone spent a bit more time being considerate, rather than blaming everyone else then I don’t think we would have too many problems
But that may require a evolutionary reverse - or a good dose of Christianity

Re "It's the aggression, the selfishness and arrogance about who 'belongs' on the road. Where has that come from?" posted above by Simon E.

Can I offer a (possibly over simplistic) contributory factor of 'congestion' leading to high levels of transport frustration, decreased tolerance & ultimately poor behaviours ? Sadly the one bad experience taking a nominal ten good ones to restore the balance rule appears to apply, so the argument easily polarises into a them and us slanging match. In a nutshell, two mismatched user groups are competing for the same resource, road space. We need to rub along to make it work, but blimey, it's hard sometimes!

I wrote a blog post a while back about appropriate speeds for different situations, in particular dealing with the Bristol Bath Railway Path - http://tinyurl.com/39dgy8z and whilst it doesn't attempt to broach the subject of 'death by dangerous' anything, it does attempt to convey the fact that at the end of the day we're all just people trying to get about - and that we might as well do it in the most harmonious way possible. . .

I hope that they start making pedestrians pay fines for jay walking, stepping out from buses and walking in cycling lanes. Fairs fair.

Have you seen that BBC comment stream, it's a bit like being back in the playground with all the kids standing round going FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

here is a link to a blog with some legal angle on the whole thing, some pretty good comments as well.

http://ukcyclerules.wordpress.com/

the writer also has other blogs regarding laws that cyclists are obliged to follow and what the 'punishment' is. Some out there may already follow this particular blog anyway!

Andrea Leadsom may be wanting to create a level playing field in regards to the 'death by dangerous...' bill The problem is; the punishment of the cyclist in unfortunate cases as this far outweighs that which the motorist incurs when they take the life of another road user be they pedestrian, cyclist, horse rider or motorist!

More effort should be taken to ensure that motorists do not receive a cursory fine, a few points and a couple of hours community service when they take somebodies life!

@thereverent thanks for that - I'm sure one of the broadsheets did a follow up a few weeks after the judgement and gave one of the only balance reports that actually quoted the judge a lot rather than just the parents.

@TheHatter
I've had a look for the judgement online but can't a quoted version.
However on the BBC site at the time was:
"Howard was cycling on the road when he approached the group but the court heard conflicting evidence about whether he mounted the kerb at any point during the incident."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7496370.stm

It's depressing reading some of those comments on the BBC site. Almost as bad a Radio 5 live phone in.

I don't know what makes some people think of cyclists as one unified group. Why do people who know I cycle feel they need to tell me every time they see someone riding a bike badly or illegally.
I also drive, but they don;t feel they need to tell me about every bad driver they see.

Wasn't the death mentioned the case that was (surprise suprise) totally misrepresented by almost the entire media at the time?

If memory serves me most reports failed to point out that according to the judge and police the collision happened on the road (not the pavement as claimed by the family), the girl had drunk a few cans of stella, was in a group of teenagers (more normally referred to by tabloids as a 'gang') and the cyclist was the only one to stick around and attempt to administer first aid while waiting for the ambulance?

The death was tragic but this wasn't a case of a crazed cyclist deliberately and cowardly mowing down a child on the pavement as most seem to have been depict it. And now a totally unnecessary use of parliamentary time will be taken up and relations between cyclists, pedestrians and motorists will get even worse.

Is there any way of getting a transcript of the judges summing up on here as it would be good to put on the bbc's site?

We should ask one of the guys from 'speakyourebranes' (http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/) to do a comment audit for us. Otherwise it's just navel gazing by one group or another.

28 (and counting) pages of comments, mostly saying "I am a [cyclist/pedestrian/motorist](delete as applicable). I [ride/walk/drive] safely but none of the other types of road user do. Bah!"