Rich wrote:
> Just had the following letter published in the local paper. Incredibly,
> they didn't edit a word!
>
> It was in response to being undetaken by a motorcycle at traffic lights for
> the second time. Given the govt's National Motorcycle Strategy, which
> postulates allowing motorcycles in all bus lanes, I thought it was apposite.
>
> http://www.epost.co.uk/displayNode....yContent&sourceNode=145048&contentPK=12084284
>
> 11:00 - 22 March 2005
> The Evening Post has rightly published many letters about people who
> cycle on pavements, something no responsible cyclist does. Without wishing
> to provide excuses for those who do ride on the pavement, may I put forward
> a compelling reason as to why some cyclists do it: motorcycles.
>
> The council's decision to allow motorcycles in bus lanes, with no
> consultation with the cyclists who were already allowed in them, seems to
> have led to a conception among motorcyclists that they can now use any cycle
> facility, including cycle lanes, advanced stop lines at traffic lights, and
> even cycle parking.
>
> As someone who has recently had the terrifying experience of being
> undertaken by a motorcycle at traffic lights, I can assure Po s t readers
> that motorcycles and bicycles do not mix.
>
> Motorcyclists, like cyclists, are vulnerable, but making themselves
> safer at the expense of the safety of others is not acceptable, just as
> cyclists riding on the pavement is unacceptable. Unfortunately the first
> leads directly to the second.
>
> The problem of motorcyclists using cycle facilities has expanded in
> the past year or so, and it is now frequently impossible for a cyclist to
> use cycle lanes, advanced stop lines and even cycle racks because they are
> full of motorcycles. It is hardly surprising that some cyclists feel safer
> on the pavement.
>
> The police, in response to a request to take action on this serious
> problem, refused to do so on the grounds that nobody had yet died, and
> therefore it wasn't a problem.
>
> My own experience, and that of many others, demonstrates that it is
> only a matter of time before someone is killed.
>
> Why should we have to wait for a body before action is taken?
>
> I call upon the police to take action to curb this misuse of cycle
> facilities, and on the council to review its decision to allow motorcycles
> in bus lanes, but to consult cyclists this time.
>
> I also call on motorcycle organisations to educate their members and
> on the Motorcycle Action Group in particular to drop its stated aim of
> gaining access to all cycle facilities.
>
> Richard Burton, CTC right-to-ride, Little Stoke, Bristol.
>
>
>
>
The question of motorcycles using bus lanes is a moot point, I use them
on occasion where allowed and sometimes to hopscotch around a car
however I would never ride in one as a general rule because it's to
dangerous. At motorcycle speeds riding that close to the kerb is sheer
lunacy and I just don't have that big a death wish.
Advance stop lines for cyclists are the maddest bit of street management
ever in my opinion. Nothing on earth would persuade me to occupy a
position cenraly in front of a queue of motorists on a bicycle. The
fact is that hardly any cyclists in central London use these death traps
fully, preferring to stay closer to the kerb. It might be argued that
this is because motorcyclists are using them. My experience and
observation leads me to believe that whilst motorcyclists do often use
these facilities they most do so because no one else wants to use the
centre section and they have the speed and manoeuvrability to exploit
the advantage this gives them rather than sitting in or between lines of
traffic. When advanced stop lines were introduced I noticed that
motorcyclists left them well alone and even then they were hardly used
by cyclists.
Where a cycle lane is marked as a cycle lane that space is to my mind
sacrosanct and woe betide any who go there other than cyclists, where it
is advisory I expect any use by other traffic to be justifiable and
courteous and to the most part that fits with my observations of
motorcyclists mixing with cyclists in central London. Clearly I have
different views to a lot of drivers and am more than willing to ride
shotgun at 5 or 10 mph behind a cyclist for any length of time but I
have rarely if ever witnessed a motorcyclist behaving deliberately
dangerously toward a cyclist.
As said there are arses in all walks of life, cyclists, motorcyclists
and drivers but on the whole I don't see the responsible sharing of road
space as a problem. My experience and observation tends to support this
view. In my opinion even if motorcyclists were allowed access to all
bus and cycle lanes very few motorcyclists would use them all the time,
most would hopscotch a couple of cars and then filter to the outside
where it's safer.
Scooter riders however are another matter, most of them have, to my
observation, little or no understanding of the dynamics of motorcycles
and two wheeled vehicles or any appreciation of the risks they are
generating to other road users by their decisions. My observation of
this group of road users puts them firmly in the 'I don't trust you at
all, Volvo' group. They are without a doubt the most dangerous, lunatic
and mad people using our roads in my opinion, followed by car drivers!
Yes, I know car drivers are related to the devil...well some of them
Sniper8052
