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I know I'm not renowned for my sympathy for motorists by some fellow Back Roomers when it comes to road safety but I've just witnessed something which made me very annoyed. We live on a steep hill bisected by a main road. Every so often local idiots see fit to ride their pushbikes as fast as they can down the hill and straight cross the main road. A variant of "chicken" I'd guess you'd call it. Anyway, about half an a hour ago 3-4 idiots tried it again and one of them missed DEATH very narrowly indeed. A guy driving a brand new Elise along the main road was forced to slam his brakes on to avoid one of these "Deathwish" kids. Quite understandably, he jumped out of the car and exchanged a few choice adjectives with the stupid boy but then jumped into his car, slammed the door in frustration and smashed the side window in the process!! Now, he loses out through no fault of his own. I think it's about time cyclists were forced to have insurance.
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you know, either Orpington has more awful drivers /car drivers /school runs /etc /whatever /stuff /speeders than any other place in the world or you need to back off on the sensitivity a bit before you drive yourself into an early grave with the outrageousness of it all.
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Or it could be that this stuff is happening right where I live and spend about 90% of my time Mark. If I spent my life driving up/down the motorway or sitting in traffic jams I'd comment on them. Yes, seeing a kid and possibly an innocent car driver just miss death right outside your home isn't nice but it is worthy of comment IMO especially as there is a growing need for some controls/sanctions for bike riders IMO. Rest assured I didn't lie in bed thinking about it all night though (bet the driver did) and am not intending to worry myself into an early grave about this or anything else.
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V,
you\'re not masquerading as snowy1947 are you ;o)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=23649
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V,
similar story years back of these lads who used to jump into the middle of the road to stick the "V" up at drivers to scare them. Done at night, and they wore masks. Happened to us on more than one occasion. The twist is, they did it one night but got hit by someone who stopped, but only after ploughing through one the lads. You may find that harsh but the lad was alright...after hospital and we haven't seen him do it again. Tough lesson but at least he isn't dead.
Cheers
Adam
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As a regular cyclist as well as a motorist (and pedestrian, of course), I condemn stupid behaviour by cyclists and pedestrians just as much as by drivers. I don't know if cyclists need insurance any more than pedestrians - after all stepping off the pavement in front of a car could cause a bad accident, even one not involving the pedestrian if that car swerves or skids to avoid them.
I guess there will always be idiots on the roads, as opposed to the rest of us who just make the very occasional silly mistake, usually with no consequences.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Totally agree with you about stupidity SS (after all cyclists, pedestrians and motorists are all human beings) however cyclists (in theory anyway) should be far more likely to come into contact with cars since they should be riding on the roads not the pavments. This is why I feel they need insurance more. Having said that, I can't think of an easy way to organise or police it though!
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I'm surprised it's taken the BackRoom moderators so long to work out what my initials 'VM' really stand for. Well done DD :)
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Oh no, we worked out what it stood for a long time ago, this is just another alternative.
8-)
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I agree that cyclists should have insurance, I recently saw one bombing along a pavement he wasn't even looking where he was going and was stood up on the pedals and looking down for more speed, it was one with business premises right up to the pavement, and a Ford Focus was slowly edhing out of his blind entrance, and the cyclist smashed ito the wing and flew over the bonnet and landed on the floor the other side, and the bike bounced off. Poor Focus man had terrible damage, all for an uninsured moron.
In Portugal, the cycles all have number plates on the crossbar, maybe we need that here, trouble is we don't have any infrastructure for enforcement any longer.
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Also, many bike riders are children (just like the lads in last night's incident) so insurance, policing and enforcement are going to be more complicated. Perhaps a case for putting a one-off insurance levy on every bike sold and a small surcharge on stuff like tyres. Can't imagine it'd need to be more than a few quid.
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Lets be clear here, the kids may have been stupid but the guy smashed his own window because he couldn't control his temper - whatever was the situation he wouldn't have been able to claim from someone else's insurance for that. I doubt, given that it would be seen as a deliberate act, that he would be able to claim from any insurance of his own, either.
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Memorable incident from the '60s when I was a teenager.
Middle aged gent on a bike passing a parked car. With perfect timing the driver threw open his door - cyclist crashes into the door and falls off. By the time the gent had picked himself and his bike up the car driver had closed his door and was sat there as though nothing had happened. Unfortunately for him, his window was wound down, cyclist throws well aimed punch, gets back on his bike and cycles off as though nothing had happened. Not a word passed between them. I can still see the confused look on the face of the motorist - and the trickle of blood from his nose. Bring back the '60s
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Maybe the small one-off surcharge on new bikes, plus one on tyres towards insurance is a good idea.
As a child, I was not allowed to ride my bike on roads until I had passed my cycling proficiency test, which I did when I was 11. I think there is a strong case for a minimum age limit for cycling on public highways unless accompanied by an adult. Maybe that should be 8.
After all, it is technically illegal to leave a child alone in the house at that age, but it's perfectly legal to let them ride a bike along a main road, which is much more risky.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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A year or so ago I walked out of our office to be met by a cyclist haring along the pavement.
He slammed his brakes on and went over the handlebars.
I said "You didn't mean to do that, did you" and left him to sort himself out.
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BrianW LOL. I had a similar experience last year in London with some lycra-clad loonie in one of those silly helmets that look like a poached egg. In a sheer self-defence reaction, it was honestly instinctive, I never even thought about it, I gave him a shove to protect myself and he ended up in a tangled heap.
I removed myself from the area diplomatically.
Never mind motorbikes. Cretins on pushbikes are far worse. We've got hordes of 'em where I live. You're out for nice ride on a Sunday morning to get the cool air before the day heats up and you're stuck behind forty multi-colored bottoms all straining to get up a hill. In the city they appear from nowhere with no lights on the wrong side of the street.....
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Growler,
Forty bottoms speak louder than one.
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Put a surcharge on all things biking to cover insurance?
Thats right, all cars on the road just now are on DVLA's computer etc etc but a huge amount of them are still not insured.
So how exactly are we going to implement this with bikes if we can't do it with cars?
VM, I know where you are coming from but I am afraid its just not a goer!
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