TEN COMMON QUESTIONS
[The following is from the UK but very applicable here as our number are near equivalent.]
Q1: Cycling’s dangerous, isn’t it?
Q2: Wouldn’t cycling be safer if you wear a helmet? Shouldn’t it be made compulsory?
Q3: Why can’t cyclists learn to ride safely and obey the law? (see also Q4 &5)
Q4: Why don’t cyclists obey red lights? (see Q3 for illegal cycling in general)
Q5 What are you going to do about cyclists riding on the pavement (sidewalk)? (see also Q3)
Q6: Why don’t cyclists have compulsory training, number plates and insurance to stop them riding dangerously and illegally, or so they can be made to pay up when they do?
Q7: Shouldn’t cyclists stop slowing down traffic and stick to where they belong – i.e. cycle paths/tracks off the road? Shouldn’t campaigners be asking for more on-road cycle lanes and off-road paths because they make cycling safer?
Q8: Cyclists don’t pay road tax, so you have no right to complain about the roads or drivers, or to take up road-space, do you?!
Q9: You’ll never get large numbers of people to cycle, will you?
Q10: Our roads would be safer if there were no cyclists, wouldn’t they?
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[The following are just the major points more detail is in the actual text.]
Q1: Cycling’s dangerous, isn’t it?
Health:
• The health benefits of cycling far outweigh its risks; not cycling is far more dangerous.
Q2: Wouldn’t cycling be safer if you wear a helmet? Shouldn’t it be made compulsory?
Helmets & Safety
• Cycle helmets won’t always prevent injury in all circumstances and people should be aware of their limitations
• It is the behaviour of drivers that causes most problems for cyclists on the roads, so tackling speed and poor driving standards would help cyclists a lot more than widespread helmet wearing
Q3: Why can’t cyclists learn to ride safely and obey the law? (see also Q4 &5)
Illegal cycling
• It is not the job of CTC to justify illegal cycling. However before deciding how to address the problem one needs to understand why it happens in the first place and promote effective means for tackling it
• Things that make it impossible (or prohibitively costly) for children and newcomers to take up cycling in the first place (e.g. registration, licences etc – see Q6 below) risk seriously undermining its health, environmental and other benefits.
Q4: Why don’t cyclists obey red lights? (see Q3 for illegal cycling in general) Red light jumping
• Jumping a red light on a bike is illegal and can be dangerous; jumping a red light using a motor vehicle is just as illegal but causes a lot more death and injury.
Q5 What are you going to do about cyclists riding on the pavement (sidewalk)? (see also Q3)
Pavement (sidewalk) cycling
• CTC does not condone law-breaking or misbehaviour by cyclists and believes that the road is usually the best place to cycle. However, we understand that lack of confidence and skills mean that some people feel ‘safer’ on the footway, particularly novices and children
• Figures show that cyclists very rarely cause injury to pedestrians on the pavement
• The proliferation of legal shared use (a lot of it patchy and unnecessary), only serves to confuse cyclists and pedestrians about the legalities of cycling on the pavement.
Q6: Why don’t cyclists have compulsory training, number plates and insurance to stop them riding dangerously and illegally, or so they can be made to pay up when they do?
Legislative control of cyclists
• CTC believes that good quality, readily available cycle training is the best way of ensuring that cyclists obey the law and ride safely. It should not be made compulsory because that would probably deter people from taking up cycling
• CTC thinks that registration and licencing schemes would be prohibitively costly, unenforceable, impossible to administer and also act as a deterrent
• We don’t see any reason for treating cyclists differently from pedestrians
• CTC promotes the take-up of third party insurance and provides it for its members
Q7: Shouldn’t cyclists stop slowing down traffic and stick to where they belong – i.e. cycle paths/tracks off the road? Shouldn’t campaigners be asking for more on-road cycle lanes and off-road paths because they make cycling safer?
Cycle paths/tracks v the road
• Cycle paths, especially those provided alongside a road, are not necessarily safer than the road and there is no obligation to use them
• Cycles are vehicles and, as such, have every right to use the road
• Cyclists don’t slow down traffic – they are traffic!
Cycle lanes (lanes painted on the road)
• These are often not wide enough to help; and sometimes they are so narrow that they cause more problems than they solve
Q8: Cyclists don’t pay road tax, so you have no right to complain about the roads or drivers, or to take up road-space, do you?!
Road tax
• Actually, most adult cyclists do pay for the roads, even though they impose minimal wear and tear on them!
• There are no calls for pedestrians to start paying “road tax”, so why require it of cyclists?
Q9: You’ll never get large numbers of people to cycle, will you?
Getting lots of people to cycle
• Yes we will! There is huge potential for increased cycle use in Britain. Cycling is fun, fast, flexible, free (well, almost), it keeps you fit, it avoids burning finite fuel reserves and is friendly to the local and global environment. It is good for the health of individuals and that of our communities and the environment. It’s the answer to lots of the problems we have today.
Q10: Our roads would be safer if there were no cyclists, wouldn’t they?
No cyclists = safer roads?
• Around 3000 people die from road traffic collisions in the UK every year – only about three of those involve only a cyclist and a pedestrian, the remainder all involve motor vehicles. The roads would be safer with no motor vehicles!
<a href="http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/Campaigns/0901_CTC_10-Common-Questions_web_brf.pdf">http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/Campaigns/0901_CTC_10-Common-Questions_web_brf.pdf</a>;