Cyclists should do a theory test!

SeanW wrote: »

Cars can be identified, there is no need for a "no id" rule for cars because the registration plate provides id in all cases, save rare cases of illegal alteration.

Bikes do not carry registration plates, so any enforcement that is taken against a lawbreaking cyclist depends on stopping and identifying the cyclist. There's nothing unequal about suggesting that a lawbreaker that has registration and ususally also id should be treated differently to a lawbreaker that has neither.

That’s very interesting, that cars can be identified. You should explain that to the Garda who took my report when I was assaulted while cycling by a passenger in the car. The Garda told me that the car was not registered, probably an insurance write-off put back on the road illegally – but for whatever reason, the passenger who assaulted me couldn’t be trace. You should also explain it to the Garda who took my report of yummy-mummy driving her luxury SUV the wrong way down a one-way st. Because the Garda who took my report told me that as the car was registered to company who refused to give the name of the driver, he was unable to progress the matter.
But I guess you must know better than those Gardai and have some magic solution to unregistered cars.

SeanW wrote: »

So you never break red lights on your bicycle? Never ride on footpaths? Never disregard lane directions?

We’re kind-of going round in circles here. If you want an answer, the answer is ‘rarely’ to the above questions. Or to be more specific, ‘rarely, but never in a manner that endangers other road users or myself’.
So now it’s your turn – have you EVER broken a speed limit in your car? Or EVER driven with a brake light bulb out of action? Or EVER failed to indicate?
Because it would be fairly hypocritical of you to make a huge song and dance about cyclists going through red lights if you (like most other motorists) break the speed limit most days on most journeys. I look forward to your response.

SeanW wrote: »

I speak from experience as a Dublin (and formerly Cork) pedestrian. Cyclists have no regard for the law. Full stop.

Yet, I also speak from experience as a motorist on boards, that cyclists tend to have a level of pathological hatred of motorists that is virtually unparalelled throughout society. Indeed I seem to remember a number of them promoting GPS trackers for cars, combined the idea that there was no such thing as a speed limit that was too low, as a limit dramatically below safe operating limits for no other reason could be used as a "test" Doubt she/he felt the same way about cyclists and traffic lights.

So as a pedestrian I face aggression from cyclists every day on the street - and I'm not the only one as another thread points out - while as a motorist I face aggression from cyclists (virtually all of whose names include "bike" or "cycl") whose views of motorists are only marginally less hateful than those of Stalin towards Eastern European nationalists.

You need help, Sean. You should consider talking to a professional about this paranoia. You are ‘threatened’ by cyclists all the time, yet the statistics show that cyclists don’t kill anyone, and don’t injure people to the extent that shows up in statistics.
I’d love to know what is really behind your entirely irrational and unfounded hatred of cyclists, which you try (badly) to mask by making up some ‘hatred’ of motorists by cyclists. Did you get reported to the Gardai by a cyclist or what? Or was it that I embarrassed you when you posted about how motorists rigorously obey traffic lights and I pointed out the gaping holes in your arguement?

SeanW wrote: »

If it were ringfenced to fund routine cancer screening (just as one example), I'm sure it would indeed work.

I see – so as I suspected, it is just your personal opinion.

SeanW wrote: »

Oh look, a cyclist accusing me of being pedantic. I had to seriosly LOL when I read that. Cyclists are the first to offer "corrections" to someone using the technically inaccurate term "ROAD TAX" to describe taxes that motorists pay to put their cars on the road.

There you go again, treating cyclists as a homogenous group, with homogenous views and opinions.

SeanW wrote: »

No, it's entirely accurate, because there will always be road deaths associated with motor usage. Unless you do something ridiculous like have a blanket 5MPH speed limit, there will always be mistakes that result in collisions. There will always be a "death toll" that "they" cause. Just like there will always be a "death toll" from plane crashes and train wrecks and the like.

The question is in finding the right balance between limiting regulations and limiting serious/fatal accidents. The balance was too far in the former direction during most of the 20th century. But we are now in danger of going too far in the latter direction, no prizes for guessing who I blame for this.

No prizes necessary when it comes to your blaming, regardless of all the facts pointing in the very opposite direction. It is interesting to see your continual apologising for the death toll of 200+ people on the roads, while making a huge song and dance about the dangers of cyclists who don’t kill anyone. Do you not apply the same logic to your mythical threat from cyclists – that it is just inevitable that some nervous and paranoid people will feel threatened?

Shenshen wrote: »

TBF, I'm still astonished that traffic lessons in schools don't seem to exist here.

They do; http://www.dlrcoco.ie/aboutus/councildepartments/transportation/findit/newroadsafetysection/cyclists/cyclingtrainingscheme/

CramCycle wrote: »

So long as your happy, the rest of the road users be damned, attitude like that you must be a full time cyclist :rolleyes: :pac:

Well, maybe next time I'll let him weave out if front of me so I can mow him down.
That's obviously far more preferable than sounding your horn.

ThisRegard wrote: »

Fair enough, a clown car just isn't a clown car without the oversized comical horn being driven by a, well, a clown.

Oh dear, descended to personal abuse already?

My that was quick.

The Dark Side wrote: »

Oh dear, descended to personal abuse already?

My that was quick.

You're a bit touchy. Not at all, I just assumed you worked in a circus.

The Dark Side wrote: »

Well, maybe next time I'll let him weave out if front of me so I can mow him down.
That's obviously far more preferable than sounding your horn.

Here's another possible course of action when you come up behind a cyclist. Overtake (just like you would for any other road user) leaving the 1.5m passing space recommended by the RSA, or if you can't overtake safely, use the brake pedal to slow down, and wait until you can pass safely.

Most of the 99% of drivers who you rate yourself ahead of have grasped this basic idea. You'll get the hang of it with practice.

The Dark Side wrote: »

Oh dear, descended to personal abuse already?

My that was quick.

Interesting to see that the guy who sits in his ton of metal, blowing his horn at other road users for having the temerity to be blown a bit by a gust of wind is the first one to call 'personal abuse' when challenged. It reminds of the HR bloke who told me that they had never seen a bullying case that wasn't taken by a bully.

'Sped past' is more a description of our relative speeds than an indication I was driving too fast. He was cycling very slowly indeed and wobbling all over the lane. I though he may have been inebriated in fact, although it was very early in the morning - still pissed from the night before perhaps.

Glad we're all agreed that the use of the horn was appropriate and warranted though.

It's the small victories .

RainyDay wrote: »

You made a little mistake in not bolding one important bit from the ROTR, so I've bolded that important bit for you here;

Luckily I deemed it to be reasonably necessary.

RainyDay wrote: »

You made a little mistake in not bolding one important bit from the ROTR, so I've bolded that important bit for you here;

Of course, how remiss of me to miss out on such a minor detail - post corrected. :rolleyes:

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Sounds like the type of driver that would beep their horn for every perceived transgression (in their eyes). Some people love beeping the horn.

You seem to have formed a certain view based on very little evidence.
It's entirely appropriate to beep your horn at an errant cyclist when I deem it reasonably necessary. It's for his own good as well - he seemed oblivious to his own shortcomings but I imagine that I awoke him from his semi-stupor.