And let’s declare war on rogue cyclists, too
I WAS incensed by your columnist Rob Archer’s pro-cycling (or should that be anti-motorist) column on page 4 of last Friday’s Lynn News.
I will admit that I am not a regular reader, so I may have missed other similar remnarks in the past by this contributor. However, as a motorist for 20 years (and a cyclist before that) it is sad that clearly his attitide is such that in his opinion the cyclist will ALWAYS be in the right!
Clearly, he does not cycle around Lynn very often, or does so with his eyes closed, and therefore does not see the idiots (most of them adults) who cross road junctions and ignore red traffic lights risking potentially fatal injury.
Never mind drivers jumping a red light - if a cyclist does so they are not only committing an offence but also directly putting themselves in harm’s way.
Last week I witnessed three cyclists riding on the road in the dark without any lights between Columbia Way and Gaywood in one journey.
That was during the tea-time rush and in wet weather (reduced visibility, increased stopping distances).
I also saw a teenager riding a BMX bike without lights on the pavement at Highgate School. If anything, my “attentiveness” to the road ahead was reduced by these distractions, requiring more of my attention than they ought to have done.
He also can’t spend much time in the town centre either to notice all the cyclists who still ride their bikes through the pedestrian areas, swerving around shoppers, many of them young children, or the elderly loaded with bags, despite the CCTV cameras and occasional presence of community police officers who seem to do little except shout a caution at them.
Incidentally, perhaps if cyclists were forced to have third-party insurance, they might also have to display number plates and then at least they or the address to which the cycle was registered could be traced!
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Weather for King's Lynn
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
