You can't deny though that if you're going to be on the road then you should at least have some form of insurance.

Having to have a license before you can go on the road would also help promote decent cycling.

People automatically assuming that cyclists can do no wrong are also hypocrites themselves, drivers and cyclists can be as equally bad as each other, but there are also many examples of both that are at the opposite end of the scale.
(anonymousreality tickled your fancy on, Thu 22 Sep 2011, 23:21, 2 replies)

Of course some cyclists can do wrong
But as you point out having a license doesn't exactly stop some drivers from doing wrong. I've made my own post on that particular topic.

The difference is cyclists aren't travelling in a metal box weighing upwards of a tonne. If they are involved in a collision - no matter whose fault it is - it will be them that won't get up again.

I don't think cycling should be licensed, but I do think road sense should be a mandatory part of the education system including tests on handling a bicycle safely. I do think cyclists should have insurance, and I as a cyclist do (as do most people I know who cycle regularly and this is through membership to organisations such as CTC).

I'm not a cyclist apologist - I'd like to see the end of red light jumping for example and think penalties for doing dangerous things like this should be much much stricter - but equally I do get fed up with the uninformed minority of people who see everything a cyclist does as "illegal." I've been told by people its illegal to ride on the road, its illegal not to ride at the speed limit, and its illegal not to ride so far to the left my rims scrape the side of the kerb. All bollocks of course.
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 7:17, closed)

"If they are involved in a collision - no matter whose fault it is - it will be them that won't get up again."
That is unless it's a pedestrian they hit and kill/maim, whilst jumping said lights or riding on the pavement.
(Kliper Filllets Getting noticed by twats on the internet since, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 8:25, closed)

True.
I'll let you have that exception!
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 9:36, closed)

Although
Deaths to other road users due to cyclists run at about 1-2 every year. So the risk to others is tiny (not sure about statistics for injury).

This isn't to say that rule-breaking and inconsiderate cyclists shouldn't be punished, of course they should. But let's not mix up our feeling of frustration and annoyance with an actual accurate perception of risk.
(flimflam_machine, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 11:47, closed)

statistics don't tell the whole story
How about all the accidents indirectly caused by cyclists acting like the road is there own personal cycle path
(andythepieman Is surfing the waves of indifference on, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 12:25, closed)

You mean...
...motorists swerving to avoid a cyclist and hitting somebody else? It's possible, but I've never heard of it actually happening. Like having a cuntish cyclist cut through pedestrians on a crossing, I suspect that the perceived risk is much higher than the actual risk.
(flimflam_machine, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 13:08, closed)

As opposed...
... to the motorists who run pedestrians and cyclists down because they were treating the road as their own personal motorway?

Oh wait, I forgot... Drivers never act like they own the road, only cyclists do that!
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Fri 23 Sep 2011, 14:09, closed)

I don't need to write a retort when this does it for me
ipayroadtax.com/licensed-to-cycle/licensed-to-cycle/
(Monchberter Can't go wrong with Doom, Sat 24 Sep 2011, 14:07, closed)