- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Nikki Sinclaire 1West Midlands MEP calls for cyclist registration, compulsory high-vis & helmets
West Midlands European parliamentarian Nikki Sinclaire has called for all cyclists to wear registration markings so that they are “accountable” for their actions.
The former UKIP MEP, who now sits as a member for the We Demand a Referendum Now party, told BBC West Midlands yesterday that cyclists should wear fluorescent vests with registration numbers.
She said: “I think cyclists need to be accountable. They need to observe the Highway Code.”
I’m certainly not anti-cyclist, I’m a cyclist when I can get the time myself.”
Ms Sinclaire tweeted the above picture of herself wearing high-vis.
She told presenter Adrian Goldberg: “I see, time and time again, in Birmingham and London, cyclists running red lights and putting pedestrians in danger.
“I’m not saying the cycle itself should be registered. What I’m seeking is a registration of cyclists - not on all roads, just on main roads in the city.
“We need to encourage more cyclists, but we also need accountability.”
Adrian Goldberg said he had recently had to dodge a cyclist who had run a red light.
Ms Sinclaire said: “Had you hit that cyclist, you would have been prosecuted.”
Graham Hankins, of Birmingham cycling campaign Push Bikes, went on the show to explain why cycling campaigners think registration is a bad idea.
He said: “The registration system would be seen as a barrier to people cycling.
“There are lots of people out there would like to cycle but, the more rules you put in front of them, that would be seen as a barrier to cycling in the first place.”
Ms Sinclaire followed up her comments yesterday afternoon on BBC Hereford and Worcester.
She said: “For a start I think we need helmets, I should it be compulsory for people to wear helmets.”
She said that she only wanted cyclist registration plates in towns and cities, where it would be effective because of pervasive surveillance.
“The reason this would work in the UK, I don’t think it would work anywhere else in the world, is that we’ve got the most cameraed cities and towns in the world.”
Ms Sinclaire’s attitude to cyclists mirrors that of her former UKIP colleagues. In its 2010 election manifesto, the party said: “There needs to be a better balance of rights and responsibilities for pedal cyclists” and claimed there was “too much aggressive abuse of red lights, pedestrian crossings and a lack of basic safety and road courtesy.”
At the time, Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator at national cyclists’ organisation CTC, said: “UKIP are living up to their reputation with their cycling policy - it’s classic anti-cyclist third-pint-in stuff.”
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- Another_MAMIL 3 hours 1 min ago
Who spends £55 on a bucket hat? You'd have to be a PNS to waste that much money on a bucket hat—it's not normal.
- Rendel Harris 3 hours 10 min ago
It's Haigh in the long coat.
- HoarseMann 7 hours 40 min ago
Not quite the same scenario, but has some similarities......
- HoarseMann 7 hours 58 min ago
“It all happened so fast,” the bus driver said in his statement. “To my horror I saw a male laid on his back with a mobile phone on his chest and...
- wtjs 8 hours 44 min ago
no one cares enough to fix it...
- wtjs 8 hours 52 min ago
I won't be getting anything on Friday...
- I love my bike 10 hours 46 min ago
It's in the land of the sidewalk, for better or worse, that driving 'right of way' does exist. . . and many other things they can keep as well!
- IanGlasgow 11 hours 57 min ago
CHPT3 is in receivership. Their website replaced by this notice. https://chpt3.com/
- Supervet 12 hours 43 min ago
I have started holding my breath for 5 x 30 seconds, that increases EPO, rebreathers not required....
Add new comment
113 comments
+1
And I've got a car and two motorbikes, all taxed
In addition, the bureaucracy involved in having bicycle legislation would be complex and expensive and as Stumpy pointed out, the cops have more important things to do.
As for positive PR towards cyclists, I think BC and Britain's race winning cyclists are doing a pretty good job.
UKIP nutter says something stupid... NEXT!
Looks like she's really enjoying her bike ride in the traffic.
Never before has this smiley been more useful
This woman is crackers isn't she?! Jump on the hate wagon to get some votes me thinks...
looks like the world of twatter has gone wild
If 10 years ago someone told me that you can electronically post a funny comment that will then appear on another form of electronic media, that would then attract a slurry of comments from others that had not read the full discussion or understood the context from the original source, but these people took offence or targeted a few words that relate to minority groups, then took this as a platform to moan, whinge, complain or generally attack the second source of the information...I would have said...yeah that sounds about right
I cant wait to get back to my home planet
Why not stick around and improve the situation here than turn a blinder and leave?
Up next: all new cars and vans to be available only in fluorescent yellow. Fluorescent pink to be a premium option.
Has she squared this with the police? , the DofT and the chancellor.
What's it going to cost? Will my registration be for me or for each of my bikes? What about all the bikes in garages all over the country that come out twice a year on a sunny Sunday. Will it cover the frame. How will you register all the frames created before the period. How will the recycling cetres cope when several million kids bikes turn up there rather than pay for registration? Will it apply when I am not on a road, when I am mountainbiking etc or for children? What about bike paths, canal paths and bridleways. BMX parks?
How many bikes will be sold when people have to register and pay for them to be kept in the garage? How many jobs in UK plc will that cost?
Will pedestrians particularly long distance hikers or people jogging on the road also have to be registered to walk on the road. What about mobility scooters after all these are actually powered vehicles often on pavements. What about horses will they need a number plate?
Have the police already cracked the issue of making sure all motor vehicles capable of causing serious injury and death in to nearly 200,000 victims a year are correctly registered, taxed and insured that they now have enough time to spend nicking kids on their way to school for riding the wrong bike. What if kids ride each other's bikes?
and she says she isn't anti-cycling? I say she damn well is. Just too cowardly to admit it.
Oh the irony of an anti EU/closet UKIP type campaigning against the heavy handed bureaucracy of Europe and also wanting more pointless bureaucracy at home....
I would suggest that before we even start thinking about new laws we start to enforce the ones that already exist a bit more thoroughly
The recent operation in London shows that there are significant percentages of road users breaking these laws on a regular basis, as they know they can usually get away with it. We're pretty much all guilty of it - with varying frequency - whether on foot, bikes or in cars. Show me someone who denies this and I'll show you a liar.
Maybe if we start to enforce these existing laws a bit more, the roads will stop being so dangerous and we can stop having bloody futile arguments like this so often.
Shes got some balls....
not necessary and detracts from the discussion!
@NSinclaireMEP should anyone wish to twitter and debate with N Sinclaire directly. But keep it rational and factual please.
Living in the West Midlands, and a regular London cycllist, I can safely say that Birmingham is not a particularly welcoming place to ride a bike. I imagine any kind of anti-bike rhetoric being a good vote-winner.
"Pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders have RIGHT OF ACCESS to the PUBLIC highways. Vehicles may only do so under LICENCE. One of the conditions of that licence is that they are identifiable so that infringement can be punished with withdrawal of it."
Exactly, something often forgotten by PR+attention seeking politicians and worth repeating.
Its also forgotten by judges in court as there are in excess of 10,000 drivers with +12 points on their licences. (The highest has 36 points, IIRC - just checked and its 32 currently).
She wants to make cyclists accountable yet she is an MEP who claim ££££££££'s in expenses and is accountable to no one.
She should bugger off and mind her own business.
She will be following the latest UKIP buffoon who blamed all the floods on gay marriages and God striking them down.
Look at it this way: Lets say they do force cyclist and their bikes be registered and such. I would finally mean that we can claim what is already rightfully ours - THE MIDDLE OF THE LANE!
If all it takes to put a number on my commuter or such... bring it on! But be certain, that every car that violates my given right (by law) will be followed up and noted for traffic violations.
Guess its one way to keep the police busy
Cyclists don't run red lights. Motorists don't red lights.
People run red lights.
There is an easy way to stop people like this getting their platform to spout generalist rubbish and suggesting their sensationalist solutions - educate and encourage the PEOPLE around you on bikes or in cars to stop going through red lights, and encourage these people to follow the rules of the road like the majority of other road using people out there.
While, I disagree generally with what she's actually said, I personally don't think the idea of making cyclists more accountable is a bad one. If we want to be taken seriously as road users and given equal respect then we should take equal responsibility, and making it easier to identify and punish irresponsible cyclists is part of that. Idiot cyclists and drivers are both a menace.
Cyclists who follow the rules of the road should have nothing to fear from being identifiable.
How you implement it sensibly is another matter entirely.....
I completely disagree. The provision of registration and licensing for motorists is because the motorized vehicle is so bloody dangerous. Bicycles just are not. It is of course possible to injure people seriously with them, but nothing to the extent that it is possible with cars. Most of the recent cases I can think of were ones in which the cyclist was identified. No need for a license plate then.
Taken to its logical conclusion you could argue that anyone doing anything which might cause damage should be easily identifiable. I do not want to live in a society like that.
The car is a dangerous, inappropriate mode of transport for dense, urban societies. It needs special regulation because of its unusual danger.
Cyclists deserve respect for the same reason that anyone deserve respect: as individuals we have done nothing wrong. If other road users are incapable of affording us, not just "respect", but actually following the laws regulating their own behaviour then they need to be removed.
I'm heartily sick of this "cyclists need respect" meme.
Sorry but there is so much wrong with this that I'm SMH.
>If we want to be taken seriously as road users and given equal respect then we should take equal responsibility
Its not a case of *if we want to be taken seriously*. We are legally entitled to. It is more a case of that motorised road users need to recognise this.
>then we should take equal responsibility, and making it easier to identify and punish irresponsible cyclists is part of that
No its not.
"Idiot cyclists and drivers are both a menace."
But not an equal one.
>Cyclists who follow the rules of the road should have nothing to fear from being identifiable.
This can only be described as the mad ramblings of a fascist.
Pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders have RIGHT OF ACCESS to the PUBLIC highways. Vehicles may only do so under LICENCE. One of the conditions of that licence is that they are identifiable so that infringement can be punished with withdrawal of it.
You cannot stop someone riding a bicycle and you certainly cannot deny them access to the public highways.
I think you can use that argument for every law that sneaks a bit more of your civil liberties.
However, to answer your specific point, what I'd fear is being forced to wear a Hi-viz jacket whenever I chose to ride a bike. More significantly, what I fear is the inevitable associated registration fee, which would need to be on a par with that of a driving licence or passport.
Whilst it is totally sensible to wear a hi-viz jacket, I don't really want to be forced to, and I certainly don't want my cycling to become more expensive.
As for taking responsibility, I actually think the vast majority of cycling enthuisiasts and regular cyclists (not just people that happen to ride a bike) are responsible. There are the minority of offenders yes, but its not as 'bad' as people say, or the common perception suspects.
Why? Well its simple. You are only every going to see the offenders. You will either not consciously register the majority doing as they should, or more than likely not see them at all as they will all be behind/ahead of you obeying the laws as you are. The only cyclists you will see are the ones getting ahead by breaking the rules. The perception is far worse than the reality.
Surely this applies to all road users not just cyclists.
Being a cyclist does not per say mean your views are right or that you have good knowledge of cycling issues. It may give you some insight into riding a bike but that will be limited to where you ride your bike.
Even if we disregard the sheer impracticability of this. It still demonstrates a total misunderstanding the risks of cycling city vs country. As the Times ( February 4 2012) writes;
As ever when politics and cycling meet there tends to be ill informed assertion and rarely is there much informed opinion.
She's not talking about the risk to cyclists though, she's talking about the risk she seems to think they pose to everyone else.
That this risk demonstrably doesn't really exist outside the mind of Daily Mail readers and UKIP MPs is presumably beside the point.
Insignificant individual. Deny airtime.
its a small minority that dont obey the highway code and theres just as many drivers (particularly when it comes to the treatment of cyclists) that dont obey it either! if not more! plus we're far less likely to kill people by doing something wrong!
Absolutely bat shit mental this one.
If somebody had told me ten years ago I'd be sending electronic messages about a Thatcher loving, transexual, lesbian, anti-Europe scouser who wanted me to be forced by law in to wearing a registration number on my person I'd have tried to have them sectioned.
Pages