Number plates on bikes? Really?

[Mike Muz]

Hello fellow retro peeps,

I saw on the local - South East - news yesterday evening that our Sussex Cheif Copper is proposing that all bikes should have number plates so that plod can nick cyclists who break the law.
I personally think surely they're not going to be outrun, driving around in breathed on BMW cars/X5s.

What are your thoughts chaps and chapesses ?

Mike

 

[mattr]

Just shows how much of a joke the role of PCC actually is. Filled by failed politicians.

And the thick.

Sometimes at the same time.

 

[magas]

Hi Mike,

here in Austria that theme pops up every year, when the press has nothing serious to report and they want to increase the sales of their printed matters / newspapers. The enemy of every cardriver and pedestrian: the bike rider - ignoring red light and stop signs - riding on the street instead of the parallel bike path, aso. And than some politican who wants to speed up his career, that it might be a good idea that bikes should have number plates, so they are as par as cars and can be identified by their plates.

All that discussions ends up in the nirvana, as nobody is willing to handle the enormous extra effort for our comunities / administrative offices to have all bikes registred, insured, aso. Also how large should a plate be, where to mount (front and rear or rear only) ? What if you have more than 1 bike, can you switch plates between all your bikes. What about kids bikes ? Can I ride in the UK with an "Austrian bike" which f.e. does not have a plate / registration while in the UK plates are obligatory ? aso.,.......

And if you start discussing about plates for bikes, why not plates for pedestrians too ? :mrgreen: They also cross the streets when the lights are red, some of them even are drunk when the use the pavement. Where to start and where it should end ?

All our efforts should be spent for a peacefull coexsistence of bikes, cars and pedestrians and not seperating them.

 

[hamster]

Silly stuff to attract headlines. It would be nice if police patrolled the roads at all.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

I'm not sexist , however I do wonder if a male PCC would have come up with the same ridiculous idea.

Even more ridiculous was the response to the question 'what do you think of cyclists?' to passing motorists. A few examples for you;

"No, they get in my way" I'd get even more in your way if I was in a fcuking car wouldn't I ?! :evil:

"No, they don't pay road tax" Pedestrians don't pay bloody pavement tax either, and guess what? They don't wear out the pavements either. (Even the obese ones) Halfwits !

"No, they don't have insurance" Said by a driver looking back at the camera as he drove off, p--ck!
Actually I do, to some extent, as a member of British Cycling. Although I don't actually know to what level as, thankfully, I've never had to make a claim.

Like most of us - I hope - it pi--es me off that other cyclists ride straight through red lights and don't use lights in the dark. However there aren't enough Police to nick all the drivers on mobile phones that I see ad nauseum ( :shock: wow! I've used some latin! ) which , in context, is far more dangerous when in charge of a 1 tonne - at least - vehicle.
Having said that, if it's good enough for Sussex Ambulance drivers :shock: , yes I reallly have seen that, I guess it can't really be that dangerous.
Rant over. Feel better now :roll:
Maybe I should have just banged one out! :facepalm:

Mike

 

[Neil]

Re: Re:

I'm not sexist , however I do wonder if a male PCC would have come up with the same ridiculous idea.

Even more ridiculous was the response to the question 'what do you think of cyclists?' to passing motorists. A few examples for you;

"No, they get in my way" I'd get even more in your way if I was in a fcuking car wouldn't I ?! :evil:

"No, they don't pay road tax" Pedestrians don't pay bloody pavement tax either, and guess what? They don't wear out the pavements either. (Even the obese ones) Halfwits !

"No, they don't have insurance" Said by a driver looking back at the camera as he drove off, p--ck!
Actually I do, to some extent, as a member of British Cycling. Although I don't actually know to what level as, thankfully, I've never had to make a claim.

Like most of us - I hope - it pi--es me off that other cyclists ride straight through red lights and don't use lights in the dark. However there aren't enough Police to nick all the drivers on mobile phones that I see ad nauseum ( :shock: wow! I've used some latin! ) which , in context, is far more dangerous when in charge of a 1 tonne - at least - vehicle.
Having said that, if it's good enough for Sussex Ambulance drivers :shock: , yes I reallly have seen that, I guess it can't really be that dangerous.
Rant over. Feel better now :roll:
Maybe I should have just banged one out! :facepalm:

Mike

I think that's the thing, though. Everyone, at heart, is a raving hypocrite - it's the most common foible.

Whether it's increased ignorance, or increased marginalisation, or it's just hubris - but there's an increasing amount of the public that I see making comments about tax, cyclists being in the way, all those cliched arguments. And here's the thing - segregation and cycle paths have bolstered or emboldened that perpective, that was always dying to come out, in so many. It gives them teeth to be able to say "You shouldn't be here, in MY way, but over there..."

Separate them, and you'll always encourage this, when there was no cycle paths, cyclists and drivers had to cohabit, I don't remember anything like the same remonstrations by drivers about "cyclists shouldn't bloody be on the road..." going back some decades (that's not to say nobody ever said it, just that it wasn't anything like as common).

And we all know, as I suspect most of us are drivers too, that as drivers we don't occupy any moral high ground, nor break the law any less, and actually present much more risk to other road users (like cyclists, and pedestrians).

I HATE cycling on busy roads, now. And in the 80s and 90s, I did it all the time. These days, though, and it seems you can't even get half a block, before somebody is trying to squeeze you (which if you're female and nubile, and want a grope - by all means, form a queue...), or do a punishment pass (never really got the whole S&M thing, pain is to be endured when you're at the dentist).

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Hey, don't get me going on cycle paths, or some green paint on the road that motorists are meant to stay off!
Even if they are " only going to be parked for a minute" whist dropping off Felicity to the Feng Shui lessons.

 

[gxaustin]

Cycle paths; I remember before all cars had laminated screens numpty drivers were in the habit of knocking out the glass of broken screens on the nearest cycle track. Then car drivers would all honk when you diverted onto the road to avoid punctures. In those days I found that truck and bus drivers were the most reasonable whilst car drivers were still saying "if you can't afford a car you deserve to die" - I paraphrase a bit.

 

[Mike Muz]

Cycle paths; I remember before all cars had laminated screens numpty drivers were in the habit of knocking out the glass of broken screens on the nearest cycle track. Then car drivers would all honk when you diverted onto the road to avoid punctures. In those days I found that truck and bus drivers were the most reasonable whilst car drivers were still saying "if you can't afford a car you deserve to die" - I paraphrase a bit.

That does it!

I'm selling all my bikes,for £50 each. Any takers? Hope to scrape enough funds to purchase an Austin Allegro, a Vanden Plas if I can dig a little deeper!

 

[gxaustin]

Well I can't fault your choice of car make and I could do with a better bike.............