Cyclists

[Otrere]

Do you think it should be made law that cyclists wear helmets?

[henneth]

It'll make little difference. All the other rules of the road are broken by cyclists. They ride through red lights, the wrong way down one way streets, along pavements, pedestrianised areas, ride at night without lights, etc so make a law about wearing helmets and the obedient cyclist will follow the rule and the rest of them will not. Guess which will be the minority?

[simsfreq]

If there were better laws put in place to protect cyclists, like having to pass a test, (rules out ignorance) and laws which mean cars have to pay more attention to them (rules out innocent kids cycling to school being mown down by buses and impatient businesspeople) they wouldn't break the laws as much.

[gary baldy]

I am very much against helmets. It hasnt been conclusively proven that helmets will help in an accident. If an cyclist is involved in an accident serious enough to need head protection then unfortunately it is unlikely they will survive.
They also promote a false sense of security.
There is no evidence that since helmets have become popular that accident rates, injuries and fatalities have dropped.

[Dolly1308]

It is compulsory in Australia to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle .

[kazza12345]

and they should pay insurance/road tax

[woofgang]

I think that cyclists should take a road test, pay road fund licence and wear proper safety gear, also there should be some kind of bike MOT.

Round here we have two kinds. The first think that they are morally superior because they cycle and that this entitles them to ride on the pavements, ignore roundabouts, cycle 2 to 4 abreast, make obscene gestures at motorists and generally behave like...well insert your owm description.

The other kind are elderly men who ride around slower than they can walk with bits falling off their bikes, no lights and bulging carrier bags hanging off the handlebars and tied on to the rear carrier which burst at the least provocation sending their shopping all over the road.

If cyclists want to be treated fairly, they should start behaving fairly.

As for young cyclists, I don't know about where you live but round here it is NOT SAFE for children to be out on the roads on their own. Fortunately this is a lessening problem where I live as more parents realise how dangerous it is.

September used to be really frightening. I live between 3 secondary schools and for the first few weeks of the new term the roads used to be full of 11 y.o.s on bikes that they would grow into wearing uniform that they would grow into wobbling along the roads in a way that suggested that they might not live long enough to grow into either!!

rant over!

[Grunty]

It is probably unnecessary because few have anything between the ears that is worth protecting.

[newtron]

No. There are too many laws as is.

[Hermia]

I'm amazed how unconcerned with safety so many cyclists are. I drive down a big, fast and dangerous road every day. I constantly see cyclists with no helmets, no lights on their bike and carrier bags hanging off the handle. There is a very steep hill along the road and the carrier bag people inevitably wobble around as they cycle up the hill. This is a 50 MPH road and if someone wobbles into the path of the traffic they are gonna be squished. I even see people cycling along this road with small children sitting in the basket at the front. I worry about road safety and I'm in a car with airbags and safety features! Cyclists are very vulnerable and yet so many are oblivious! I used to cycle and was constantly terrified.

I don't know the stats on the safety of helmets so I can't comment on whether they should be made compulsary. I do think there should be laws (or existing laws should be enforced) about bikes having lights at night and bags being properly secured to the bike.

[nedflanders]

Garybaldy - My daughters friend fell off her bike and seriously hurt her face, she looked as if a dog had mauled her. If she hadnt had her helmet on, her temple would have cushioned the blow and she might have been killed. I think it is common sense to wear one as I have one myself as do my daughters. I do think that if you are on the public road you should have to wear one along with lights (if out at night). As for road tax - cyclist dont pollute (unless they have beans the night before).

[woofgang]

road fund licence is not about pollution ned, its about road use.

I forgot the other issue around here which is people who put their littlies in seats that sit over the back wheel. They can wave their arms around, inhale the fumes,...fall asleep (as | saw on a tv program, the sort that does clips of real people doing awful things, the child almost fell out it was in Holland I think) while I am at it, people come here on their hols and rent bikes, either haven't been on one for years and wobble off into the traffic and/ or rent them for the kids as well and tear off leaving littlie to follow and struggle (I have seen a child in tears, honest, struggling along with parents two or three cars ahead of them)

GRRRRRRR!

[gary baldy]

Ned- i appreciate your concerns but my contention is that that the speeds you fall off a bike in a minor accident (especially with kids just pottering about - not roadracing for example) is no worse than falling over whilst running or falling down some stairs and we arent made to wear a helmet to do this (yet).
Sadly the sort of accident that is going to kill a cyclist normally involves another vehicle and a helmet isnt going to save you.
What we need is a change in attitude in how we use our cars and how we respect other people who use our roads (something that is sadly lacking amongst other correspondents on this thread).
When a cyclists do something foolish on the road they are only endangering themselves but when a driver does something foolish the consequenses are much worse (as in North wales last week)

[nedflanders]

It used to be woofgang but now its an excuse for the government to do their "were trying to be eco friendly" thing and conform to Kyoto. Thats why the road fund is reduced depending on emmisions, as with company car tax etc. I am 1st and foremost a motorist but also a cyclist. I admit there are a lot of stupid cyclists out there but I think on ratio there are more dangerous drivers. I always give cyclists and in particular horses a very wide berth, there are a lot of idiots who dont. I think that it if it was law it would save lives, how many I dont know but if 1 live is saved it has to be worth it!

[newtron]

But how much is that one life worth? It costs money to enforce laws.

[flip-flop]

Shouldn't be a legal requirement, but as a cyclist I choose to wear one because whilst it is not a panacea, it does afford some protection, and when I am faced with many many useless bloody car drivers in the morning, I need some protection.

I have lost count of the number of times drivers have swerved into the cycle lane with no warning, stopped with no warning or (as happened only this morning) overtake me, swing into the cycle lane, stop, doors opened to dropped their little darlings off at school.

Remonstrate, and they look at you as though you've just infected them with bird flu.

So, yes perhaps calls for training, 'MOTS' and road fund licences is a good idea, but that being the case, I'd like to see a little education for car drivers to prepare them for the fact that other people are also entitled to use the roads.

[CT]

Some of these points are good but I'm with Flip-Flop here. The number of drivers who I see driving in the cycle lane is just wrong. Drivers very often just don't care when it comes to cyclists. Especially those in the 4x4's when it's snowed. Just because they are likely to have better grip doesn't mean they should go faster. Getting covered with slush is not my idea of fun. I also wish people would take a look in their wing mirror before performing a manoeuvre that takes them across a cycle lane.
On the idea of a test, I think that's just another money making opportunity. Perhaps a free cycle school to brush up on skills at a local school or something. Along the lines of a cycling proficiency from primary school.

[Drusilla]

I would make it law if only to cut costs to the NHS and protect children. My elder daughter fell off her bicycle recently when she was frightened by a boy racer who revved up and shot past us like a maniac. She landed on her arms, but fortunately, I insist on elbow pads so she was OK.
I'm surprised at the amount of anti cyclist comments on this question. For every pig ignorant cyclist, I would suggest there are one hundred motorists.

[AliFlump]

I'm neither a cyclist or a motorist im a pedestrian. On my morning and evening walk to and from work ( and dinner time) i see cyclists on the pavment. They come from behind me on the pavement, switch from the pavement to the road, and swerve out into the road without warning.Of course this is only a small minority i also see plenty of safe cyclists wearing their high vis jackets and indicating when turning.

I also see motorists racing down the road in rain, braking suddenly as if they havent seen the lollipop lady, parking dangerously because they cant quite get to the childs desk to drop them off and many other bad habits. As well as courteous drivers letting each other out and respect to the lollopop lady

I think a little bit of tolerance towards each others mode of transport and a bit of thought into our own wouldnt go amiss. Noones perfect.

As for the question in hand i think cyclists should wear helmets, they dont have to have a big accident to come off their bike. A pot hole might be enough to throw them off and a helmet could save a bad head injury

[campbellking]

O.K. I walk to work, ride a bike a few times a week and drive a car once a week. Everyday on my way to work I am constantly dodging people making illegal right turns in and out of the road next to mine. On Thursday night, I was lucky enough to see a police van make an illegal right turn out of a different road, and just avoided him as I walked across the road (he had neither blue light or siren going so I assume it wasn't an emergency). I get fed up seeing people driving with only one headlight or brakelight, and feeling unsafe as I try to cross zebra crossings. On my bike I nearly got wiped out by a woman who pulled out onto a roundabout in front of me..I can only assume she was distracted by the dog she had siting on her lap! I've been knocked off my bike by somebody opening a passenger door as I rode past.I get annoyed seeing people driving with children not restrained in car seats...saw another driver with a baby on his lap.

To get back to the original question, if drivers drove properly, and all cyclists obeyed the rules of the road, and the roads were properly maintained (I'm not sure cyclists should pay road tax, surely they cause very little wear and tear to roads) I don't think you would need them. As things stand, they're probably quite a sensible precaution.

[henneth]

Campbellking,

The building and maintaining of cycleways doesn't come cheap. A token cyclist road tax of �20 every year wouldn't go amiss. It could be combined with a licence so the police could pull them over and fine them whenever they ignore a red light, just like they would do with a motorist.