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Live blog: Netherlands to ban cyclists from using phones while riding; 12 hours, 100 miles, 12 years old! LEJOG in a recumbent bathtub + more
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Fri, Sep 28, 2018 15:38
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Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn’t especially like cake.
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Latest Comments
Rendel Harris 25 minutes ago
@slc Stolen licences would be cancelled and replaced just as you do with stolen bankcards. We have a wealth of means of identification that could be employed, e.g. fingerprint recognition. Of course it wouldn't be foolproof but the more awkward and complex you make it for banned drivers to obtain the means of driving the less likely they are to bother.
slc 36 minutes ago
@grOg Or just know how to obtain borrowed/stolen driving license cards. Many years ago, when bank card theft was a cause celebre, a banking official was asked on UK TV if photo cards would help. He thought not, because scrutiny of photographs at tills is tricky.
Rendel Harris 38 minutes ago
@grOg Cycling does not "lead to bone loss", lack of any other type of weight-bearing exercise in conjunction leads to bone loss. Blaming cycling for osteoporosis is like blaming sausages for getting scurvy, it wasn't the sausages that gave you scurvy but the fact that you didn't eat any vegetables with them. If you drive everywhere instead of walking and spend all your time at home sitting in front of the TV that will significantly contribute to osteoporosis, does that mean that driving and watching TV leads to osteoporosis as well?
Rendel Harris 53 minutes ago
@grOg So if nothing else it would make it much more awkward and time consuming for the banned driver and probably more expensive as one can't imagine his "plenty of mates" being prepared to make constant trips the garage for him without recompense. He wouldn't be able to refill on the move therefore his ability to travel distances would be severely limited. Most petrol stations have a limit on the amount of petrol that can be purchased in jerry cans, further constraining his activities, and this could be lowered. Just as it's an offence knowingly to lend your car to someone who is banned it could be made an offence to procure petrol for a banned driver. So there's no "of course it wouldn't work" about it, with your attitude we shouldn't have any ban on selling alcohol, cigarettes or knives to children because if they are determined enough they will be able to obtain them anyway. Of course if someone is absolutely set on disobeying the law it's almost impossible to stop them but the more awkward you make it for them the less likely they are to try.
bathcycleguy 2 hours ago
Take a step back, and this looks like a rather silly episode of men with competing agendas and self-appointed positions slinging mud over a strip of green paint with some naff plastic wands. WalkRideBath- lead by a man who apparently knows best on women's safety Dave Dixon- overwhelmed with concerns about heritage in the same park where he had a massive concrete skate park built Bike Mayor/BCC- nice effort lads, but do you not have some women in your ranks who have a voice? And I don't remember the Bike Mayor vote... All bickering over a project lead by a woman who is also the local councillor. Surely in a representative democracy we should give a bit more credit to people who have stood for election, rather than the bunch of self-appointed 'representatives' above?
rbrtribble 7 hours ago
@wtjs "Nothing changes if we don't want it to. I love you", (oops a quote from GEN V). I didn't need to put that last bit in, but hey you write so passionately and so long and obviously have an emotional attraction to cycling. "If you don't have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true"
grOg 9 hours ago
@eburtthebike Most of the people cycling mikey confronts with his vigilante behaviour are using their phone while stationary in traffic; while illegal, conflating those offences with the murderous actions of this deviant person is patently ridiculous.
grOg 9 hours ago
@Rendel Harris Of course it wouldn't work; the sort of person that would be banned would have plenty of mates that would fill jerry cans for him so he could fuel his car at home.
grOg 9 hours ago
@BroomBroomBroom I cycle commuted for 30 years, with a number of close passes and a few crashes that gave me pause to consider the risks of cycling on public roads, but what made me give up was a diagnosis of osteoporosis because cycling was my exercise activity and because cycling is not weight bearing exercise, it leads to bone loss; I now mix walking and jogging to commute and have introduced a program of weight-lifting to try and reverse the osteoporosis.
chrisonabike 9 hours ago
More on the "e-bike scourge" from the beeb: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmn068ywr9e1o OTOH well, yeah - stuff that facilitates crime (and is cheaper / easier to get than cars / ICE motorbikes) is gonna be used by criminals. Plus: Well... I'm not happy either with the lack of interest in doing something about the mass sale of things which almost all aren't going to be used legally. But ... like guns? Don't think that's a helpful analogy there.
12 thoughts on “Live blog: Netherlands to ban cyclists from using phones while riding; 12 hours, 100 miles, 12 years old! LEJOG in a recumbent bathtub + more”
The Dutch already ban
The Dutch already ban cyclists from using headphones, why not ban motorists from having music and using phones, oh wait, they already do yet deaths increased again last year with 60+ deaths at junctions/crossways between cycling infra and roads. The Dutch are going backwards in their thinking if they believe this will do anything, a few anecdotal incidents and one death equals a ban. Why stop there, let’s ban pedestrians from walking and using a mobile phone, surely cycling is simply an extension of walking, well that’s what it’s supposed to be promoted as, a basic every day activity.
I bet more people on foot have died due to using mobile phones, oh and policing it, that will be hot compared to motorists no doubt, just like in Australia where helmetless or bell free cyclists are hauled over the coals for a fine the same as a speeding motorist.
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Not a bad shout if we have got to the point where consideration is being given to pavements being installed with warnings!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/03/glue-road-signs-floor-zombie-pedestrians-phones-government-adviser/
Well Hector Rees-Davies , no
Well Hector Rees-Davies , no point having a helmet on if you don’t wear it properly.
hirsute wrote:
At least it’s buckled on. People riding round with them undone never cease to bewilder me.
Enjoy your freedom, cute
Enjoy your freedom, cute Morning Commute infant, in a year or two when you’re cycling to school the fun police will on your case and demanding you wear a helmet and have a number plate.
BTBS, just because cars cause
BTBS, just because cars cause more carnage than bicycles doesn’t give cyclists licence to do any old daft shit they want. Cyclists on mobiles are dicks. If you use the road, pay attention.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
But it does justify calls for proportionality; for the enforcement and punishment to correspond to the risk.
davel wrote:
BTBS, just because cars cause more carnage than bicycles doesn’t give cyclists licence to do any old daft shit they want. Cyclists on mobiles are dicks. If you use the road, pay attention.
— davel But it does justify calls for proportionality; for the enforcement and punishment to correspond to the risk.— Yorkshire wallet
I’ve not seen anything yet in this change to suggest a lack of proportionality in either – but i’ve also not seen the associated guidance for the legislation.
davel wrote:
The risk is you ride one hand on bars, not paying attention and die? Remember that drunk woman who died, not in full control?
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
More people die because of head phone wearing phone using pedestrians than same on bikes, if we are to have a ban for one group then surely if the reasoning is to make that safer (for whom??) then we must apply that to all persons especially those that do the most harm to others and to themselves. people on bikes are the bottom of the list when it comes to harming oneself and others whilst doing their activity and indeed also whilst listening to music and/or using a phone or in some cases in the wilds of Kingston upon Hull, rolling a woodbine, whilst on the phone riding no handed and still avoding weverything.one.
More than any of the other groups cyclists are aware of their vulnerability (well the helmetless ones at least), thus even with these other ‘distractions’ they are still safer to themselves and others are without.
A ban is discriminatory, bias, illogical and without factual merit.
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Where do you get that from?
I’d suggest motorcyclists are also pretty aware of their vulnerability based on comments I have seen them make.
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Figures and statistics please.