Charlie Hulme  wrote:

>Tony Polson wrote:
>
>> 
>> The people we are talking about don't commit one single
>> offence, they regularly flout the law.  
>> 
>
>But of course they would always scrupulously pay their 
>registration fees, and never dream of using a false number 
>plate to flout the law requiring registration.


At least you are (finally) admitting that there is a problem.

Tony Polson wrote:
> Charlie Hulme  wrote:
> 
>> Tony Polson wrote:
>>
>>> The people we are talking about don't commit one single
>>> offence, they regularly flout the law.  
>>>
>> But of course they would always scrupulously pay their 
>> registration fees, and never dream of using a false number 
>> plate to flout the law requiring registration.
> 
> 
> At least you are (finally) admitting that there is a problem.

Of course there is a problem. Apologies if I didn't make 
that clear. The problem of rogue cyclists is just one
aspect of the general misbehaviour that plagues our lives 
today. So is the problem of rogue motorists: many
of those who kill people turn out to have no licence,
tax, or insurance, and the same would the case
if attempts were made to regulate cyclists in the
way you suggest.

Charlie

Charlie Hulme  wrote:
>
>Of course there is a problem. Apologies if I didn't make 
>that clear. The problem of rogue cyclists is just one
>aspect of the general misbehaviour that plagues our lives 
>today. So is the problem of rogue motorists: many
>of those who kill people turn out to have no licence,
>tax, or insurance, and the same would the case
>if attempts were made to regulate cyclists in the
>way you suggest.


But many rogue motorists *do* get caught.  I was the victim of road
rage by one of them and dialled 999 on the car phone.  The Police
arrested him and found that he was untaxed and uninsured.  He was
successfully prosecuted.

All Police traffic officers have real time online access to the
DVLA/Police database of registration numbers, insurance policies and
MOTs, and the number of prosecutions of owners of unsafe or uninsured
cars is steadily increasing.

Anyway, the fact that a small proportion of people flout a particular
law is no reason not to have that law.  Otherwise we would have no
laws at all, on the basis that they would get broken.  That doesn't
seem to make any sense at all.