A survey ahead of May’s first-ever West Midlands mayoral election this May has found that local residents would like the successful candidate to introduce a bicycle licence – “to stop cyclists being a menace on the roads.”
The findings of the survey have been reported by the Birmingham Mail on the same day that motoring lawyer Nick ‘Mr Loophole’ Freeman and helmet camera user Dave ‘Cycling Vigilante’ Sherry jointly called for riders working for companies such as Deliveroo to also carry licence plates.
> Mr Loophole and Dave Sherry call for crackdown on delivery cyclists who break the law
The newspaper says that in exchange for cyclists being licenced, they would be given a network of cycle lanes throughout the West Midlands, although in practice any decision to introduce licences for bike riders would lie with central government, and it’s a concept that ministers at the Department for Transport have consistently rejected.
Publishing the West Midlands People’s Plan Manifesto, organisers of the survey said:
The popularity of cycling is not going to drop – more and more people, young and old, are taking up cycling.
But as more and more people take to the roads on bikes there is a need to pay more attention to their safety and that of other road users.
A ‘bicycle licence’ could be introduced as a way of showing which cyclists have demonstrated that they understand the rules of the road and their responsibilities to other road users.
The report also suggests introducing a charge for motorists to use the region’s roads, with the frontrunner in the race to become West Midlands Mayor, Conservative candidate and former John Lewis department store boss Andy Street, saying that tackling congestion is a priority.
> Frontrunner for West Midlands mayoral election pledges 40-fold increase in spend on cycling
He has applauded the efforts of Birmingham City Council to roll out cycling infrastructure – the city is one of the chief beneficiaries of the DfT’s Cycle City Ambition initiative – and has pledged a 40-fold increase in funding or cycling for other parts of the region.
The People’s Plan Manifesto, which was set up by Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Hodge Hill and who is chairing the campaign of his party’s candidate, Sion Simon, says:
A West Midlands congestion charge could be introduced, or restricted parking around schools at the start and end of the day, but the most positive step that could and should be taken is making public transport more appealing.
ENDBLOCKQUOTE
It also calls for greater investment in public transport such as light rail services, measures to tackle pollution, and fines for households and businesses that fail to recycle their rubbish properly.
45 thoughts on “Bike licences call for Birmingham and the West Midlands”
The simple answer to this
The simple answer to this idiocy is to ask anyone who witnesses a motorist running a red light to take a note of the registration plate and report it to the police. And then count how long it takes for the officer at the desk to stop laughing.
Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:
This. All motorists who beleive that possession of a number plate will allow them to magically identify and then punish a driver they see behaving badly should try it one day, just to see how completely ineffective it is.
Merely the Association of
Merely the Association of British Drivers (ABD, or Anti-Bicycle Disorder as I call them) trying to make some noise.
There are dozens if not hundreds of these rather bizarre suggestions on the website, and I imagine that most of them will be examined and rapidly discarded.
Just posted this in response on the website https://westmids.peoplesplan.co.uk/objectives/34#questions
“Since drivers have licences and registration plates have failed to prevent them regularly breaking the law, speeding, mobile phone driving, dangerous parking etc, etc, etc, why would this work for cyclists? Surely pedestrians should also have licences as they can cause accidents too?”
On the same site is the suggestion “Follow London’s lead and make Birmingham a safe place to cycle.” whether that is supposed to be ironic I’m not sure.
burtthebike wrote:
See this argument all the time but it’s a logical fallacy. The inference is that car licence’s are useless and should be gotten rid of. It’s also easily countered by saying that at least some of these bike scamps could be caught and put in chains.
Not that I agree with a licence.
Not this one again?
Not this one again?
So on average five people are killed every day by drivers ‘being a menace on the roads’, so lets target the real issue.
Licence plates for bikes, my five year old grandson will need a licence plate will he?
Who’s going to pay for all these licences then, bicycles are zero emissions so can’t be charged, so somebody’s tax is going to go up.
You would have to employ thousands of people to licence bikes to get zero income, brilliant scheme!
Will it reduce congestion?
Will it reduce pollution?
Will it reduce noise?
Will it improve health?
Will it reduce road casualties?
I’ll stop now….
A ‘bicycle licence’ could be introduced as a way of showing which cyclists have demonstrated that they understand the rules of the road and their responsibilities to other road users.
Vehicle drivers also have to demonstrate that they understand the rules of the road and their responsibilities to other road users at the time, so maybe this should be updated and examined every year because 2 of the drivers who tried to overtake a car while i am coming towards them dont seem to understand there responsibilities to other road users.
These councillors should not throw stones at glass windows.
Next it will number plates and Vehicle excise duty … cannot wait for that one, means i can cycle right in the middle of the road just like all the other traffice because i pay for it as well.
djfleming22 wrote:
Will this be a different license from my current full and un-endorsed driving license?
Will I need a different training course from the Cycling Proficiency Test that I took as a child with PC Bacon (no really!)?
If the people of Birmingham
If the people of Birmingham think this is one of the big issues that the new Mayor needs to tackle I truly feel sorry for them.
Simon E wrote:
On the contrary, it must be a total utopia if this is all they have to worry about!
Clearly a lot of the
Clearly a lot of the residents in Birmingham are no smarter than the average idiot.
Grahamd wrote:
Big village, many idiots…
May I suggest Birmingham
May I suggest Birmingham moves towards independence? With a big wall around it?
Will this bicycle licence be
Will this bicycle licence be free? Otherwise how are students, children expected to get this licence thing?
Also police in Birmingham can’t even sort or manage the hundreds of illegal drivers we have in Birmingham on a daily bases. So adding in bicycle licences will just put more pressure on the police therfore less enforcement on other important things like killer drivers.
What next!?!? A walking licence because of careless pedestrians???
Worrying actually. This could
Worrying actually. This could snowball and hit Westminister, and then the Heil, Sun etc will push it over the edge.
Doubt it’ll be now, but I can see it happening in the next few years.
What price a Rapha licence
What price a Rapha licence plate?
Hang on…
Hang on…
Motons are complaining about cyclists becoming a menace on the roads.
If the trade-off of licensing cyclists will be an entirely new network, purely for cyclists, to keep cyclists off the road…
WTF is the point of the licence?
lols……idiots
lols……idiots
So they say I need a licence
So they say I need a licence to pay for the bike lane you want to force me to use so I am out of your way? No thanks, I’ll ride on the road I paid for through direct taxation that connects to the other roads and doesn’t end in a railing with a Cyclists Dismount sign on it.
Leviathan wrote:
Exactly. If I’m paying bicycle excise duty then in return I (not unreasonably) demand my own cycle network parallel to and not inferior in any way to the road network.
CORRECTION
CORRECTION
A suggestion scheme ahead of May’s first-ever West Midlands mayoral election this May has found that a local resident would like the successful candidate to introduce a bicycle licence – “to stop cyclists being a menace on the roads.”
His name is James https://westmids.peoplesplan.co.uk/users/James
Slow news day?
lessismore wrote:
Perhaps he should consult his own region’s police force on the real menace on the roads before spouting such crap:
https://trafficwmp.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/driving-an-extinction-event/amp/
lessismore wrote:
Exactly – it’s one suggestion from one (not very literate) person amongst dozens and dozens. His other suggestions include:
“cars will not go away or stop being used so don’t ignore cars when “integrating transport” as they are part of the solution too” (LOL)
So hardly a clamour from locals!
KendalRed wrote:
…and yet he has such contradictorily enlightened thoughts such as ‘Make discretionary car use difficult + expensive – Make people understand that driving a car in the city is anti-social’
He’s pretty short on detail and plans though. I’d guess he’s a frustrated busnut or permanent ped, but a career in politics beckons…
councils are broke, and
councils are broke, and cutting everything, so how are they even expected to fund this, and it’s not like it can be enforced, as it’s not like the DVLA, DofT, and even police, would want to go through the hassle, and as with everything you want more people on bikes, instead of scaring them off, back to their cars poluting everywhere, and causing traffic jams.
Ironically, I find that the
Ironically, I find that the type of person who suggests things like licensing and refers to cyclists as a menace (presumably in reference to the third meaning of the word, listed below), are aptly described by the second meaning!
From dictionary.com;
— noun
1.something that threatens to cause evil, harm, injury, etc.; a threat: Air pollution is a menace to health.
2.a person whose actions, attitudes, or ideas are considered dangerous or harmful: When he gets behind the wheel of a car, he’s a real menace.
3.an extremely annoying person.
So on the one hand we have a
So on the one hand we have a mod of transport which the minute you turn the key in the ignition you contribute to 50,000 premature deaths. That’s before they drive there 2 ton metal box in you and cause 24000 deaths and serious injuries a year.
On the other hand we have cyclists, who don’t do any of that but there the menace.
What does that make motorists on that sliding scale, the third reich, Isis?
Never under estimate craziness of the great unwashed Brexit voting morons.
Housecathst wrote:
And brexit has what to do with this?
Hahahaha… oh, they’re
Hahahaha… oh, they’re serious? Surely my driving license would automatically qualify as a higher level of license?
If it doesn’t then that’s a little worrying in terms of what drivers are actually licensed for. One day people might start to realise that cyclists are A) people too, and B) a large number of them are also drivers.
Actually, changed my mind
Actually, changed my mind about this. Reckon it’s pretty cool. We can display our licences Pro style like so
In the Trial by Franz Kafka K
In the Trial by Franz Kafka K is asked for proof of his identity when he is arrested initially and all he can find is his bicycle licence. If you’ve read the book, you’ll understand the irony with regard to the calls for bicycle licences in Birmingham.
So much stupid.
So much stupid.
And who da fook do they think
And who the fook do they think is actually going to pay for, administer and enforce this madcap policy affecting millions of bicycles?
It would be like the old dog licencing system- totally impractical and unworkable so it was scrapped.
Do they seriously think the heroin addict hobbling home on his rusty MTB from the chemists with his methadone prescription is ever going to properly licence his bike? He hasn’t even got any brakes on the damn thing. And no-one really cares about that or does anything about it ,least of all him. And quite rightly so, as there are bigger ills in our society.
Anyway it seems we ,as cyclists, continue to upset and irritate all the bigotted,lazy,bloated and arrogant Daily Mail readers out there , the like of whom will be demanding this sort of legislation.
So at least we are still serving one useful purpose in society.
Grumpy17 wrote:
They’d be looking for cyclists to fund it through ridiculous fines no doubt.
Grumpy17 wrote:
…unfortunately, it seems like that mob sets the government agenda, so we need somehow to break that link.
Someone get The Clarion going again… 🙂
Quote:
I have found in life that the real meaning of “Menace” is:
Someone doing something, and not being miserable while doing it.
Quote:
Nice – and we are to remove our rear facing lights to fit it?
Birmingham is a hell hole for
Birmingham is a hell hole for speeding drivers, uninsured drivers, anti-social drivers. They make pedestrians and cyclists’ lives a misery. Start with the biggest problem, I say.
Various continental countries
Various continental countries used to apply taxes and registration plates to bicycles (1-3), but abandoned them as irrelevant, pointless bureaucracy. Their introduction in the UK could be a way of demonstrating how Breixt frees us from continental tyranny, allowing us to take back control and implement as many pointless laws as we like. If properly enforced it could create a myriad of petty bureacratic jobs for Brexit voters, as bicycle tax clerks, bicycle tax inspectors, bicycle plate manufacturers, etc.
(1) Switzerland: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velovignette
(2) Belgium: http://plaque.free.fr/eur/b/b_v.html
(3) France: http://plaque.free.fr/f_v.html
wjhall wrote:
Thank you for this. I thought I remembered little triangular metal plaques attached to the forks of bicycles when I visited my grandparents in Geraardsbergen, East Flanders.
Until I read your attachment I thought that I had imagined them.
Build the actually useful
Build the actually useful network of cycle lanes first, then we’ll talk about licencing. Since the former will never happen, the latter becomes irrelevant.
‘Making riders carry licence
‘Making riders carry licence plate is high on voters’ wishlist in upcoming mayoral elections…’
Is it? As per ‘lessismore’ above, this barmy idea seems to be one suggestion (among several contradictory ones) from someone who obviously hasn’t thought it all through very well. There is no link to, or indeed mention of, how many WM residents support the suggestion. I have read the linked news report and the ‘peoplesplan’ site, and the hordes of pitchfork weilding anti-cyclists are nowhere in evidence.
Be careful how you report on things like this. I think you may be in danger of giving the oxygen of publicity to something that really needs to be starved of it.
As for the local rag, it’s
As for the local rag, it’s interesting to note that out of all the sensible (and not so sensible) suggestions, this is the one that the Birmingham Mail picked to lead their article with.
This sorry fact might have made a more interesting article for road c.c.
Might understand why it is I
Might understand why it is I hate cycling in Birmingham. The earlier on a Saturday morning I get out past the city boundary the happier I am, and I switched jobs to work in a nearby town rather than trying to commute by bike surrounded by those homicidal halfwits.
There is of course something
There is of course something very good coming out of the West Midlands, namely close passing policing – see https://rdrf.org.uk/2016/11/22/a-new-dawn-in-policing-to-prevent-danger-to-cyclists-the-rdrf-award-to-west-midlands-traffic-police/.
There is no point in engaging in rational argument with the kind of scapegoating, red herring trailing, victim blaming bigots. Oh alright, you do have to give a rational argument – but don’t expect it to get you anywhere, because the people you are up against aren’t interested in rational, logical discussion.
Rememebr the name Sion Simon
Rememebr the name Sion Simon – for it is he behind this nonsense – when it comes to the next election