Changes in the Law to make cycling safer for all

Buellguy

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

A fixed penalty fine of a grand for all those who park their car in the cycle lanes.
What are they cycles supposed to do? This really gets on my nerves.No wonder cycles have to ride on the pavements.

As people keep reminding everyone, you do not have to use cycle lanes, you can use the road (oh BTW I do cycle, as well as drive and ride a motorbike and walk). You do NOT have to ride on the FOOTpath.

I do think that cycle lanes should be removed (apart from the ones I saw in Lincoln, where they were away from the road, seperate from a footpath (or at least in places where the footpath/cycle lane was about 12 ft wide)). It might stop the hassle of the whole 'well you are a cyclist get in the cycle lane' end of the day we are ALL road users, so use the road with due deference to ALL that use it.

To red light running cyclists - DON'T do it
To car drivers - cyclists are road users give em respect

As someone who rides a motorbike I use the ethos that EVERYONE is out to kill me and ride accordingly

Dave_C_2

Buellguy wrote: »

With adult cyclists, police found the driver solely responsible in about 60%-75% of all cases, and riders solely at fault 17%-25% of the time
As drivers cause the majority of accidents, maybe legislation aimed at drivers would be more effective.

BUT cyclists are the sole cause 17-25% of the time, maybe legeslation for BOTH

Yes you are quite right, but only if the legislation is in proportion. How this is decided unfortunately is political. With the power of the motoring lobby it isn't going to happen soon.:(

Oh Sorry, you missed this bit out ...

I introduced the Guardian article and linked to it, so I think it's fair that I have first dibs on selective quoting

Dave

Norman_Castle

Do the majority of motorists speed?

Yes.......

System

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Yes.......

Evidence ?

Idiophreak

!!!!!! wrote: »

Evidence ?

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/roads-and-traffic/95-of-uk-motorists-speed-survey-20111004-1l69t.html

Not the least biassed of respondents...but I don't think that will skew things that severely...

System

OK 95% of Autocar readers speed who responded to the survey
With an audited distribution of 43000 that means that 41000 speed.

Some analyst has now extrapolated those figures to say that 95% of the UK motorists speed, totally ignoring the demographics of the typical Autocar reader to adjust the figures on upscaling

That skews things very badly.

Marco_Panettone

!!!!!! wrote: »

OK 95% of Autocar readers speed who responded to the survey
With an audited distribution of 43000 that means that 41000 speed.

Some analyst has now extrapolated those figures to say that 95% of the UK motorists speed, totally ignoring the demographics of the typical Autocar reader to adjust the figures on upscaling

That skews things very badly.

That's journalism for you. It's difficult, expensive and time-consuming to ask a large number of people anything, and even then you have to assume they're telling the truth.

Other ways of finding the information are wildly impractical and would still invlove extrapolation to a wider population - that's how statistics work.

System

Yes but to be meaningful the survey must cover the demographics of the group that you are attempting to get a result for. Asking petrolheads whether they speed is like asking the inmates of a prison whether they offend. It is not a balanced, or anywher near it, survey

Idiophreak

!!!!!! wrote: »

Yes but to be meaningful the survey must cover the demographics of the group that you are attempting to get a result for. Asking petrolheads whether they speed is like asking the inmates of a prison whether they offend. It is not a balanced, or anywher near it, survey

It's not perfect, but as I said, I don't see it as being that far off. Sorry, but if you're going to ask people whether they speed, you're going to have to ask people who actually drive, otherwise there's not much point.

Autocar isn't Max Power, it's not aimed at performance cars or boy racers, it's read by a range of motorists...including, driving instructors, advanced drivers, oldies and a bunch of other people who "should know better".

Anyway, where's your more "balanced" study to disprove their results?

(FWIW, the government also publish a study on this:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-flow-vehicle-speeds-in-great-britain-2011

I doubt you trust them either, but it's fairly clear from the stats that most drivers do, indeed, speed at one time or another.

Norman_Castle

!!!!!! wrote: »

Evidence ?

Hands up motorists who always stay below a 30 mph limit.