Lucky cyclists, unlucky car drivers

[flecc]

Congratulations to Chris Hoy on a knighthood for his Olympic cycling achievements, but it prompted further thoughts on the privileges of cycling.

Chris Hoy rides a bike successfully and gets a knighthood, Lewis Hamilton drives a car successfully and gets a bottom ranking MBE.

A car driver who drinks too much gets banned from driving, a cyclist who drinks too much can't be banned.

Car drivers get penalised for speeding, but cyclists can't be because UK speed limits are part of motor vehicle law.

A car driver picking up a prostitute gets prosecuted for kerb crawling, and that law also applies to pedestrians who persistently attempt the same act. A cyclist cannot be prosecuted for the same thing, and this has been proved by a failed police attempt since there's no law against it.

Cyclists can park just about anywhere free and can't get their bikes taken to a pound, incurring a penalty, while car drivers pay through the nose to park and also face severe cash penalties for transgressions.

Cyclists pay no road tax and aren't required to have insurance.

Maybe it's little wonder many car drivers hate us.

We really are a privileged lot and we probably should be wearing non-stop smiles.
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[Blew it]

If we could have priority at junctions.....

....we could have more no stop miles!

 

[flecc]

If we could have priority at junctions.....

....we could have more no stop miles!

Well you don't have to stop. It's just a matter of living more dangerously.
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[Beeping-Sleauty]

We really are a privileged lot and we probably should be wearing non-stop smiles.
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ha..ha.. liked that Flecc,

been rooting around for a suitable New Years' resolution, that'll do nicely.

PermaGrin beeps

 

[Mussels]

A car driver who drinks too much gets banned from driving, a cyclist who drinks too much can't be banned.

A cyclist that drinks too much will however be banned from driving his car. Moral is you may as well drive your car drunk as it's the same outcome.

 

[flecc]

A cyclist that drinks too much will however be banned from driving his car. Moral is you may as well drive your car drunk as it's the same outcome.

Not will be banned, as the ban is discretionary. Since there's no breathalysing for cycling while intoxicated, it being a matter of police officer judgement, a motor vehicle penalty is unlikely. Instances of driving bans for drunken cyclists appear to be extremely rare in fact, so the risk is very small.

That's in the UK, but in many countries, the USA for example, there is no risk of a ban.
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[The Maestro]

Some people on a works Xmas do actually had a go at me for drinking and riding a pushbike home even though I'd drunk 2 bottles of Becks over 8 hours and they were all plastered and some were getting leary and aggressive. The woman having a go at me was about 20 stone and stumbling all over the place (far more than the weight of me + my bike). I think her falling on someone was a significantly greater risk than someone riding a bike while 'drunk'.

Statistically people driving cars completely sober are far more likely to cause a serious accident than a drunk cyclist (and the risk of killing someone in a car is itself low - something like one in 600 million calulated on a daily basis), and I mean massively (like 1000 times more likely though I can't remember the exact figure I worked it out a few years ago). Of course this should be taken with a pinch of salt since its based on government figures and as someone once said 'statistically everyone in the country has half a penis amd slightly less than 2 legs'.