In the UK there is a culture of not respecting traffic lights and rules among both – cyclists and pedestrians. I have no doubt that eventually, pedestrians will have to display number plate on their asses, but until then, this is unfair and pointless, in the same way as speed cameras will flash you for doing a few miles over the illogical limit while not protecting you from tailgaters etc.

More importantly, the bicycle is what it is, because it is free to use, and being a tool rather then machine, it should never be considered for any kind of taxation/registration. Registering bikes would be equivalent to registering any other tools such as shopping trolleys, forks, knifes…

In the first place, he should never be allowed to push for cycling and force so many people to die on the unsafe roads, and if we survive the unfit drivers, we will than die of lung cancer induced by dangerous chemicals that we would normally breathe in much lower quantities if it wasn’t for cycling. In other words: having so many hazards such as a single lane road halved to make way for cycle path that has to be driven over by cars because the remaining half lane is nowhere near wide enough for them, does not make for safe cycling! Same as the numerous ridiculously layed out cycle paths that go through phone boxes, start and end at random, go along dangerous roads and most often come to a dead end…

I often cycle with my girlfriend but would never-ever let her cycle in London! It is sad that we have to use our car to get anywhere safe enough for cycling. And when we finally get there, surrounded by trees and grass in the middle of nowhere, there is a shouting old woman pointing at something that looks like a sign, saying no cycling!!!!

Until all this is sorted, people shouldn’t complain about cyclists using foot paths and similar. However, many cyclist do not have driving licence and lack important traffic experience, and many would benefit from some sort of basic training that would teach acceptable ways of riding as well as defensive riding…

Dreams aside, it is always easier to tax everything and claim that is the answer to all the problems. What sir? You are sick and the NHS can’t treat you until the next millennium due to high demand for treatment? Well, let us introduce congestion charge for the NHS and problem solved…

Ken Livingstone is an idiot!

Cycling on footpaths is one of the issues that needs to be looked at. I have been guilty of this one myself especially when I’m following a shared footpath/cyclepath that just suddenly ends, leaving me stranded on a one-way street going the wrong way.

I think we need to ask what the problem with cycling on a footpath is.

Is cycling on footpaths dangerous to pedestrians in general? If so then even children should be banned from cycling on the footpath.

Does cycling on footpaths only put pedestrians at risk only if the bike is a certain length or width? In that case, perhaps cycling should be legal on footpaths if the bikes conform to some set of pre-determined specifications.

Does cycling on footpaths only present a risk to pedestrians if the cyclist is travelling above a particular speed? In that case, cycling on footpaths should be legel if you are travelling slow enough. If the cyclist wants to go faster they should use the road.

If all footpaths were re-designated shared pedestrian/cycling zones, with a speed limit for bicycles, we would automatically dramatically increase the number of bike paths in the country overnight.