> I really don't know why they need cycle lanes. The cyclists do what they want anyway. They go the wrong way down streets and go past traffic lights. It's not them who need protecting,The above is a perfect example of the fallacy of perfection. Since a minority of cyclists ignore the law we should punish all cyclists by taking away something which benefits the majority of them. Urr, ok.By similar logic we should consider that since huge numbers of motorists break the law regularly (using phones whilst driving, speeding, jumping red lights, etc) should we punish all motorists by shutting all but one lane on every dual carriageway or motorway, or halving the speed limit everywhere (including motorways). Genius.Cyclists need cycle lanes to help protect them from motor vehicles, because drivers of motor vehicles are responsible for killing a fair number of cyclists each year (50-100 each year).In the same way that pedestrians need protection from motor vehicles. Drivers of motor vehicles are responsible for killing a good number of pedestrians each year. They even kill somewhere around 50 each year just on the pavement.But society seems to just accept deaths from motor vehicles as a price of modern life, and so unwilling as they are to acknowledge this they will just focus on the one death of a pedestrian every other year caused by a cyclist as if that is the greatest problem ever.Sure, the current level of disregard for the law from some cyclists is certainly a problem, but less of a problem than the current level of disregard for the law from motorists for example. Personally I'd prefer a lot more enforcement of the existing laws (cyclists included!) but the current UK Government doesn't want to fund the required services properly to be able to do this.
John Kettlekey ● 592d