Thank you for sharing your prejudice about cycling.

May I ask - when did you last pedal a bike?

If it was many years, then you may well agree with my idea which is that all cyclists should need to pass a "Cycling Proficiency Test" and then receive a "licence" until a re-test at a later date.
What do you think of this?

By the way, perhaps you shouldn't let Roy Stockdill know about this as he will have strong views on "freedom to roam (on two wheels)"

I went on a bike a couple of months ago, We took the kids around the new forest. Nice little paths no cars. But yes i think thats a good idea, I also feel that way with cars but I wont get started on that today.

As a lifelong cyclist - more than 50 years - I have always believed that cyclists should have to pass a test before being allowed to ride on public roads, pay a proportion of the tax that motorists pay and also be made to have compulsory insurance. That, at a single stroke, would remove the argument that drivers constantly bring up against cyclists. In return, cyclists would expect motorists to show more tolerance and understanding towards them.

The most common mistake of motorists, I have found in my long experience of cycling, is a total failure to comprehend how fast a cyclist may be travelling. I do not, of course, do any racing these days (perish the thought!) but in my younger and fitter days I could very often be riding at 30-40 mph when out training. However, one constantly had to be wary of car drivers who would pull out from a side road straight in front of you when you were only a few yards away from them; also, some drivers overtake a cyclist and seem to assume that he has disappeared into thin air, so immediately turn straight in front of him, forgetting that the cyclist is still coming on at a speed. I was almost taken out several times by that kind of thing.

I agree with Claire that there are some pretty lousy cyclists on the road. But, then, there are some horrendously bad drivers as well!

I find myself agreeing with Roy Stockdill (or at least the last paragraph of his comments) for the second time in almost the same amount of days, a rare thing I must say.

As both a cyclist and car user I have to say we must not tar all cyclist and all car drivers with the same brush. Some cyclist are irresponsible when on the road (or even worse, footpath) and some drivers careless.

Being both a driver and cyclist I try and be a bit more aware but I remember an incident about 5 years ago when I was at a junction one night. Seeing a gap in traffic I pulled out only at the last moment seeing the two cyclist who were not wearing any form of high vis clothing nor did they have lights. I must have been only inches away from hitting the 1st cyclist and felt mortified, but you just couldn't see them.

On the other hand, only last year myself and three friends were cycling along in single file down a fairly busy road. I was at the back of the group when a van shot past me and the rider in front and immediately turned left accross our path into a road. Contact was made, with both of us able to slam our fists against the side of the van to express our anger, but the driver just kept going - couldn't care less. My friend who was second in the line said he could only have been missed by inches. This was an example of drivers at their very worse, not careless but willfully endangering cyclists