Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:41 am  

The whole BW permit thing is just a red herring (have you ever caught one of those), something that you can download off the internet for free is pretty useless as a method of encouraging responsible shared use of a facility particularly when in recent years BW have been so keen to team up with Sustrans to ensure maintenance of their towpaths - which are in a shocking state of repair in many places and have obviously not had any maintenance carried out at all for decades (the towpath west of Skipton for instance is virtually impassable even on foot after a light shower and even well used areas just before Shipley are collapsing).

I doubt that BW have enough money to support themselves let alone a few signs to scatter around stating that you have to have a free piece of paper to cycle here.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:52 am  

http://news.sky.com/story/1127310/cycling-revolution-shifts-into-top-gear Its a good start, not the money, but the encouragement to shift attitudes when planning new roads and new road layouts, speed reduction schemes, road lane marking etc. Most of the money being allocated to Leeds for the next 12 months is unfortunately already spent, not on improvements but on resurfacing the routes that will be used in the city when Le Tour starts here next year, just in time for spectators to spray paint all over the nice new tarmac

http://news.sky.com/story/1127310/cycling-revolution-shifts-into-top-gear Its a good start, not the money, but the encouragement to shift attitudes when planning new roads and new road layouts, speed reduction schemes, road lane marking etc. Most of the money being allocated to Leeds for the next 12 months is unfortunately already spent, not on improvements but on resurfacing the routes that will be used in the city when Le Tour starts here next year, just in time for spectators to spray paint all over the nice new tarmac

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 6:32 am  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

Trebling it? Why, because the number 3 has magical powers?

No that would be 7, but I'm not keen on the number. Several. Just annoys me.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:57 am  

JerryChicken wrote: Your bike registration number would end up longer than your phone number, including the dialing code - there are more bikes than cars in the country and there are more cyclists than drivers. We don't need more bureaucracy, just a different approach. http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/ctc-cycling-statistics. This says that 43% own or have access to a bike ... which, if we assume the higher level (i.e. assuming that all of those own a bike, not just have access to one), is about 27 million bikes. http://racfoundation.wordpress.com/2013 ... -new-high/ This quotes the DVLA which says that 34.5 million vehicles are licensed for use on UK roads. I'd estimate the difficulty as being in the same general area as for cars. Registration (i.e. ability to identify) would cut down the number of complaints such as we have seen in this thread ... plus would surely cut down on the huge number of bicycle thefts?

JerryChicken wrote: Your bike registration number would end up longer than your phone number, including the dialing code - there are more bikes than cars in the country and there are more cyclists than drivers. We don't need more bureaucracy, just a different approach. http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/ctc-cycling-statistics. This says that 43% own or have access to a bike ... which, if we assume the higher level (i.e. assuming that all of those own a bike, not just have access to one), is about 27 million bikes. http://racfoundation.wordpress.com/2013 ... -new-high/ This quotes the DVLA which says that 34.5 million vehicles are licensed for use on UK roads. I'd estimate the difficulty as being in the same general area as for cars. Registration (i.e. ability to identify) would cut down the number of complaints such as we have seen in this thread ... plus would surely cut down on the huge number of bicycle thefts?

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:28 am  

El Barbudo wrote:

I'd estimate the difficulty as being in the same general area as for cars.

Registration (i.e. ability to identify) would cut down the number of complaints such as we have seen in this thread ... plus would surely cut down on the huge number of bicycle thefts?

Making cyclists register their bicycles is going to make Jerry Chicken's Dutch transformation even more unlikely. And it's already less likely to happen than getting British people to speak multiple languages.

Where's the reg no going to be on a bicycle that gives people an ability to identify the rider?

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:40 am  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

...Where's the reg no going to be on a bicycle that gives people an ability to identify the rider?

At the back, same place as on a motorbike, thereby identifying the bike and its owner.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:49 am  

El Barbudo wrote:

At the back, same place as on a motorbike, thereby identifying the bike and its owner.

For children too ?

Our neighbours seven year old kids' pink Barbie bike with stabilisers and streamers on the handlebar is going to need a registration plate on the back to identify them when they ride it on the pavement ?

Will you be on your mobile every time you see a Barbie bike being ridden in the pedestrian precinct in Hebden, demanding that the police send a van over from Halifax to nip this anti-social behaviour in the bud before it gets out of hand ?



I love bureaucracy, I used to love the dog licence priced at twelve and a half pence and costing more to administrate than the funds it raised and I loved its total ineffectiveness too - no actually I don't, issuing bike registration plates is one of the daftest ideas I've heard for a long time especially in light of the fact that they get stolen at an alarming rate and replaced every year or so (at least for kids) - you'll need funding the size of the RBS bail out to pay for it all and for what purpose - to stop a few petty car drivers seething at traffic lights as they watch another road user commit suicide by ignoring them ?

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:06 am  

El Barbudo wrote: At the back, same place as on a motorbike, thereby identifying the bike and its owner. http://www.roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/1039.html http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/372 ... c7fccc.jpg The second plate would be infinitely superior to the first plate, but it's still a huge PITA, would cost a fortune and be out of date in a few months. It's also a huge disincentive to actually get people onto bikes in the first place. I'd guess that the cost of registering motor vehicles probably costs more than most bicycles cost. People don't notice the costs because they are hidden within the thousands of pounds being paid for motorbikes and cars. They are going to notice having to pay 30% of the cost of a bicycle on paying to have a bike registered. Which is going to make it even more annoying when their bike gets nicked within the first few weeks of them taking up bicycling again. But of course, the registration scheme is going to stop people nicking bikes like it stops people nicking cars, isn't it?

El Barbudo wrote: At the back, same place as on a motorbike, thereby identifying the bike and its owner. http://www.roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/1039.html http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2641/372 ... c7fccc.jpg The second plate would be infinitely superior to the first plate, but it's still a huge PITA, would cost a fortune and be out of date in a few months. It's also a huge disincentive to actually get people onto bikes in the first place. I'd guess that the cost of registering motor vehicles probably costs more than most bicycles cost. People don't notice the costs because they are hidden within the thousands of pounds being paid for motorbikes and cars. They are going to notice having to pay 30% of the cost of a bicycle on paying to have a bike registered. Which is going to make it even more annoying when their bike gets nicked within the first few weeks of them taking up bicycling again. But of course, the registration scheme is going to stop people nicking bikes like it stops people nicking cars, isn't it?

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:46 am  

JerryChicken wrote:

For children too ?...

Good point.
I'd need think of some kind of exemption ... maybe by frame size.

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

...I'd guess that the cost of registering motor vehicles probably costs more than most bicycles cost...

£55 to first-register a car in the UK (seems a lot for a simple task).
Nonetheless, another good point, that's a large %age of a bike's cost.
Maybe register the rider instead but that wouldn't deter theft at all and messes up my "by frame size" possibilty.

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

...But of course, the registration scheme is going to stop people nicking bikes like it stops people nicking cars, isn't it?

I've thought of my own flaws in that part of my suggestion ... the plate is easily removeable and, unlike on a car, where the police can, for example, check that the plate belongs to that model of car, the model of bike isn't going to be as obvious.

OK, I give in.
I've been looking for ways that a pedestrian could reliably report incidents like the bashed wrist I got on the Albert Embankment when a cyclist overtook me (but not all of me) on the footpath (because he could) and the almost-far-worse collisions e.g. when I was crossing on the green man light at the Angel and was this far <-> from being mown down by a dickhead who came at speed straight through the queue of cars at the lights (because he could).

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:58 am  

Mintball wrote:

...... Like the over-dependence (still encouraged by some doctors) on starchy carbs? The two biggest consumers of breakfast cereals (sugared, salted cardboard, sometimes with extra sugar) are the US and UK – coincidence?

The starchy (complex) carbs are not the sugary (simple) ones.