More on Cyclist Registration

More on the nutty push for bicycle registration as previously reported (and which was picked up by Chris) courtesy of a quick Google News search:

Guardian

Law-breaking cyclists

Former Labour minister Lord Howarth of Newport said: “Cyclists who habitually ride on the pavement, shoot red lights, ride the wrong way up one-way streets and ride without lights after dark assume they can get away with this illegal and antisocial behaviour because no-one is going to be able to identify them.” He added: “Cyclists should display on their clothing a personal registration number that is clearly readable.” Lord Davies of Oldham, for the government, replied: “We’ll look at it but we do have to keep the problem of law-breaking cyclists in perspective. On the whole, problems with road accidents lie elsewhere, not too much with cyclists.”

ITN

Lords push for cyclists’ registration

Cyclists should have to wear a personal registration number to identify those who ride dangerously, according to one peer.

Labour former minister Lord Howarth of Newport, who also previously served under Conservatives, raised the issue at Lords question time.

He said: “Cyclists who habitually ride on the pavement, shoot red lights, ride the wrong way up one-way streets and ride without lights after dark assume they can get away with this illegal and antisocial behaviour because no-one is going to be able to identify them.”

Lord Howarth added: “Cyclists should display on their clothing a personal registration number that is clearly readable and carry a registration card containing relevant information.”

Lord Davies of Oldham, for the Government, replied: “We’ll look at it but we do have to keep the problem of law-breaking cyclists in perspective. On the whole, problems with road accidents lie elsewhere, not too much with cyclists.”

Tory Lord Marlesford said: “Pedestrians may feel intimidated by cyclists but cyclists often feel intimidated by road vehicles. Cyclists ask for no more than what pedestrians rightly expect which is to have separate lanes from road vehicles.”

Lord Davies replied: “Cyclists do suffer disproportionately from accidents on the road because they are a vulnerable group of users. That does not excuse them riding on the pavement which is against the law.

“We want to make the roads safe for all users which requires consideration by all road users for others.”

Comments

3 responses to “More on Cyclist Registration”

  1. alecm
    Hansard covers the cycle debate :-

    http tinyurl.com/e8rru

  2. alecm
    re: Hansard covers the cycle debate :-

    Lord Winston: My Lords, is not one of the problems the fact that many local authorities supply totally inadequate facilities for cyclists? In my borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, I have found it virtually impossible to cycle without infringing the law, short of repeatedly dismounting from the bicycle.

    — I presume this is Robert Winston, TV Personality and all-round Brainbox ?

  3. acb
    re: More on Cyclist Registration

    Of course, then they will have to rectify the problem of pedestrians getting away with not wearing clearly visible personal registration numbers. Perhaps an application for compulsory RFID-enabled ID cards?

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