in message <
[email protected]>, The
other view point, there is one you know...
('
[email protected]') wrote:
> On 28 May, 16:53, Simon Brooke <[email protected]> wrote:
>> in message <[email protected]>, The
>> other view point, there is one you know...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ('[email protected]') wrote:
>> >> All very scary for at least two reasons: (i) if assholes like that
>> >> are strongly of the opinion "actually, it's against the law, you
>> >> know",
>> >> then there will be some of them who will deliberately and recklessly
>> >> disregard cyclists; (ii) from times as a long distance runner on
>> >> country roads without paths, I began to remember how abruptly and
>> >> late some mortorists used to manoeuver around us; it was as if they
>> >> saw us only in the last ten metres. Moreover, there is the shock
>> >> expressed by
>> >> friends at the danger of it, when they hear that I cycle on the road.
>>
>> >> Best regards,
>>
>> > Any point in writing to the paper, MP council, about the state of the
>> > cycle path?
>>
>> > One of those nice little motorised sweepers could whizz along on a
>> > regular bases.
>>
>> I think that is very much the wrong answer. If the cycle paths were
>> regularly swept (at the council-tax payer's expense), the drivers would
>> say 'get off my road and onto that path I'm paying to have swept for
>> you'. Sweeping the path doesn't solve the problems of or for
>> pedestrians, cross paths, unsighted junctions and so on. You cannot
>> safely mix vehicles travelling at 40Km/h with toddlers toddling at
>> 2Km/h, and dog walkers who have not the least clue how to control their
>> dogs.
>>
>> What we need to do is educate drivers to be aware of the law - it's our
>> road, which they use only be licence, and only for as long as they
>> continue to behave themselves.
>>
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
>
> And thats the rub, you don't think it safe to use the cyle paths
>>You cannot safely mix vehicles
>> travelling at 40Km/h with toddlers toddling at 2Km/h,
>
> So you see how it is from a car drivers point of view...
Of course I do. I /am/ a car driver. As a car driver I know I share the
road with horses, agricultural vehicles, construction plant, and bicycles.
Of these, bicycles take up the least room, are fastest, and move in the
most predictable way. Furthermore, when I'm cycling on the road, the
fastest legal vehicles are doing four times my speed. If I were on a
footpath, I would be doing twenty times the speed of legitimate users of
that path. Surely even you can see there's a bit of a difference between
four times and twenty times.
> What license do you have to ride on the road?
You don't need a licence to ride a bicycle on the road, you have a legal
right to ride a bicycle on the road. You don't have a legal right to use a
motor vehicle on the road, which is why you have to apply for a licence.
> What test have you undertake to demonstrate you understand the rules
> of the road?
You don't have to take a test to ride a bicycle on the road, because you
have a legal right to do it. You don't have a legal right to use a motor
vehicle on the road, which is why you have to take a test.
> exactly...see who many motorists are a bit peeved with cyclists...
In that case they ought to go and sit their driving test again, or better
still turn in their driving licence and admit they aren't competent to
hold one.
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
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