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When a car comes speeding past me at only arms length, I get a huge skrik eek.gif and natural reaction is to show my skrik which has turned into anger in some manner, be it arm waving or the middlefinger while said driver speeds of into the sunset. He probably got some enjoyment out of the whole incident, while other motorists might only see the middlefinger of cyclist and "see arrogant cyclist". So it goes around and around people throwing stones and nobody is prepared to change their wayscursing.gif thumbdown.gif . Unfortunately the cyclist comes off 2nd best in an accident with a car, truck, taxi etc. It is a war out there on the roadsunsure.png

The License idea is a good one for a variety of reasons (in particular the "right to be on the road" issue that motorists love to bring up so often) but it wont work to catch cyclists by "photo as they do the illegal deed" because the thing will be to small to be seen, no one will put a license big enough to be read in a photo or from a distance on their beloved chinese giant/pinarello....

 

A small decal type license that has to be placed somewhere on the frame where it can be seen without disassembling anything should do the trick. If you loose it (i.e. manage to wash it off...) then you have to buy another one. Each decal could have a specific serial number printed on at manufacture and comprise of 2 parts, one half goes on the frame and the other half the owner keeps for his records.

The License idea is a good one for a variety of reasons (in particular the "right to be on the road" issue that motorists love to bring up so often) but it wont work to catch cyclists by "photo as they do the illegal deed" because the thing will be to small to be seen, no one will put a license big enough to be read in a photo or from a distance on their beloved chinese giant/pinarello....

 

A small decal type license that has to be placed somewhere on the frame where it can be seen without disassembling anything should do the trick. If you loose it (i.e. manage to wash it off...) then you have to buy another one. Each decal could have a specific serial number printed on at manufacture and comprise of 2 parts, one half goes on the frame and the other half the owner keeps for his records.

To what end though? Just so we can say we have right to be on the road? We already have the right. Like you and I have said - Unless its big enough to be seen on camera there is no point - and nobody is going to put a huge plate on their bike.

Yeah kinda, but if there is a way in which cyclists and motorists could start sharing the roads in the safest way possible ill be happy to try anything at this stage

My 2c on this is that motorists and cyclist can never "share" the same road, EVER, they are just 2 different animals. We need proper cycle lanes for roadies. This is why I went with a MTB (besides the fact that I love dirt under my wheels), I stay on the pavements and ride at organised venues.

Training for the 94.7 was hectic on the road, together with my wife...it was not pleasant on the road at all. I will not be doing it again, I am strictly a MTB dude now, the risk is just to high on the road.

To what end though? Just so we can say we have right to be on the road? We already have the right. Like you and I have said - Unless its big enough to be seen on camera there is no point - and nobody is going to put a huge plate on their bike.

 

Well the main reason would be to shut up the motorists who claim cyclists dont pay to use the roads, besides that the funds it gathers could be used for something constructive like a cyclist type road accident fund, 3rd party insurance (in case you ride over some innocent pedestrian or dent some kugles BMW)...

Well the main reason would be to shut up the motorists who claim cyclists dont pay to use the roads, besides that the funds it gathers could be used for something constructive like a cyclist type road accident fund, 3rd party insurance (in case you ride over some innocent pedestrian or dent some kugles BMW)...

I hear what you are saying, but i don't think we should be shutting up motorists just because we have disks on our bikes but instead us cyclists should change our attitudes with how we use the road. That will have a far greater effect in the long run Edited by fabes

holy moly not this crap again.

 

Festive season death toll : 1279 as of 5 days ago, probably a hundred odd more by now - willing to bet 99% license plate bearing vehicles

Cyclist running red light death toll : 0

 

It is attitudes like this (me, me, me) that results in minority groups being marginalized. Two very common responses regarding this topic is 'I did not harm you' and 'how many cyclist got killed running red lights'. Well my friend you are very lucky indeed but it is NOT about YOU. It is about the perception created with other road users, it is about promoting this type of behavior among all road users, it is about maintaining credibility when it is needed. Everybody knows we are not talking about a back road at 5 am on a Sunday in Springbok. We are talking about the blatant disregard in front of other road users just because I can and because I won't get killed. Stop thinking about yourself, think about the response (that you help breed) from the driver who just killed your child on his way to school. Think about the fact that the next person that follows your lead, of making up rules based on how you feel, and makes a judgement error (not everybody is as clever as you) and kills somebody, or gets killed. Extract head from ass and THINK about others for a minute, even if it is just your own family.

Hey, this licensing thing sounds like a fantastic idea.

While we're at it, why not license other road users as well? Start with pedestrians. Then cattle, sheep, goats - oh, nearly forgot dogs.

That should provide a nice distraction from the real problem on our roads.*

* See Lucky Luke, Niner, etc above.

My 2c on this is that motorists and cyclist can never "share" the same road, EVER, they are just 2 different animals. We need proper cycle lanes for roadies. This is why I went with a MTB (besides the fact that I love dirt under my wheels), I stay on the pavements and ride at organised venues.

Training for the 94.7 was hectic on the road, together with my wife...it was not pleasant on the road at all. I will not be doing it again, I am strictly a MTB dude now, the risk is just to high on the road.

 

Cycle lanes (a lane painted onto the normal road surface) won't protect cylists from motorists and the cost of building totaly seperate lanes for cyclists / pedestrians would be way to high for most 1st world countries, never mind a country trying to make the change from [insert your opinion] to 1st world level.

 

Unfortunately the only way to get motorists to respect cyclists rights is to earn it.

 

Another way to achieve respect would be to simply force everyone through legislation to ride a bicycle for a month before they are allowed to renew there drivers license, once non cycling motorists see what its like to cycle on the roads they might improve their attitude towards cyclists, just imagine....

Hey, this licensing thing sounds like a fantastic idea.

While we're at it, why not license other road users as well? Start with pedestrians. Then cattle, sheep, goats - oh, nearly forgot dogs.

That should provide a nice distraction from the real problem on our roads.*

* See Lucky Luke, Niner, etc above.

FYI dog licenses used to exist a while back

Cycle lanes (a lane painted onto the normal road surface) won't protect cylists from motorists and the cost of building totaly seperate lanes for cyclists / pedestrians would be way to high for most 1st world countries, never mind a country trying to make the change from [insert your opinion] to 1st world level.

 

Unfortunately the only way to get motorists to respect cyclists rights is to earn it.

 

Another way to achieve respect would be to simply force everyone through legislation to ride a bicycle for a month before they are allowed to renew there drivers license, once non cycling motorists see what its like to cycle on the roads they might improve their attitude towards cyclists, just imagine....

Painting cycle lanes would at least show some segregation, but our road infrastructure is not set up for this, plus our gov is so slack most of our existing roads lines are gone (worn away)

 

Earn respect, I agree somewhat (groups taking up the road...happens in Benoni all the time!,etc does not help), but the way I see it the space on some of our roads is limited. I respect "certain" cyclists on the road, but at times it is really difficult to give a 1.5m gap, heck I'd like to give a 2m gap & I do when I can.

 

Ride a bicycle for a month, yeah right, have you seen some of our politicians!!

FYI dog licenses used to exist a while back

Yes, but that was not because they were using the roads.

 

A dog road licence is the important thing. That goes for cats, too.

 

Oops, I forgot: we could be licensing roller skates and roller blades. And prams - let's not forget prams also use the roads.

 

Once we've taken care of all those, the problems on our roads are bound to disappear. it's obvious.

Yes, but that was not because they were using the roads.

 

A dog road licence is the important thing. That goes for cats, too.

 

Oops, I forgot: we could be licensing roller skates and roller blades. And prams - let's not forget prams also use the roads.

 

Once we've taken care of all those, the problems on our roads are bound to disappear. it's obvious.

Are'nt goverment schools back today?

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