Bike brakes More rules?

[ron b]

The accident which raises this topic is unfortunate. Every week someone steps off the pavement in front of me. Some have head phones stuck in their ears others are receiving important info on their smart phones and not really paying attention. Then we have the problem of cyclists being hit and injured by motorists, probably more than one a year, these do not make the BBC news and front pages of main news papers.

[Ben]

Someone had suggested to me at work that bikes have something similar to an MOT and riders should be made to have something similar to a driving license. I can see their point and for me it wouldn't be a problem. But there would always be some form of resistance.

With this case though I think what's worse is that according to the judge the defendant has shown no remorse at all through the case.

[Nick H]

I think the fact that he didn't have a brake on the front wheel was taken as a factor in the judgement. It seems the interpretation of the law requiring an "efficient" braking system is taken as meaning each wheel should have a functional brake. Riding "inconsiderately" is forbidden in the Highway Code too, (there was CCTV footage available to the court).

There are already plenty of other existing rules and guidelines not enforced at the moment; I wouldn't be surprised if we see these being tightened up or clarified.

Lights:Compulsory after dark. (I'd love to see those cyclists riding around Cardiff, and elsewhere, with no lights at all after dark being dealt with - often riding across lanes and through lights too - and I don't want to be the motorist driving when the inevitable happens).

Who complies with the law in having reflectors on both sides of the pedals?

And the Highway Code recommends a bell (Rule 66), ( which I gather is obligatory in parts of Europe if riding there), and light/fluorescent clothing (Rule 59) - day or night.

In the event of an accident, it could be argued in court that a cyclist not compliant with the Highway Code has contributed to that accident.

I also imagine there's a whole raft of legislation due for electric bikes in due course too....but maybe we'll need to wait for Brexit first 

[ron b]

Pelican crossings, I assume the lady was not useing one  and was on the road not the pavement. Had the cyclist been on a TT bike going flat out, would he have had time to change hand position quick enough to stop. Now the Highway Code that's just laughable, Lights on when it's raining, parking facing on coming traffic and perhaps unique to Pencoed driving on pavements. A change in the law would take forever and who would police it. At least SWP are going to use car camera and I assume cycle cameras as possible evidence How many cyclist are killed or injured each year by motorists and pedestrians and they do not make the front page of the papers.

[wardhaugh]

I've noticed since this story was in the news that I have had quite a few incidents of 'unprovoked' abuse from drivers.

Cycling so many miles per week, and a lot of them on busy roads in Cardiff, I'm used to getting a regular diet of Anglo-Saxon, hand signalling and horn-sounding if I ride to the front of a traffic jam, or am perceived to be cycling too far out in the road (ie primary position) - things we are of course advised to do as cyclists, but that can 'provoke' a small number of drivers into exposing their ignorance or intolerance. But what I'm talking about here is completely out-of-the blue abuse while simply riding along in a way that could not be perceived by anyone as causing an obstruction or inconvenience.

I hope it's a short-lived phenomenon, but it probably won't be helped by the deliberately misleading reporting of Chris Hoy's article in GQ, which presents another prod for the hard-of-thinking to have a pop at cyclists. (As having a look at the original article will reveal, the majority commenting on it do not appear to have read it).

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/chris-hoy-on-what-to-wear-when-you-ride

I guess Kim Jong-un might knock this stuff off the front pages though 

[Teresa]

Thank you for posting the link to the whole Hoy article.  I read the papers and wondered why he would say the things he reportedly did.

There are plenty of lazy "news" writers about.

[Nick H]

An interview regarding cycling and the law here, may be of interest to some;

http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/3372/cycling-and-the-law-martin-porter-qc-interview

[Tom]

Thanks Nick-somewhat depressing reading.As a fellow lawyer(though much less exalted)I know that many recent aquittals have been what we lawyers call 'perverse'(legal code for bonkers!)

[ron b]

More words I'm afraid, the only time people read the HC is to pass their test. As for the recent front page head liner, would the same fuss been made if the deceased had been a single mother from a Welsh village and the cyclist was just a Banker? Before we finally leave the EU we should employ their cycling laws.