Registering a bike? That’ll be £50, please
Tuesday 13th April 2010, 2:57PM BST.
Jersey used to have a cycle registration scheme
CYCLISTS could have to pay £50 up front if the States restart the bicycle registration scheme, according to Transport Minister Mike Jackson.
Mr Jackson is opposing a proposition from Deputy Phil Rondel to review bicycle laws, due for debate at the next States sitting on 20 April.
And in formal comments published on Friday, he wrote that a scheme could cost between £20 and £50 per cyclist to set up, with a £5 annual fee.
Deputy Rondel’s proposition calls on the Transport department to investigate whether the scheme – which forced riders to carry a small registration plate – should be reintroduced.
But in his comments, Mr Jackson said that it would be better to run a publicity campaign reminding riders about the Highway Code.
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If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet
(Lennon/McCartney)
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Campaigns simply do not work and besides this it will not put off the real problem makers. They either know what they are doing is wrong or have little care for the people around them in the first place. I think it is right to make cyclists pay for their use of the roads and I cannot see why any reasonable cyclist would have an issue with this provided they keep within the law.
If you can be stopped for drink driving on a bicycle then this assumes that riding a bicycle carries with it a degree of responsibility, something that should be reflected in the conduct and that therefore persons utilising this transportation should be identifiable.
I personally have been a long time supporter of making cyclists register after two years ago having a large scratch put down the side of my car by a pedal of somebody on a racing bike dressed like they were taking part in the Tour D’France leaning on my car in traffic. This rude road user simply disappeared down the line of traffic and through a red light when I stopped to inspect the damage, costing me close to £300 to repair.
If I had scraped past a stopped car while riding a motorcycle I would be legally obliged to stop and give my insurance details but because you cannot identify these people and they disappear down one way roads and through red lights when they know they have done wrong.
Both drivers and pedestrians need a way to identify people cycling inappropriately and equally would this not put opportunist thieves off taking a bicycle which can then be identified by the police at a later time/date!?
Personally I believe that any road user should not only be registered for identification in cases of wrong doing but carry third party insurance for damage done to people or their property by misuse of the said vehicle. Is this not similar to the calls from people regarding mobility scooters recently?
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No wonder the States can’t control spending when back benchers ask for more civil servants to carry out unnecessary administration.
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Yes I remember the days of bicycle registration.
Just spot the traffic offenders and spare us this pointless debate on an obsured piece of potential legislation that would make us the laughing stock of europe. Encourage sensible cycling and punish the offenders who seem keen to give us repsonsible cyclists a bad name, spare us this Monty Pythonesque legislation.
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Never a truer word!!!!!!!
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You cannot be serious!!!!!!!!
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Perhaps deputy Rondel could look into window tax whilst he’s at it..
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Oh for expletives sake. All I have to say is catch me if you can then!
Not a chance in hell I’M registering any of my bikes!
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@ john schmidt
Hear hear! I thought they should be trying to encourage people out of their cars and lead healthier, greener lives.
Maybe they should shoe tax for pedestrians.
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Hmm, Jersey prices are high. A quick search shows that the State of California imposes a maximum fee of $4 for the initial registration of a bike and then an annual renewal fee of $2 (and remember California is in a big financial hole).
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d16_7/vc39004.htm
Here’s an interesting article regarding registration around the world (it seems that the Swiss are proposing to abolish their scheme): http://ipayroadtax.com/?p=85
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hate to say but i agree completely – it would make the roads safer as there are pesky cyclists that ride on the pavement, cycle up one way streets (the wrong way!) and those that ride in the middle of the road without due care and attention – these people should be licenced! It’s all very well with cycling profficiency tests but i only know of 2 cyclists that have actually done theirs! I know many cyclists are going to be against this but its about time something like this was introduced!
It’s not an extortionate fee
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How does Deputy Rondel propose to deal with visitors bringing their bikes from the UK, France and Guernsey?
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Oh dear. Deputy Phil Ronde would appear to have crashed the gears on his Flintstone car.
Sorry this is a short-sighted politician seeking to impose further ineffective bureaucracy on an island swamped by mindless bureaucracy. The Jersey Way gone mad.
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#10. Doug Tredent
I believe there is a ‘very slight’ scales of economy difference with your figures with around 2 million registered bicycles. Also the majority of this income is used to fund cycle segragation planning so that cars and pedestrians do not have to worry about someone going the wrong way up a street, cyclists ony have to avoid one another!
The Swiss may be looking to abolish their registration system but equally you could cite Galway which completely banned all cycling in the city centre because of the years of inncidents caused by cyclists. Germany too has also on off played with restrictions on where cyclists may interact with other traffic for both the good of the cyclist and the non cyclists.
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i cycle to work, and i’m sick of being treated like dog excrement by vehicle drivers in the morning who view me as nothing more than a foul hinderance to drive past as fast and closely as possible. if you don’t think cyclists get a raw deal on the road, then you try peddling in. if rondel wants to introduce a registration scam, then we should be provided with far better cycling facilities than we currently have to endure. oh yeah, and good luck in policing it
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Cripple the average person yet further why don’t you.
Meanwhile someone else is telling them what tax they are going to pay!
At this rate poverty beckons for a lot more islanders IMHO. So much for the cheap low tax place that was known as Jersey.
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Last time in about 196… the scheme was scrapped as it was costing more than the five bob to collect. How about compulsory insurance? With some of the two wheel clowns that is more important. And yes I ride a bike myself. Some cyclists seem to think they have an absolute right to go along as if everything else has no right to exist. Especially with the little black box plugged in to their ears! Riding a bike with a music player stuck in your ears should be a capital offence!
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With the cost of cycles today sometimes over a thousand pounds, it would be logical to tax and insure and try to recover some of the money these idiots cost the motorist!!!
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this has got to be a joke right. what next tiny licence plates on your trainers and a £5 charge to walk on a pavement. It is incredible the things that the states come up with. surely they must say every morning how can we make ourselves look even more stupid and they certainly deliever on that day in day out. we need a big shake up in the states, get young, frech blood in, people that are in tune with the modern world.
how is this going to make the roads safer, with every car registered with J or JSY plates there are still loads of idiots on the road.
this is simply another scam to rip off the people of jersey like everything else they come up with.
another thing, and i may be off the mark here, but the tourism industry, well i call it an industry more of a joke but hey…you do see alot of poeple coming off the boats with bikes, will they be issued with a little number plate and have to pay etc.
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C’mon – April fools’ day has gone by.
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Mogit – a thousand pounts for a bike! You must be a rich banker as I am sure there are not many who can afford that sort of price. Mine cost £150 and I though that was expensive.
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Deputy Rondel – don’t you have anything better to do ?
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Deputy Phil just because you and your pals in the BATDC think this is a good idea does not mean us local hard working non millionaires who have taxes coming at us from all sides do.
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A bike is a form of transport and should be subject to registration, insurance and licence.
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22(Hedinda Sands), you make me laugh, have to agree completely. I think we have slightly larger problems than registering bicycles. Underage Drinking, Legal Drinking, Drink Driving, Abusive Violent kids, Climate Change, Lack of Money, but no lets make cyclists have number plates, and perhaps soon full body Armour to go with the helmets.
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It is not such a bad idea but perhaps it is a little incorrect in the manner it is being suggested. In Zurich all cycles must have liability insurance which costs CHF6 per year and employs a sticker to be displayed on the frame as proof. This system works very well and if an accident occurs which is from bad bicycle riding just as with a car the third party is protected from costs they may incur.
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Craig
“How does Deputy Rondel propose to deal with visitors bringing their bikes from the UK, France and Guernsey?”
Internet Shopper
“another thing, and i may be off the mark here, but the tourism industry, well i call it an industry more of a joke but hey…you do see alot of poeple coming off the boats with bikes, will they be issued with a little number plate and have to pay etc.”
This shouldn’t be a problem. There won’t be any more visitors soon.
By the way, the mention of Deputy Rondel reminds me that the issue of leisure boaties not paying duty on diesel fuel really needs looking at again. Perhaps he is hoping that targetting cyclists will help people forget that “Yachtsmen” are given a helping hand to hasten the destruction of the environment.
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15. bruce
Perhaps by taking responsibility in the same way, cyclists can be seen as equal to their four-wheeled contemporaries.
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if this proposal were a joke, it could hardly be more laughable.
if the point of registration plates is to bring to book those foul miscreants who transgress the law, just tell me how good your eyesight will have to be to take down a licence plate number? and if the culprit were apprehended on the spot, what difference would it then make?
if the point is to make cyclists pay for their share of amenities, pray tell what those might be? – for sure, not the dog walking/jogging/rollerblading obstacle course along victoria avenue.
for those correspondents here that have suffered at the hands of a cyclist – well, comiserations, but don’t inflict your personal vendetta on every other biker. and while you’re about it, try a ride in to town in rush hour to see just how saintly all car drivers are. red lights and normal rules of the road rarely seem to apply or be given any credence.
when was the last accident, fatality or even law infraction by a cyclist last front and centre in the news? too many folk are dreaming up solutions to problems that don’t really exist
for crying out loud, leave us be. get more cars off the road so we can all have more room.
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Typical, instead of looking at ways of bringing tourist money, new businesses and investment into the Island people look inward and try to tax every shekel earned 5 times over.
How about an idiot tax, taxing Sates members for every stupid project and useless tax raising idea. That way we will probably get value formoney out of them at last.
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’17 Tony B’
Drive a car do you sir? Turn the radio on do you sir? Drive with the windows closed a/c on do you sir?
Unfortunately earphones these days are ‘sound friendly’ which enables you to hear all around you , unlike music within a vehicle!
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Ah the pleasure of driving on pothole city roads is now going to be a paid pleasure…..bliss..
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How green are we? Fully committed of course!
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Bet we don’t get a true figure of how much this is going to cost to set up!
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Despite the cost and the admin this is still a good idea as it will then be possible to control the minority of cyclists who think that road traffic regulations are some thing out of disney land. Will we have to wait before there is a serious accident caused by push bikes riding through red traffic lights, the wrong way up one way streets, on pavements, on the wrong side of the road and spotted this morning riding arcoss the road using a Zebra crossing!
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29 Haricotfeu..aha back again on your hobby horse, not so good when someone threatens your little world is it!
27C Le Verdic. One small flaw in your argument to get yachties to pay road tax on fuel..not yet seen a boat on the road yet!!!
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Hasn’t Mr Jackson admitted that this is a none starter already – the cost to the states without return would outway the whole idea. A misleading article by the JEP once again.
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Let me see…. Rondel cocking his leg over the crossbar of any bicycle. I cant really see this happening, but sitting on his large motorboat in the marina using TAX FREE deisel, this is something I have already seen.
Cycling is Green….. Big diesel powered motorboats not very green.
So guess what ? lets penalise the healthy option!
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What a joke.
Another stealth tax. I cycle to work, in fact I cycle most places now as I can’t afford to run a car.
With all this talk of pollution and fat people you would think that we would be applauded for cycling and perhaps get a ‘cycle to work’ scheme like in the UK. A credit towards the cost of a bike is what you get in the UK who are trying to cut congestion, pollution and obesity.
Don’t worry, all the “angel” car drivers never do a thing wrong. Of course they don’t jump red lights every cycle at the Mont Millais/Howard Davis junction every morning.
Leah Holmes will along soon to say the showers cyclists need when they get to work cause more pollution than is saved by them riding in.
I may get myself a nice big V8 Range Rover instead and leave my bike rust in the drive. Just add too the traffic problems, one person per car, pollution, obesity, poor state of roads etc etc etc
People need to have a think outside their comfort bubble, sitting in their tin boxes, nice and warm on their own, rolling down St Saviours hill, growling at the cyclist in front of them as he/she is slowing them down by 2 minutes on their comfy, lazy journey into St Helier.
ps I do realise some of you have kids to drop off, and for that I feel for you as the bus service is pathetic. I know some of you would love to cycle into work.
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Hardly worth replying to someone who reads words that I haven’t printed and totally misquotes me, but where did I mention road tax?
BTW, what prompted my “boaties” comment was Hedinda Sands asking:
“Deputy Rondel – don’t you have anything better to do ?”
I thought the deputy had a boat, but I suppose it’s a little too early in the season?
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LOL! Very, very funny. If some of you fat backsided, latte swilling, cake munchers tried cycling to work just once, you’d have a different view.
In my book if you have a padlock, can go in a straight line, around corners, stop on red and go on green, go nuts! It saves traffic, helps the environment and reduces obesity. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO TAX THAT?!
There are irresponsible people in all warks of life, why doesn’t “get a job Phil” propose taxing the lazy dog owners who refuse to pick up dog poop!?
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I knew politicians here were idiots, again it shows how stupid they are !!! maybe you should charge families with pushairs ??
And if my bike get stolen, should i get a refund ?
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No need for all this, people just need to have more respect for other road users, whether they’re driving a car, riding a motorbike or push bike, on a mobility scooter, or just trying to cross over!
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Anything to keep bikes and the pesky people on them out of my way more the better. I am glad this blog is bringing the truth out, not one of them does anything for the environment in fact quite the opposite, it would be better if they sat in traffic in a Range Rover, they all cycle to pinch a few extra pennies. Well I would rather spend a few extra and not get rained on or hot and sweaty before doing a long day at a very stressful job.
Anyone using the road should be taxed and as some people have pointed out insured, if they are not then they should stick to the pavements! Kids riding push along scooters, not allowed on the road… Teens skateboarding, not allowed on the road… Segways, not allowed on the road… Roller-skating, not allowed on the road… Nor should cycling be!
I have respect for people out on a Sunday cycling with their kids and having fun, but when you make me repeatedly overtake you in the mornings, dither around roundabouts, stop me from getting past when there is oncoming traffic, ALL at rush hour… well then yes, it does make me smile when a big cloud of turbo diesel smoke covers the road behind me and delivers you the same amount of poison as if you had just smoked 40 fags…
Unless you contribute to the road, you are second class users!
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I don’t believe it….shouldn’t this article have been published on the 1st of April? Register bicycles yes; but £50? Is the States financial black hole that big?
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[John Schmidt]
Quality haha!
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Toasted teacake no 24. Walking is also a form of transport – so by your logic anyone walking on the pavement should have a licence, be registered and insured to do the same. Genius. Why don’t you run for the States? It’s a club for people with reasoning of such quality.
This is a ridiculous idea, and any States Member who votes for it will show him/herself to be a time and money waster. And those members of the populace who in turn vote for such a politician show themselves to be beyond help.
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John Schmidt – For your info George Harrison wrote Taxman.
The only thing the States have not taxed is their brains!!!!
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Don’t know that this is the answer but something needs to be done. In the last 3 weeks I have twice had a narrow escape from being run into by a bike going at high speed. One was coming down a one-way street the wrong way (and undoubtedly over the speed limit for that road), the other came through a bush to cut onto the cycle path just as I was walking across the cycle path. Because they are unidentifiable I cannot report their recklessness.
All drivers suffer due to the ignorance and recklessness of a few, why should it be any different for cyclists?
Maybe we should start carrying sticks to make those that are being reckless really suffer.
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Folks cycling is healthy…and if the Highly paid police…actually policed the inconsiderate cyclists who go against the traffic and on pavements….then harmony would be restored,though there is a case for bike insurance to be compulsory,would not be very expensive,,and while a bit of a pain would offer cover for those run into by cyclists being careless…eg: a month off work caused by being hit by a cyclist has costs.no diff.to a car or motorbike really.
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’35 Tricky’
One question – how?
You would still have to prove who was cycling the bike anyway(?)
So therefore its like as it is now.
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44 mind speaking well said. Judging from the other posts on this from pushbikers, looks like they are happy to dish it out but not to take it!
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Costings –
so lets see
1 x bike helmet £50
1 x registration £50
1 x annual fee £10
1 x family of 4
therefore = 4 x 110 = £440
And who says there’s a recession!
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How can you charge for something like that! instead of charging for licence you should be paying us for using the dangerous roads come on now you should be provided with far better cycling facilities than we currently have to endure. Dont ask me to register forget it
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Frankly thats an embarassing suggestion that illustrates the type of people attracted to politics.
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How often i wonder do cyclists report dangerous drivers, i have never done as i would imagine it being pointless. However, i would suggest that if this comes into effect then every cyclist nearly run over or forced into a curb etc starts reporting those drivers. Then we can see who are causing he most dangerous situations and if it is drivers then we could tax them to provide for more cycle tracks so there is no place in jersey you can get to without using a road if you cycle.
Incidentally, if i only use cycle tracks will i be required to register? Has the deputy even considered this?
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Rondel got his facts wrong.
He talks about bike registration in Australia but the 2-page form he included in the appendices of his 23-page document to the Transport dept wasn’t for bicycle registration it was for a vanity car number plate for car-owning cyclists.
When Googling for info, Mr Rondel might want to Google a little bit further next time.
All info here: http://ipayroadtax.com/?p=336
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jj 56
Fair enough….but how do the motorists report reckless and dangerous cyclists when there is no way to identify them at present?
If you decide to use cycle tracks then you should be taxed to pay for them….just like motorists are taxed for using the roads. Why should the taxpayer foot the bill?
It goes both ways!
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Richard 51. No Sir I don’t spend most of my time driving listening to the radio. I am a proffesional driver and spend most of my time avoiding people who are cycling with MP3 players on, Motoristists using mobile phone sand pedestrian’s who also seem to be addicted to waliking along texting. Cyclist’s come into the catergory ‘vunerable ‘ road users. In my case Cyclist versus bus (and that type of expression though well used upsets the PC brigade something cronic) bus nevers losses.Many moon’s ago I worked for Sony just as the Walkman was being released. In the first year the US military banned all service personnel from using them while jogging. The ear pices (Which were the real technological marvel) decreased spacial awarenes so much that the acident rate including fatalities became a genuine problem.
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Re my post at #5
My comment was agreeing with post 1, just read the comments and realised. I am not in agreement with the proposal at all.
I had to correct myself.
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No. 47 Spotted – Since when has a human being been referred to as a form of transport. You are the one who is rediculous.
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Why do politicians never do any decent research on this subject? For a thorough rebuttal of the idea, please see:
http://www.toronto.ca/budget2005/pdf/wes_translicensingcyc.PDF
Do you register the bike or the rider?
Do you register every bike in the family?
Do you register kids bikes?
How big does the registration plate have to be so that it can be seen and recorded by witnesses?
Do Jersey police have sufficient resources to check up on bikes
Are the damages and injuries to other people caused by those cyclists who are in the wrong, sufficently great to justify the expense?
Are you going to set up a cyclist’s licence to ride on the road? If so, how do you administer it?
How do you distinguish between a Jersey citizen and a visitor on a bike?
Should there be a licence plate on shoes, since pedestrian facilities (pavements, crossings, etc.) also cost money to build and maintain?
In short, knee-jerk politican’s response
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I reckon it’s so they can create 50 more jobs in the Civil Service to run the scheme. Perhaps to re-employ those that take the rumored voluntary redundancy!
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Nail the pesky lot doing the Tour de Bretagne.
There’s a few quid to be made. Not only that they’re shutting the road to traffic whilst the event takes place.
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Didn’t they scrap this scheme because it cost too much to physically tax the bikes, getting the people to sit in an office, printing the tax plates?
I thought we should be promoting a more physical lifestyle, reducing obesity and all that!
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Lunacy. Local town hall politicians drunk on their perceived importance. It’s not still April 1st is it?
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It is just so simple peeps, what do you do if you have created 40 more jobs in the public sector,when you have been telling everyone the States are out to save your money. Just create another income stream its easy when you know how.
An example for you, and I am sure a nice guy with a very nice team all with nice pensions.
Mr Stephen Laugee’
ACIOB, MCMI, AssocRICS
Residents Parking Co-ordinator.
TTS.
Get the idea!
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This is hilarious. In the UK, the government will actually give people who work tax free incentives to buy a bike.
The idea is to get people out of their cars. Why are the States so backwards?!
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yes bikes should have a license and a number. This should be compulsory. And the charge for it of £50 is resonable
The same as we have to have in our cars. Every user of the highway needs to have insurance and bike riders should not be an exception.
This should also include shopmobility.
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nanny state…right wing jersey,right wing jersey.you will do as you are told!
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No65 But if they truly want to reduce obesity they lose the income from GST on all the excess food being consumed, so maybe they don’t really want to reduce it after all.
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# 69 (Just for example)
Talk about Turkeys voting For Christmas!
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tree hugger – good to see you making a fool of yourself again. marvellous gift, that – self-deprecating humour.
i am not against paying for what i use. but as i have said before, i dont need a tarmac road, and my bike does no damage to it, unlike you sir in your car.
i also do not need a parking space. a cycle lane network would be nice – but thats never going to happen, seeing as we need all those roads to handle all those cars (lunacy)
pray tell what i should be paying for?
bicycle registration is not the answer – its unworkable and counter-productive. as for insurance – whilst recommended, most of us have it by way of household policies. insurance, i might add, is required for motor vehicles because of the risk they pose to everyone else. hardly a big deal for a bicycle.
i think i may rig up a video recorder to my bike and shop any loon in a car trying to run me into the kerb/cutting red lights etc.
soon see where the real problem lies, and for whatever offending goes on, not many people get hospitalised for being hit by bikes. ask the poor (misguided) woman run down near the underpass (yes i know she shouldnt have been there, but what a price to pay)
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Lynne #28 – you are clearly a car dwelling environmentally inconsiderate person. I cycle to and from work every day, and in my 400+ rides during the course year the majority of cyclists are law abiding, stopping at lights, displaying lights at night and not riding on pavements. Yes cyclists will go up the inside or outside of lanes of traffic, but motorbikes do exactly the same. In my experience the cyclists who break the road laws are generally children under 18years old, riding at night on pavements with no lights etc. therefore I would suggest that it is the parents that need to ensure their children have lights and are abiding by the laws of the road. We should be doing all we can to encourage people out of their cars and onto their bikes, it helps with fitness, therefore relieving pressure on our struggling health service, it reduces pollution and eases congestion in and around built up areas. Deputy Rondel needs to work with the schools to make a cycling proficiency course a compulsory element of games/sports lessons. Fine parents of children caught breaking the laws of the roads when caught by police/honorary police, but back to Lynne, I would happily lend you a bike for the week so that you can see the challenges faced by cyclists in rush hour traffic, as well as a increasingly horrendous road surfaces. If you want to take me up on the offer, just reply to this comment.
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Finchos, you have a long year. I ride to work everyday, 5 times a week, 48 weeks a year, less any bank holidays and can only make roughly 240 times a year. Hats off to you sir.
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74 Finchos.you must work in deepest St Ouen because I see cyclists breaking the law every day on my way to work in St Helier and whilst walking around town. In fact I have lost count of the number of times I have nearly been run over in the Royal square and on the pavements of St Helier.
I agree that many cycle riders are law abiding but to say that there is not an issue with the lawaless minority is simply not the case.
Furthermore nobody is saying car drivers are perfect is of course also untrue but the point is that there is a mechanism to bring them to boot which should be used by all. This should also apply to cyclists as well.
HaricotFou…got you again!
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How do you get home Rudolph? I ride to work 5 times a week too, but I also cycle home 5 times a week. I make that 10 times a week, 48 weeks a year, less any bank holidays and make that rough 480 times a year.
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This is crazy. It will hit familys hard with multiple bikes. I for one am well against this. It is just a money making excercise if it goes through. I think the islanders should so a blanket boycott on this one.
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Rudoplh, I would suggest that you also cycle home too, therefore making it 10journeys per week, making that c.480 rides.
Tree hugger, I live in St lawrence and work in the centre of town. Of the perhaps 20 cyclists i see in the mornings/evenings most are riding within the laws of the road. I do agree that those who choose to cycle along pavements and the pedestrian areas in town are undoubtedly a hazard and should be stopped. I was once reliably informed by PC118 (no joke) that the most reported crime to Connetable Crowcroft was cyclists riding their bikes on pavements in town (even more than night time attacks and drunken behaviour), so surely we should be questioning him over what he is doing to stop this. The registration scheme is not the way. Even when a car driver is brought to the attention of the police for a misdemeanor all the police are able to do is call the driver and mention that someone has complained about them. If the witness then wishes to further the matter the witness must go to the police station to make a formal statement, which then clogs up our already slow-process court system and wastes their time, as well as the police time. On the spot fines for cyclists should be the way forward, or confiscation of the bike for a period for repeat offenders.
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Rudolph, whilst I disagree with Finchos’ perception of cyclist,s some of whom may be law abiding, but most I encounter are not, (and with an attitude to boot), I fear your calculations are wrong.
You may cycle to work 240 times a year, but surely you must cycle back, which would make 480 journeys.
In your haste to discredit Finchos, you have actually strengthened his arguement!
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Finchos, you are obviously very fit. Can I have first dibs on your kidneys when you eventually get T-Boned by a Honda driving octogenerian?
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I never said I was any good at maths. The teachers were on strike during those lessons!
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This is why Phil is in the states. To make terry le main look intelligent.
What a plonker
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So of little 9 year old Billy registers his bike and then his mate Johny uses it to go to the shop and rides on a pavement who is to be prosecuted? Are we now going to make it illegal for kids to use each others bikes too? Has anybody actually been a child before?
I cycle. Not as often as I should because I’m a bit lazy. I can see cyclists who abuse rules of the road. But I also see plenty of car and motorbike users who do as well. Not only when I’m on a bike but when I’m on foot or in a car. As far as I am aware it is just as illegal to cycle the wrong way up a one way street as it is to drive up one. These offences just need better enforcing.
As for those of you critisizing cyclists during rush hour traffic… If we can INCREASE the number of cyclists then the rush hour traffic you speak of doesn’t remain such a problem. Discouraging people to get on a bike will make your journey even longer because all of those annoying cyclists will be in cars… And guess what? They will still be annoying, just in a metal shell instead
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Why not just do like they did many years ago and have the kids do a cycle proficiency test before they are allowed to go on a public street with a bicycle. They actively have to study the highway code to pass the test but when adults set a bad example, what do you expect, most kids learn by example.
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David
“Why not just do like they did many years ago and have the kids do a cycle proficiency test before they are allowed to go on a public street with a bicycle.”
Oh yeah, when was that then? Must havee been many many years ago which would have placed it sometime before the advent of the Highway Code!
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There was a young boy (around 8 or 9) on a bike at the end of Bond Street waiting to turn down towards the Weighbridge mid-afternoon on Friday. Proper road use, proper hand signals, and high visibility clothing on!
Whoever that boy (and his parents) are I’m well impressed. Made for a really nice change.
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As both a driver and a keen cyclist I think this idea is ludacris and from what I have read it is turning into a bit of slanging match between drivers and cyclists. Personally, I think introducing this will lead to a reduction in cycling in Jersey and as we currently have a very high obecity rate in Jersey do we really want to make this statistic even higher by putting off the casual cyclist because of this pointless registration scheme….and thus create an even lazier and obesely populated island…good one!
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Ban cycling from Victoria Avenue (usually only lost tourists and racers).
Ban the use of ipods when cycling on public roads.
Bring back a compulsory cycling proficiency test at schools.
Some roads could be made one way with a dedicated cycle lane.
Cycling on pavements is currently illegal so it just needs proper policing.
Licence plates is just a non starter and States members need to concentrate on more important issues facing the island.
If the police can’t charge people cycling on the pavements now what will they do if they see a bike rider without reg plate,give chase on foot,call for back up,spray the young offender with CS spray and get him in a full nelson and march him to the station to charge him £25.
Get real,there are many crimes being committed everyday due to lack of police presence/prevention.Let them concencentrate on more important things like drugs and violent crimes.
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53 and 69 i have 12 bike’s in my garage, thats a possibility of £600 then £120 a year on top!! Bikes are not like cars, they deffinatly don’t cause the roads to be in the state they are in, so we should not be made to pay towards that! i think although a lot of the above views have some valid points, in reality the WHOLE thing, thats the whole thing all bores down to a loathing of cyclists on the roads! yes there are people who have a problem (like myself) with those who flout the laws, but this mostly, is yet more anti-social behaviour, no different to many other issues that we seem to be more and more having to experience in our daily routines. But just because we have unruly youths we can’t make them all wear a number plates so as we can identify them and report them. In my experience when i, as a cyclist has had a near death experience with another vehicle and has phoned the police, to report, along with a reg number, “and i swear”… the response has been on a few occasions… “sorry there is nothing we can do” well yes there is! you can bloody well go round their house tell them there has been a complaint but no action can be taken this time and explain that my wife and children are extremely glad i made it home in one piece in the end! This example clearly proves that when anybody does complain about, say a bike on a pavement, what do you think our Police are gonna do about it? this idea seems to me to be a fine before we have even committed the offence, that way it does not need to be policed yet what revenue in recieved fines would be has already been well and truly banked, if not spent!
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86 – i took my cycling proficiency test at le rocquier school – it was mandatory for me my brother and sister (my sister only left school 4 years ago)
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Bike for sale, no longer economical, intend to use motorcycle instead
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lula
“86 – i took my cycling proficiency test at le rocquier school – it was mandatory for me my brother and sister (my sister only left school 4 years ago)”
Surely that was in order to bring a cycle to school, not as David said:
“..before they are allowed to go on a public street with a bicycle.”
There is quite a difference!
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What happened to tolerance, and respect of others lifestyles. I can’t believe how much hate is being expressed on these comments. It is sad as this will in fact cause more accidents and altercations between people than anything as demonstrated already in the flow of comments on this page. If you admit that generally everyday someone annoys you, maybe you have to step around some smokers outside a pub, maybe a person in a disability wheel chair runs over your foot, maybe someone with a pram blocks your way in the supermarket, maybe a car doesnt stop for a zebra crossing or speeds through your estate, maybe a cyclist comes past you on a pavement, maybe an ash cloud has prevented your journey, maybe someone pushes in front of you in a queue. We all have to deal with these things, they dont kill us but they annoy us, just live and let live – please we are small island which is increasingly short of space we need to get on or else all hell will break loose. We need to get back to respecting each other and working together rather than battling against each other which gets us no where.
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On the Whole this is just a waste of time.
There must be piles of more important concerns for States members to be considering.
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grrr [94] – The hate and intolerance towards the cyclist was promulgated by Deputy Green in his compulsory helmet crusade in the implication that cycling was an anti social activity leading to unnecessary accidents and the resultant burden on society. Such lack of respect for the opinions of others and the use of the Legal system to enforce his opinion on others is certainly going to aggravate the cyclist / motor vehicle relationship. The argument given was “if just one life can be saved” – as you suggest the answer will be “how many will be killed and injured” to save this “one life”..
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As a cyclist myself who uses cycle tracks, I would like to point out the pedestrians who fail to respect these tracks and force cyclists to take evading action on a regular basis! Perhaps everyone needs to be a bit more considerate and we wouldn’t have all these problems.
If I am forced to register a bicycle, I will use the roads in future, since I am paying for the privilege and so what if I hold up a few cars along the way!
Either that or I get rid of the bike altogether and jump back in the car to do my commuting….
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#97
“As a cyclist myself who uses cycle tracks, I would like to point out the pedestrians who fail to respect these tracks and force cyclists to take evading action on a regular basis!”
This is probably because pedestrians, epecially those unfamiliar with the area, are not anticipating the existence of cycle tracks. Cycle tracks are part of cyclists’ lives not the lives of pedestrians or motorists.
That is why pdestrians wander into cycle tracks on the Avenue seafront and why motorists sometimes block cycle lanes by stopping to let off paasengers. They simply live in a different world.
I am not excusing this ignorance, merely offering an observation that I have made.
I also observed cyclists belting down the cycle lane during the air display as though the spectators did not exist. There were so many spectators that the lane was totally obscured but the cyclists exercised their “right” almost on autopilot.
Again, I’m not taking sides, just drawing attention.
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More revenue for the State,no incentive to cycle and how are they going to Police this?
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#97 I take great care when crossing the cycle path on foot and I have still had cyclists come onto join the cycle path at all sorts of angles (and speeds) paying no attention to the fact that there will be pedestrians in the area. The three times I’ve nearly been hit in the vicinity of the cycle path I was at least a metre away from the cycle path itself.
I do understand though that the reverse will happen, especially among strangers to the island. There should really be more information available at the airport as visitors arrive (inc. massive signs about the national speed limit sign meaning 40mph in Jersey), about the cycle path and the filter in turn areas.
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Yet more civil servants required!
Costs more to run the scheme than is raised!
So open to abuse!
Zero benefit!
Politicians, as usual, creating expense where non is required. Why waste States time in even debating this ‘April Fool’ of a suggestion!
A saddened but not surprised imigrant.
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Sir
Surely this is more proof, if any be needed, of the outstanding wisdom and moral fortitude of Jersey’s law makers.
Cyclists are one of the most self righteous and irritating of all the politically correct lobby groups to emerge in recent years – with one of their number even infiltrating the States – and one is delighted to hear of them being put firmly in their place.
Traffic congestion is surely an indicator of our island’s economic success and should be celebrated rather than scorned, and as a motorist one welcomes any measure which will clear the island’s roads of these nuisances.
Proud Jerseyman
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Just one major point. Has anyone tried to report a dangerous driver on plates alone?
I have and I can tell you the Police do nothing. Do you really think they’re going to take a cyclist seriously?
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