Cycling Licence Plates

You just know we’re entering silly season when you read stories like this. Ken Livingstone apparently believes that getting cyclists to fit licence plates so that they could be fined for infractions like jumping red lights or cycling on the pavement would be a good idea.
I suspect that as this comment came during a phone-in on LBC, it was off the cuff rather than a fully formed idea. It’s particularly laughable that he’s come up with this at a time when Transport For London is running a heavyweight campaign promoting the virtues of cycling.
As many of the correspondents on this page on The Times’ website point out, there are far more dangerous pursuits that we should be spending money on stopping. How many motorists jump redlights – where they’re much likelier to cause serious damage? And how many people illegally hold mobile phones in their hands whilst driving? Who do you think is going to cause the most damage in a collision – a person on a piece of lightweight steel or aluminium, or someone in a metal object that weighs well over one tonne?
With cycling lanes that are full of debris pushed towards the gutter from the main road, with cars parked illegally or otherwise in the way, with stretches that last for just a few metres and with just about nobody respecting those extra lines at traffic lights that cyclists are allowed to line-up behind, I’ll quite happily ride my bike on the pavement or get away from the lights quickly if I think it’s going to keep me safer.
And Ken, you’ve done a lot of good things as mayor including introducing the congestion charge (how I laughed when I saw engineers working on the lift to the underground carpark at M&C Saatchi this morning, realising that the power cut yesterday must have left their vehicles stranded in their basement), but ideas such as this will kill off all the good work that’s already been done regarding cycling. I suggest that Ken takes to his bike for a little while and sees the kind of stuff that cyclists have to put up with.


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