lord winston calls for cycling licences to improve road safety

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fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Oh dear.
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
I think also:
  • People who don't cycle tend to conflate different groups of cyclists. Those that travel at 20mph+ are not suited to cycle lanes for example.
  • Anyone over 35 didn't really have anything about cyclists in their driving test so they apply "their" rules to the road.
  • Cycling infrastructure needs to stop being quite so piss-poor. Painting a picture of a bike on a road is fairly pointless. Delineating a section of road for bikes is downright dangerous if it is not wide enough for bikes to safely travel down
So the "lycra" brigade don't upset pedestrians as they are on the road. The cycle lane cyclists rarely upset pedestrians as they are going much slower.
I do think more thought needs to be given to red lights and cycles, and there does need to be more prosecution of stupidly dangerous cycling BUT - it's usually the stupidly dangerous cyclist who is injured, not the bus / lorry / car.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
People who don't cycle tend to conflate different groups of cyclists. Those that travel at 20mph+ are not suited to cycle lanes for example.
I'd agree with much of that but I suggest that the above should probably be "UK cycle lanes" because there's no real reason why they can't be suitable for fast cycling.

The UK has had a guidance design speed of 20mph for years which has rarely been achieved because local highways departments degraded that to 15, 12 or 10mph because it was only non-binding guidance, and the UK government once tried to issue a code of conduct saying that cyclists over 18mph shouldn't use cycleways. Compare and contrast our sorry state to neighbouring countries that are now building various sorts of Express Cycleways (Fietssnelweg/Radschnellweg/Réseau Express Vélo).
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
Phaeton - before the written test came in 1996 I doubt anyone got asked a single question about bikes. I don't remember any discussion of cycles at all.
I think now that there is a theory test there is at least some coverage of cycles.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Is this true?
Generally, yes. I passed my driving test about 20 years ago and don't remember anything much about cycling in it. The roads used did not have much cycling on and I didn't need to pass the hazard perception video test (it was only introduced in 2002). There may have been one cycling-related question in the theory test but I doubt it. Friends who passed before me (before the 1996 introduction of the theory test) were surprised there was nothing about cyclists (they mostly took the test in MK, which has some cycling). So with the low cycling levels, there was probably 30ish years of UK drivers passing tests while not needing to do much about cyclists and lots of people taking their tests around ages 17-20, which would be a lot of drivers who are now aged about 37-75:
cycling-statistics-11a.png

source
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
Lord Winston has form for this kind of thing.

Here's a useful online link to various historical Highway Codes.
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
It wasn't so much as the fact it was not included in the test, it's the comment that anyone over 35 had total disregard for cyclists BECAUSE it wasn't included in the test. Which I personally think is a load of excrement, the test has nothing to do with attitudes, speed limits have always been included, yet under 35's still speed, mobile phones have been included for a while yet under 35's are the worst culprits (no figures, just observation)
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
Is this true?

Phaeton - before the written test came in 1996 I doubt anyone got asked a single question about bikes. I don't remember any discussion of cycles at all.
I think now that there is a theory test there is at least some coverage of cycles.
I'm over 35, but I was over 30 when I passed my driving test about ten years ago. I don't recall there being anything at all about cyclists.
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
I'm over 35, but I was over 30 when I passed my driving test about ten years ago. I don't recall there being anything at all about cyclists.
So do you ignore the hiway code & apply your own rules?
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
It wasn't so much as the fact it was not included in the test, it's the comment that anyone over 35 had total disregard for cyclists BECAUSE it wasn't included in the test.
I think that's only one interpretation of what was quoted.

Edit: and it probably should be "most" not "they". I strongly suspect if you quiz pre-theory-test licensees on the cycling bits of the HC, most will get stuff wrong.
 
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