France plans crackdown on cyclists breaking traffic laws

Cyclists can behave dangerously just like any other road user. The difference between motorists and cyclists is that the latter mostly only endanger themselves. But if the fines have reduced cyclist crashes, that is a good thing, isn't it?
Or is it? Have crashes reduced because of better behaviour or because more people are put off cycling at all? So far, we only have the short-term results in. What will the mid and long-term effect be? Will cycling decline? Will motorists become less tolerant of 'deviant' cyclist behaviour? (Remember that many cyclists are youths and children who may behave unpredictably and irresponsibly, which drivers must take into account.)
This video, Understanding cyclist disobedience in Amsterdam puts the other point of view. "Ultimately, a system of punishment decreases the likelihood of fostering a strong cycling culture."

Are there continental traffic laws we should know about? In Belgium cyclists can ride the 'wrong way' on one way streets and also appear to be exempt from stopping at red lights when turning right.

French cyclists have priority riding across the road where the cycle path crosses and also have priority on roundabouts, at least they ride as though they do.

They should also crack down on those people who put padlocks on the Pont des Arts. Look at the state of it!

Is the premise here not that the French are moving from a "you don't fine them often, but when you do you fine them hard" to a "fine little, fine often" concept?

Clearly if you have a (hypothetical) 1 in 10000 chance of being fined €90 in the "old" system versus a 1 in 100 chance of being fined €45 the dynamics of the "game" have changed - whilst the penalty is smaller, the chances of paying it are considerably higher.

Perhaps smaller fines will negate the 'can't pay won't' argument.

French driving has changed beyond recognition in the last decade. A combination of lots of unmarked cameras and huge fines has ended speeding.

One bad thing is that drivers have started givng less space to cyclists. Still better than here though.

It is hard to see how lower fines for cyclists will reduce cycling misdemeanours though!

All this talk of fines and the like I think is missing the point. The biggest punishment I think you can dole out to a commuting cyclist is delaying them while you lecture them!

Hold them up for long enough, often enough, and they'll soon decide it's better to lose half a minute than ten being lectured!

Please, dig it up. I'd be very interested to read it as it sounds as though it goes against every single law of probability.

There's an argument that traffic lights could be relaxed even for car drivers such as right turn on red (as in the USA) or lights switching to flashing amber off peak (as in Germany) or even just getting rid of a lot of them: 4 way stops (USA, Switzerland) or mini roundabouts.

Indeed I think the Dutch example is that making the road environment slightly less controlled improves road safety:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/controlled-chaos-european-ci...

rather than turning everyone into highway nazis.

I would've thought that cyclists jumping lights and riding in the wrong direction would increase the likelihood that they'd have an accident, and therefore steps to reduce bad road behaviour should be applauded.

But I've no doubt that the cyclists-can-do-no-wrong-it's-all-those-evil-motorists brigade will find reason to disagree.

> French cyclists are rarely fined for breaking the road rules.

If the police catch you they will fine you, don't worry about that. There are just not that many police around chasing either bad drivers or delinquent cyclists.

All the "crackdowns" probably do is reduce the number of people who bother cycling. With 400,000 bikes being nicked in France last year (up 25%) as if we don't have enough to worry about.