Having said this morning that I was oblivious to the usual stupidities of drivers not being in control I witnessed this afternoon four young scooter riders - three learners and a fully qualified ( or not showing L plate) riding two abreast at 30 mph paying no attention to the road but laughng and joking with each other.
I kept well back from them when the 'qualified' one actually decides to get up and ride along kneeling on the seat of his scooter to show off to his mates
He carries on for about a quarter mile in this fashion with his mates around him and then actually tried to stand up on the seat!!! - He at least had a helmet but no other protective clothing at all.
Just how stupid can these kids be?
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Couldn't agree more - we have an epidemic in Leicester of these scooterkiddies, and a very high accident rate too. The annoying thing is that this is lumped in with the motorcycle accident rate, making responsible and QUALIFIED* riders look silly and affording the anti-car lobby another reason to point the finger. You'll frequently see them riding three or more abreast,tailgating you whilst moving in and out your blind spots, squeezing up the inside towards traffic lights and then stopping 6ft over the line, etc, etc. Whenever I see those 'now you see him' adverts, or recall the 'give a cyclist/motorcyclist as much room when overtaking as you would a small car' campaigns, it makes my blood boil; it should cut both ways - if you expect people to give you room then don't put yourself in a position whereby you're not allowing them to do just that. They just give responsible bikers a bad name.
{ranty footnote}
* If you're on a motor vehicle that can break the speed limit, you should NOT be able to ride it without passing your full test. a CBT just isn't enough to instill road sense, especially as you can get through it without really knowing anything about roadsigns, lane discipline, etc. We don't allow learner drivers to go out and practice solo for a year, and with damn good reason..
{/ranty footnote}
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"If you're on a motor vehicle that can break the speed limit, you should NOT be able to ride it without passing your full test"
I understand what you're trying to say, but how do you do this? Do you expect people with no experience on the road to pass their test? Do you plan for them to carry a pillion (more unstable and utterly unable to do anything but die helpless in the event of an accident)? Or do you plan for them to be restricted to 30mph and thus learn dangerous habits such as riding in the gutter to keep out of cars' paths?
I'm not trying to be argumentative; I'm genuinely interested in your ideas to solve the problem.
V
PS. The way to solve the problems witnessed and detailed above is to have more coppers on the road, but that'll never happen.
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The CBT is a little better than the tuition I received when I got my first bike.
"Thats the throttle, that levers the front brake and the pedal down there is the back brake. Remember to pull the other lever in when you change gear with that pedal by your left foot. You've ridden a push bike, haven't you son? Should get home without falling off then, eh!"
I did, too.
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I regularly see big bikes doing extended wheelies at well over the 50mph speed limit on the A3 Kingston bypass. How do I know?
Because I am doing 49mph indicated through the Gatso and they leave me well behind while I watch this crazy activity.
And I loose count how many big bikes, daily are ignoring the 40 mph limit and probably travelling in the region of three figure speeds. At weekends it is worse.
So their are a lot of two wheelers out there with no concerns?
It is not all the new riders.
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I've seen scooterists riding in procession round and round a roundabout so no one could get onto it.
Cheers, B55
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I believe that the same situation should apply to trainee bikers as drivers - you should have to take accompanied lessons until you're fit to take your test, and earn your stripes that way. TBH I'm not actually sure why this isn't the case - I assume some historical reason, similar to the case of some older armed forces drivers never having taken tests. Nobody would dream of letting drivers go out alone to gain experience.
What worries me more than anything though is the riders in question have an apparent lack of awareness of just how dangerous they are. There are things I just could not bring myself to do on the roads because I've learned how much they put myself and others at risk - I would hope that many of these would fall under common sense, but that doesn't seem to be the case for these people. They've not had the rules of the road drilled into them so they seem to see them as optional.
The car and bike tests are a mark of suitability to use the roads - anything less must mean you're not ready.
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The temptation to post a link to certain sniffpetrol archives here is overwhelming.
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Lol Patently.
Have been thinking exactly the same thing since the first post on this thread.
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Wonder if these were the same numpties on their Vespas going up the M42 on Sunday.
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I often wonder (OK, not really often) since our venerable leaders are called mods, should they all be rasping around on Vespas? (Ciao! (Izzard reference there, sorry))
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I think the problem is called youth. They ride scooters just as they would ride their pushbikes, only a bit faster. I blame the demise of the Rospa cycling proficiency badge, it made kids aware of the road at an early age, and it didn't do me any harm, blah blah.
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Having had a motorcycle licence since the '60's I was not even obliged to wear a helmet when I first started riding , I never took a lesson but passed my test without a problem.
My youthful enthousiasm was curbed by a couple of encounters with hard tarmac at speed - my left leg still bears the scars of one encounter.
It pains me that the teaching system does not seem to have improved that much in the last 40 years or maybe Doug is correct and youths will always act stupidly.
Having said that, I don't think anyone on a bike or scooter is safe these days from the SMIDSY's (sorry mate I didn't see you).
Thats why I don't ride any more - You really are a sitting duck , particularly around the south east and in London.
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Youth is something during which our lives are at risk in all sorts of activities, it's just on the roads that it is more obvious. No amount of training will stop teenagers from exploring the limits of their abilities, it is something we just have to live with.
We start out in life with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. We just have to hope that the bag of experience fills up before the bag of luck empties.
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Tom that is true, scarey and depressing!
It's not just scooters, either, it's all bikes, any one of them is done for if any motorist fails to see them (the SMDSY thing).
I do try really hard to keep vigilant all the time for bikes coming up behind me, but I wouldn't pretend that I am constantly aware of every single thing that happens behind or alongside me.
As a parent of a 14 year old lad, it is not very long at all until I will have to start facing these things from a personal level as well as a road-using one.
Just hope he gets the training, or the sensibilities, as soon as possible - or preferably that I can buy him a car as soon as he hits 17!
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