{"id":8570,"date":"2012-12-24T11:53:56","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T11:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=8570"},"modified":"2015-01-06T22:13:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T22:13:29","slug":"the-argument-for-compulsory-cycling-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=8570","title":{"rendered":"The argument for compulsory cycling tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The law that allows any person to take unsupervised control of a form of transport, and permits this person\u00a0to mingle and mix with pedestrians, with cyclists, with motorcyclists, with cars, with vans, with buses, with\u00a0rigid-chassis lorries and with multi-axled articulated lorries, in an unchallenged way, is broken beyond flaw.<\/p>\n<p>There is absolutely no sense behind this decision &#8211; not within the context of our over-congested, badly maintained, road system.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at an example of a different &#8211; but broadly similar &#8211; form of transport, and the standards that those who wish to use this broadly similar form of transport have to attain, before they are allowed on the British road system.<\/p>\n<p>Before a motorcyclist can access the British road network s\/he must, under the direct access scheme:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>engage the examiner in conversation to prove a certain degree of intelectual capacity<\/li>\n<li>pass a rudimentary sight test<\/li>\n<li>pass two theory tests<\/li>\n<li>pass two practical tests<\/li>\n<li>by law, keep their motorcyclie roadworthy and subject to an annual inspection, and also<\/li>\n<li>be fully insured<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Only when all of these standards have been met, can s\/he join the traffic.<\/p>\n<p>A bicyclist is not required to have any theoretical knowledge. A bicyclist is not required to have any prior practical ability. A bicyclist has no eye test. A bicyclist is not even checked for mental capability.<\/p>\n<p>Yet a bicyclist can leap straight out in to the traffic, theoretical standards unchecked, practical knowledge unvalidated.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to these failings,\u00a0a bicyclist has no\u00a0requirement to be fully insured.<\/p>\n<p>The argument that the cycling lobby puts forward, as a defence against the well-reasoned, highly-logical argument for compulsory testing is, &#8216;Ah, but most cyclists are car drivers!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>There are just two flaws with this defence.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What does the twisted logic behind this statement even mean? Where is the justification in this risible defence? What have people who utter such claptrap got against standards? Here&#8217;s how it works for all of us. I hold a car\u00a0licence. I hold a motorcycle licence. I hold an HGV licence. Each one can only be gained\u00a0by passing a dedicated test that I meet at the very least an acceptable minimum set of standards for each form of transport. The cycling lobby seem to want bicycles to be seen, for lobbying purposes, as a form of transport. Yet the cycling lobby seem to want to be exempt from the same\u00a0standards-based test requirements that the operators of all other forms of transport must achieve.<\/li>\n<li>Most motorcyclists are car drivers too. But the rigorous standards that the DSA impose on\u00a0motorcyclists\u00a0are not waived &#8216;because they are car drivers&#8217;. In fact, the motorbike test is much more stringent than the car test. Most bus drivers, most lorry drivers are also car drivers. And yet they too must sit standards-based tests for each additional form of transport.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The situation seems to boil down to two simple statements:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>For all road users,\u00a0competence, capacity and capability tests exist for a reason. Except if one is a bicyclist.<\/li>\n<li>For all road users,\u00a0mandatory insurance exists for a reason. Except if one is a bicyclist.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The more time I spend travelling the country&#8217;s roads, the more horrible things that I see, the more compelling it becomes\u00a0that putting untested, uninsured bicycle riders\u00a0on to the road system, alongside pedestrians, alongside other cyclists, alongside motorcyclists, alongside cars, alongside vans, alongside buses, alongside rigid-chassis lorries, and alongside multi-axled articulated lorries, must be halted.<\/p>\n<p>Standards exist for a reason.<\/p>\n<p>To allow just one group of road users to not have an individually-validated\u00a0set of standards is ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p>And dangerous beyond measure.<\/p>\n<p>Bicyclists must be subject to mandatory standards-based testing.<\/p>\n<p>Bicyclists must be required to be fully insured.<\/p>\n<p>Bicyclists must be properly regulated.<\/p>\n<p>And the penalties for cyclists who transgress laws must be raised to the same levels as the penalties of other road users.<\/p>\n<p>Only then, when these standards benchmarks have been achieved, and are being\u00a0rigidly\u00a0enforced, will the roads &#8211; and pavements be safer places.<\/p>\n<p>Safer for everybody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The law that allows any person to take unsupervised control of a form of transport, and permits this person\u00a0to mingle and mix with pedestrians, with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","two-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}