Chris L

Here's a thought -- how about some kind of re-testing program. Think about it -- I could get a licence now and not drive again for 50 years. All the traffic authorities would know is that I'd never had an accident in that time. I'd probably be rewared with cheaper insurance for "being a good driver". Of course, if I then went out on the roads I'd be a menace, but nobody would ever know. I say, make all drivers have to resit the test every two years.

Licencing and registration for bicycles has been discussed in Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania (and, I understand, several US states). The reason it hasn't happened (and probably will never happen) is purely economical. In other words, the amount of government revenue generated from the registration of bicycles would never be sufficient to meet the costs of administering the system, thus it would lose money. Perhaps this isn't the right thing on which to base such a decision, but you can bet it's going to be a significant factor for any government that actually thinks about it.

In anycase, one has to wonder how far you could take registration and licencing. I see pedestrians do stupid things all the time (particularly in Surfers Paradise). Should we register and licence them, too? Or do we simply accept that stupid cyclists and pedestrians are unlikely to kill anyone else with their stupidity, and let Darwinism take over.

As far as cyclists being "hassled" goes, take a quick search through the archives of "Advocacy and Safety" and try to tell me this doesn't happen now. I would suggest if the traffic laws applicable to bicycles were widely known and understood by the police, this would probably happen less than it does now.

On the otherhand, one also has to ask whether the drop in ridership really is a consequence of mandating helmets, or other factors. I know the treatment I receive on the road from drivers hasn't improved over the years, in fact I'd say it's gotten worse. That has to be a factor.

Then consider the number of cyclists out here who ignore the helmet laws anyway -- I don't think mandatory helmet laws are really a concern to them.

closetbiker

Better training as well as re-testing are good, but it's all for nought if there is little enforcement.



Not around here. Cyclists can and do get tickets (fines) just as motorists do. There is no need for licence and insurance for bicycles so none have been required.


No. I think the issue of helmets in the way that has been presented here speaks to another point made here about how some things can be misleading. There are many more things to be done that would make road use far safer before helmets could be placed as a high priority issue.

closetbiker

I forgot.

Here are 3 other studies that find in comparison to the US, the safety record of Europe is much better (it's interesting though, that the way that is suggested to improve the already good safety record is doing what US advocates argue, have cyclists ride on streets rather than bike paths)

In the Netherlands, city dwellers travel by bike more than 25 percent of the time, according to a 2000 study at Rutgers University. For each 100 million of those trips, 1.6 Dutch cyclists were killed in accidents in 1995. By contrast, U.S. city dwellers travel by bike less than 1 percent of the time and die at a much higher rate when they do: 26.3 bike fatalities for every 100 million trips, according to the same study.

One recent study with a Setting at Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark concluded: "Even after adjustment for other risk factors, including leisure time physical activity, those who did not cycle to work experienced a 39% higher mortality rate than those who did."
The source for the quote is "All-Cause Mortality Associated With Physical Activity During Leisure Time, Work, Sports, and Cycling to Work"

Bicycle use and safety in Paris, Boston and Amsterdam by Scott Osberg, Ph.D., and Sarah C. Stiles, Ph.D., J.D., Department of physical medicine and rehabilitation, New England Medical Center, and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston.
Of the three cities, Boston has the fewest bicycles per hour at 55, Paris is next at 74, compared to at least 242 cyclists per hour in Amsterdam

The Netherlands appears to have a dramatically lower death rate forpeople in passenger cars and for the combined group of cyclists and passenger car occupants.

Shimpie

I just recently got hit, yet I voted no. I got hit by a flatbed trailer that came unhitched from a landscaping truck. Just as the truck passed me, the trailer veered off into the curb and wiped me out. I'd call that stupidity on part of the driver who couldn't figure out how to attach a tow hitch with safety chains.

-Shimpie