Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

Apologies for the incorrect spelling!

I also agree that licensing all cyclists would be unworkable, etc. However, the issue with poor cycling / cyclists remains.

On a slightly different but related note: why not make learner drivers do cycle training before they can take their driving test? Given that many (most?) people drive, this could be one way of promoting cycle training, and would also give drivers a much better understanding of cyclists' issues. Just an idea.

Why not, indeed. Possibly because the government isn't very interested in anything that even slightly inconveniences motorists, so there's not much political will to do that.

Coming back home to Stratford this evening after work, headed up the Bow flyover as per usual when I'm confronted by a clueless bloke on some shit full suspension 'mountain bike' wobbling at a crawl between the side of the road and the middle of the lane.

Not all that strange a sight, except that instead of being in the left hand lane of this 2 lane section, he was in the right hand lane (before anyone says, there is absolutely no possibility to turn right after the flyover for quite some time, so he wasn't just getting in the correct lane). I told him to move to the left while the road was empty of cars before he gets hurt. He nodded at me but continued as he was.

However, the issue with poor cycling / cyclists remains.

what issues are these? i can't think of a single thing a person can do on a bike that would require them to be licensed. lots of people can't cross the road responsibly, they're still not the ones slaughtering 1000s of people on the roads annually. not that proving you've done a test to operate a speeding ton of glass metal and plastic does much to reduce this sad statistic.

/the rest of your post is sound and has been said before.

However, the issue with poor cycling / cyclists remains.

Poor cycling can be annoying. It is nowhere near a significant cause of RTCs:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/15/cycling-bike-accidents-study

A tiny proportion of accidents involving cyclists are caused by riders jumping red lights or stop signs, or failing to wear high-visibility clothing and use lights, a government-commissioned study has discovered.

I have never advocated licensing cyclists. (Please read my post again if you're in any doubt. I was merely raising the question given the theme of this thread.) Like you, I believe the onus is on motorists to drive safely as they are the ones most likely to injure and kill if driving badly. However, some cyclists do themselves (and other cyclists / pedestrians) no favours, for sure! More policing of the traffic might help.

^^How can an accident be caused by a cyclist not wearing high visibility exactly?

^ In the same way buildings are to blame when trucks crash into them.

#BloodyBuildings, always getting in the way.

Some of them don't even pay council tax.

Haven't been riding for a couple of week and I'm still haunted by shitty cyclists. Get off the pavement you wankers!

can we get back to calling out bad cyclists please

Nope:

However, some cyclists do themselves (and other cyclists / pedestrians) no favours, for sure!

Yup:

More policing of the traffic might help.

this guy, towards mile end yesterday about 6.30pm
http://youtu.be/BVUn-GLMDRo

rad skid though

That was me.

Haha, hi. Slightly awkward?
I was fakengering a wobbly trackstand on my road bike. In case you spotted me. Green messenger. Wanted to shout DAS but you were already doing it.
(move to spotted thread?)

(move to spotted thread?)

No, no. It's fine where it is.

That was me.

No it wasn't, it was me.

I'm Spartacus...

I'm Spartacus...

Welcome to the forum, I'm sorry about Paris-Roubaix this year.

Welcome to the forum, I'm sorry about Paris-Roubaix this year.

Brilliant.

^^made my lunchtime!

2 miles from home after a wet and windy 50 miles just now I pull up to let a lady with a buggy cross at a zebra.

There's clearly some sort of fluronodder hybrids-only sportive coming the other way and the first group of three ride through the crossing. Kind of fair enough as they arrived at the same time as her. But then the next two undertake a car that has stopped to let her cross and go through too. As do the next three. I decide to call them out politely 'come on nodders, she's waiting to cross' or similar. They ignore me. She crosses. Then tells me she's sorry she held me up but there was no need to shout at her.

Before I've had a chance to work out what's just happened she's gone and now thinks cyclists not only don't stop for crossings but also shout at peds who use them.

So I'd like to call out the nodder sportive riders for being dicks and me for clearly not annunciating properly when calling them out.

:(

I stopped at a crossing to let a teenager walk across the road and didn't say anything or do anything other than stop to wait for her, and she still had a hissy fit at me for being impatient.

trackstanding ?