"Scotland on Sunday" want your opinion.

[Guest fatblokeonbike]

.

 

This appeared in the web site's Feedback today -

 

From Brian Brady, Westminster Editor, Scotland on Sunday.

 

I'm putting together a piece related to your area of expertise for our paper this week, and would welcome your views on the matter.

 

Basically, it appears that the Government is proposing to make it mandatory for cyclists to have bells on their bikes - and to use them. Transport minister Stephen Ladyman said, before the recess began last month, that the present regulations require them to be fitted at the point of sale - but not to be kept, or used after that. However, they now suggest that they will use the introduction of harmonised cycle construction standards across the EU in the Autumn to put forward plans to make bells mandatory.

 

I'd be very grateful for your expert opinion on the prospect, and the current situation - is there, for example, really problem with cyclists failing to use their bells? Would requiring them to use bells make a difference to the everyday lives of pedestrians and do you have any confidence that the proposed new situation could be enforced?

 

Please feel free to offer any additional thoughts. You can get me on 07710 703371, or by return of e-mail.

 

Thanks

 

Brian Brady

Note - he says "this week" so you don't have a lot of time to make your views known.

His e-mail address is -

[email protected]

but I've posted to him, telling his enquiry is with The Bunch and he should drop in to view your responses. Remember, as in so many other things to do with legislation, you will get only one shot at this.

Refresh yourself on the "arguments" at -

http://www.johnstone-wheelers.co.uk/bloody_cyclists.php

and then put your point of view here.

[Kenny MacDonald]

This is a blast from the past

When I used to go and watch my dad race ( when I was a toddler) he had to have a bell on his racing bike. That will spoil the aerodynamics of those TT specialists, didnt bother the oldtimers who were as aerodynamic as a brick.

The other enforced rule for a while was at junctions you had to touch the ground with one foot and that happened in my time racing. A policeman would stand at junction to ensure riders complied fully with the rules of the road, stopping any defaulters.Funny enough in TTs but in road racing it was a riot. Does anyone else recall these stupid rulings!!!!

[Guest fatblokeonbike]

The presence or absence of a bell will be very easy for the anti-cycling-at-all-costs pin-head brigade to note and from there it's an almost instantaneous move to "Officer? Officer?!! - this bloke isn't wearing a bell!"

Next comes the obligation to sport high-vis clothing at all times - how much of the body must be covered by this will be the subject of legislation, of course (but there will be no legislation about its cost) and it will be not too many months ere the Road Traffic Act contains the duty on cyclists to maintain a continuous high-pitched cry of "Unclean! Unclean".

Oh... you think it won't happen??? No-one really believed in the helmet biznizz, or even the every-new-bike-must-have-a-bell enforcement.

[Dougie Da Rosa]

If this proposed legislation is to be imposed,will they also make it law to have all motorists fit some kind of gadget that will whack the driver in the mouth when they drive too close to us cyclists and an in-car camera which records the amount of times they have close calls with us and when they exceed 1 incident they get fined?.Utter nonsense if you ask me,just more fiddling from an MP who probably is a member of the anti bike brigade.I can only see a bell being a benefit to pedestrians in parks as we should not be riding on pavements.

[Kenny MacDonald]

Article in local paper this week about cyclists on sustrans track

"Going too fast" - not having bells to warn pedestrians !!! and dog walkers and being a danger to local village people using track. Looks like we are now going to be forced off the track after being forced off the roads

Where will it end???

[Dougie Da Rosa]

Kenny they are probably next going to use the argument that we should all go and ride the fancy new racing track that gas been built at Bellahouston for us!!!,complete with kerbing. We will just ride the storm, because after all we are only enjoying a sport which is good for our general health and wellbeing.Not content with driving us off the roads they are trying to get us off the cycle tracks too.Unfortunately I think in a small way the negativity surrounding the Tour De france is allowing these people to jump on the bandwagon and kick us when were down.They are only looking for a new target seeing as the bigots which blight footie are diminishing a bit.

[howie]

Technically I can't see a difference between giving a pedestrian a wee shout or using a bell. I quite like my wee bell as it saves me shouting but that should be up to the individual.

 

How about enforcing that car drivers use their indicators when they turn?

Or use wing mirrors and check the blind spot before changing lanes?

 

Or dog walkers on cycle tracks stop occupying the whole of the track so that bikes can get past!

[David Christie]

Well I'm very reassured that the government are protecting society from this stealth cyclist menace. (Ladyman - is that his real name? Surely not). Sources advise that next on the list is to tackle the dog owner menace, compulsary equipment to include attached leads (fixed length, two foot maximum), muzzles and close fitting dog nappies. After that they move onto the big one, high viz marking and warning lights for slow moving child buggies. Eventually that will be replaced by the child buggie monorail system on all pavements and paths. Makes you proud to be a tax payer.

[Guest fatblokeonbike]

Yes, well, Ok, all right, all very reasonable, and all very aggrieved, and all very throwing-up-one's-hands-in-despair, and so on and so on... but unless you write to this cretin, *and* write to your MP, *and* write to your MSP, nothing will get done. (If you don't know their names and addresses, check your library, or the net - http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm ) Don't ignore the House of Lords - they often can inject a degree of non-party-political, common sense into legislation too-often nodded through from the lobby-fodder which spends its sleeping hours in the Commons.

 

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke.

So... if you want to have to be required to carry a bell on your bike AT ALL TIMES, and if you want the first question anybody asks in the event of an accident to be "Did the cyclist ring his/her bell?" (and if the answer is "No" then your goose is on its way to being well and truly cooked) then do nothing, and this legislation will reach the statute book.

If Westminster can insist on a smoking ban in pubs, they can push this through. If it does go though, I envisage it will be simply because no-one in that funny-shaped building beside the Thames will accept that there is a substantial lobby pointing out that the whole concept is risible.

[Guest fatblokeonbike]

From the BBC web site -

Tougher methods of teaching children about alcohol and tobacco are needed to combat the rise in consumption, a government advisory panel says.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) calls for measures such as raising duty on alcohol and increasing the legal smoking age from 16 to 18.

 

But a radical proposal for a new lower drink-drive limit for young adults was immediately ruled out by ministers.

 

The government has spent £70m on drugs education since 1997.

 

Having reviewed research from across the world, a committee of doctors and scientists on the ACMD concluded that the success of school-based schemes was "slight or non-existent" and could even be "counter-productive".

 

Among the measures it recommends are to ban alcohol advertising on TV and to prevent brewers sponsoring sports and music events.

 

REALITY CHECK

Smokers die 10 years younger than non-smokers, on average

The addiction is the cause of 29% of all UK cancer deaths

Cigarettes have killed about 6m people in the last 50 years

Alcohol misuse leads to up to 22,000 deaths a year

Drink plays a role in about third of domestic violence cases

The NHS spends up to £1.7bn a year on alcohol misuse cases

Sources: Cancer Research UK, Prime Minister's Strategy Unit

 

[snip]

 

The 100-page report included other recommendations such as:

 

a ban on alcohol advertising on TV and at most cinemas

 

a ban on brewers sponsoring sports and music events

 

raising excise duty on alcohol to combat Britain's growing binge-drinking culture and general alcohol abuse

 

raising the legal smoking age from 16 to 18

 

forcing shopkeepers to demand proof of age and greater use of under-age test purchases

 

stopping the use of drug testing and sniffer dogs in schools

The report said excess drinking caused the most widespread problems and suggested cutting the alcohol limit for drivers under 25 to reduce accidents.

 

QUOTE from

Stephen Ladyman

Transport Minister

 

The government has no plans to change the drink-drive blood alcohol limit from 80mg for young drivers or anyone else

UNQUOTE

 

 

 

So Ladyman, the Government's Transport Minister, thinks that a lower level of drink while driving is not necessarily likely to lead to more safety on the roads. He does, however, think that insisting that bikes carry a bell at all times *is*.

 

Who voted for this cretin?

 

Written to your MP and MSP yet?