Clarkson weighs in on the cycling debate - and is right!!

[Westdene Seagull]

Err....yep, that's right Jeremy. Next time you realise you've had 12 pints, ride a bike down a public road, rather than take the car, because you will be breaking no laws at all then. None at all. Great advice.

That's the bit that jumped out at me as well. Drink driving limits apply to bikes as well.

 

[Diego Napier]

With the accompanying cartoon with a man on an exercise bike saying "I'm practising being Clarkson".

Corrected for you

 

[El Sid]

No way. It's all this gubbins that puts the casual user off.

Just buy a bloody bike and ride it.

It's probably the casual user that thinks a pedestrian crossing is just an advert for a lollipop and liquorice shop.
Perhaps if ever, unfortunately, one of your children is hit by a casual user you might rethink your attitude.

 

[Stat Brother]

Err....yep, that's right Jeremy. Next time you realise you've had 12 pints, ride a bike down a public road, rather than take the car, because you will be breaking no laws at all then. None at all. Great advice.

That's the bit that jumped out at me as well. Drink driving limits apply to bikes as well.

Or alternatively JC is advocating riding a bike after 2 or 3 pints, instead of an expensive taxi or the temptation to drive.

 

[Motogull]

As a parent, it really is a no-brainer to wear, and to insist that my children wear a helmet. The thing that I recall from a low speed off was the sound of my lid hitting the tarmac. There is no known threshold as to what a safe blow to the head is. We have all heard those 'one punch' late night death stories. I have even heard of an elderly lady falling in the shower, falling and hitting her head and going fully blind as a result. It very much depends on the individual, but a seemingly modest impact can have terrible consequences.

I think Clarkson makes a good point about helmet styling though. I know quite a few motorcyclists and none of them would consider an open faced helmet. I was also told a story about a youngish lady horse rider thrown from her horse landing chin first. The impact tore her lower lip and all the tissue in front of her lower jaw off and underneath. A very dirty wound too. I wonder if the way forward is a cross between the existing helmet and the single-bar type american football kicker 'mask'?

 

[Garage_Doors]

And wearing a motorcycle style helmet makes no sense; it's hot enough in a vented one!

If they are proved to offer more protection then it has to make sence surely?

 

[piersa]

Agree with that, except the helmet part. I don't wear cycling gear at all, just my normal clothes, but i do wear a helmet. I was thrown off my bike by a complete idiot but landed on my arse (still ****ing hurt mind you). If a similar idiot did the same thing and i landed on my head, that could easily be the last of me. Ever since then i've worn a helmet, i encourage people to do the same, because sometimes it is just out of your control.

More fool the idiots who don't wear a helmet.

 

[Garage_Doors]

That's the bit that jumped out at me as well. Drink driving limits apply to bikes as well.

You would get a fine for being drunk in charge of a cycle up to £100, not a driving ban from motorised vehicles which is 12 months and many hundreds of pounds in fines. That is quite a big difference.

 

[mikes smalls]

On a couple of occasions i've realised that I'd left the house forgetting to put my helmet on. Instead of cycling a couple of miles back I continued the 13 odd mile commute into central london. If anything not having my helmet on sharpens up my senses and makes me more aware of my own mortality on the roads.
Having said that, whilst my am is to get to work and back in one piece, I can't legislate for other road users so I will continue to choose to wear a helmet.
On wearing lycra, I started in the full get up for commuting. Now I wear a merino wool short sleeve top and some levis commuting jeans putting me in the hipster commuter category!

 

[Stat Brother]

What happened to the Cycling Proficiency Test? Pupils were not allowed to cycle to the secondary school I attended without having passed it.

I occasionally regret not going for the job of West Sussex's schools cycling proficiency officer, when it came up and was slide under my nose, a few years ago. Sadly it was just the wrong time.

Jnr Stat's school has the test.
When he gets to it, if he fails, he'll not be seeing daylight for a very long time

 

[Stat Brother]

I never wear a helmet when pootling about, but then again I'm not pootling in central London.
I always wear one when I'm properly cycling.
Stat Club Jnrs wear helmets all the time.


I have 2 bikes to strip down clean and reassemble, or I can procrastinate on here, which is it to be?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Cycling is good, until you get to a hill. Get off and push or have a heart attack.
Bikes with a little motor that kicks in when you get to the bottom of a hill and helps you get up it would be a gas.

Hills are fine when you get used to them. Some of us idiots even seek them out. Not sure that I would on a Raleigh Chopper, though.

 

[brightn'ove]

More fool the idiots who don't wear a helmet.

you are joking right? so if some **** jumps a red and smashes into a cyclist and the cyclist sustains serious head injuries, it is the cyclists fault for not wearing a helmet?

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

Corrected for you

I love your avatar.

 

[brightn'ove]

If they are proved to offer more protection then it has to make sence surely?

do you really think people would cycle about with full-face helmets on? people would probably die from heat exhaustion because you know .. you actually have to pedal a bicycle...

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Question: Why do some cyclists still use the road even when there are designated cycle lanes alongside?

 

[brightn'ove]

Question: Why do some cyclists still use the road even when there are designated cycle lanes alongside?

it depends on the cycle lane. Sometimes there are cars parked in the cycle lane, sometimes the cycle lanes are just huge puddles when it has been raining heavily and the drains get blocked. Here in york the road surfaces are SHITE and especially bad in the cycle lanes where the council obviously don't even think about repairing them when they break up over winter. If you're talking about cycle lanes such as the one on Old shoreham road then that doesnt really make any sense.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Question: Why do some cyclists still use the road even when there are designated cycle lanes alongside?

I agree that, at times, this is stupid. For example, between Rottingdean and the Marina there is an excellent cycle lane, few, if any, pedestrians and a really good surface. Yet still some people cycle on the road, which is a busy dual carriageway. I personally think that this is arrogant and pointless.

But, in summer, between the piers, cycling on the cycle lane is dangerous - pedestrians ignore it entirely. I have been threatened for politely asking people to let me by on more than one occassion.

I use cycle lanes where it is safe and practical to do so. But some of them are so badly thought out that cyclists are forced back onto the road.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

it depends on the cycle lane. Sometimes there are cars parked in the cycle lane, sometimes the cycle lanes are just huge puddles when it has been raining heavily and the drains get blocked. Here in york the road surfaces are SHITE and especially bad in the cycle lanes where the council obviously don't even think about repairing them when they break up over winter. If you're talking about cycle lanes such as the one on Old shoreham road then that doesnt really make any sense.

Yeah, agree with that and would also add the pavement ones where pedestrians and cyclists have half each. I tend to avoid these in towns as, despite the large bike painted on every few metres, it doesn't stop people wandering into the cycle lane (and vice versa for that matter). Avoiding these morons and cycling on the road in my experience is safer.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

I use cycle lanes where it is safe and practical to do so. But some of them are so badly thought out that cyclists are forced back onto the road.

100% unequivocally this. Spot on.