Broadcaster Jeremy Vine recently took to social media to mock the idea
A poll of 1,500 motorists has revealed that 91 per cent of drivers are in favour of enforcing stricter rules on road cyclists, including the enforced use of registration plates.
The idea was proposed by Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, during his plans to impose tougher measures on those who cycle on roads and in busy and built-up areas. His ideas also include plans to make cyclists obey speed limits and require insurance, and also feature calls for potential jail time for those who cause accidents that ultimately kill pedestrians.
The first two of these measures – mandated insurance and obeying speed limits – were also strongly supported by participants of the recent poll.
However Shapps’ news was met with online-anger from many bicycle owners that oppose these new measures. Among them was television and radio presenter Jeremy Vine, who posted a mock-up image to his Twitter feed alongside a reply to a fan-posed question that read: “Yes, I’m ready”.
Yes, I'm ready https://t.co/WRUZzcqWdL pic.twitter.com/vuEL0CXe8X
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 17, 2022
Despite this online backlash, a new survey conducted by motoring campaign group FairFuelUK revealed that 91 per cent of motorists are actually in favour of these new measures being implemented, specifically the need to “have road registration IDs.”
According to the same poll, a further 80 per cent of motorists agreed with the need for cyclists to have speeding penalties, with a further 70 per cent agreeing that they should also be required to have insurance whilst on the road.
“These proposals to regulate cycling are impractical and unworkable, and have been repeatedly dismissed by successive governments,” explained Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns for Cycling UK.
He added: “They’re also a complete U-turn on current Government policy as laid out last November when Baroness Vere said, ‘the costs of doing so would outweigh the benefits’.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Mail Online published earlier this month, Shapps defended his need for a full overhaul to the “archaic” legislation surrounding bikes on roads.
Starting by saying that families who have been affected by deaths caused by cyclists have “waited too long for this straightforward measure,” Schapps continued, adding: “We need the cycling equivalent of death by dangerous driving to close a gap in the law and impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care.
“For example, traffic lights are there to regulate all traffic. But a selfish minority of cyclists appear to believe that they are somehow immune to red lights.
“We need to crack down on this disregard for road safety.”
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