Re: Cyclist

zzzzzzzz

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

I was driving last night and I passed a cyclist on a country road. No helmet, no hi-vis jacket, he was barely visible and only because it wasn't too dark. So I was thinking - what if a cyclist cause the accident, who is going to pay? I pressume none of them, cycling bastards has any insurance whatsoever, and most of them won't wear hi-vis jackets and won't use light and so on

what's the story here?

Good question. There's no requirement for cyclists to have insurance.

I think people cycling at night with no lights give other cyclists a bad name (as you can see from the outrage of this original poster... "cycling bastards".)

Think about this - a car driving at night with no lights on - you run in to the back of him, who's at fault? You, I'm fairly sure. It's the exact same situation as far as i'm concerned.

Also - you should have reported the cyclist if you were that concerned about it - and followed them until the police arrived. Cyclists often get brought to court for having no lights on their bike and the police will take it seriously I'm sure.

Fey!

Unfortunately, even reporting them is more than often of no use. And seeing as there are no identifiers, such as reg numbers, on bicycles, there's no way of positively identifying them.

Perhaps some sort of reg numbers should be put on them, so that those who cycle without lights or helmets, or simply those who dangerously cut off moving traffic, could be identified and held responsible for their actions the same as drivers are.

EDIT: OPs post prompted by this now locked thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055287396

Helmets aren't legally required, so reporting them without helmets might get a funny response from the Garda in the station

Fey!

Myth wrote: »

Helmets aren't legally required

My bad - I thought that they were made mandatory a couple of years ago.

maidhc

Fey! wrote: »

Unfortunately, even reporting them is more than often of no use. And seeing as there are no identifiers, such as reg numbers, on bicycles, there's no way of positively identifying them.

Even if a garda asks them to identiy themselves and they refuse they can face the massive penalty of having their bike confiscated and nothing more

blastman

As a sometime cyclist myself and a motorist who tries to be as courteous as possible to cyclists, I have to say this one thing that drives me bonkers, especially as I'm automatically at fault if I hit these morons (I refer to unlit cyclists as morons, not cyclists generally, in case there's the usual "confusion" and offence-taking).

Barr

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Good question. There's no requirement for cyclists to have insurance.

I think people cycling at night with no lights give other cyclists a bad name (as you can see from the outrage of this original poster... "cycling bastards".)

Think about this - a car driving at night with no lights on - you run in to the back of him, who's at fault? You, I'm fairly sure. It's the exact same situation as far as i'm concerned.

Also - you should have reported the cyclist if you were that concerned about it - and followed them until the police arrived. Cyclists often get brought to court for having no lights on their bike and the police will take it seriously I'm sure.

Cycling at nite without any visibility is just sheer negligence. Even if the cyclist could get insurance I doubt the insurnce company would pay out in these circumstances.

fl4pj4ck

sorry lads, I am cycling myself, I was referring to cyclist not wearing hi-vis jackets and cycling without light as to 'bastards', not cyclists in general

I wonder if there's anyone who happened to have accident with a cyclist involved and what was the outcome

as my gf said: it's like with a fight, if you have a knife then automatically you become an attacker, whatever circumstances. so when you drive a car and hit a cyclist - it's your fault

now I am thinking about not driving country road because of this...

unkel

@aidan.offbeat - I closed that thread for a reason. Do not start a new thread with a quote from a closed thread. If you are not happy about any moderation decision anywhere on boards.ie, take it to the feedback forum

The good thing that came from your thread is that the OP of the original thread could explain where he was coming from

No harm done so. This thread is now closed too...