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numberplates for cyclists!

by Gary's bike channel
Fri, Jun 05, 2020 23:18
13

this is an actual idea i'm having. I've got three motorbikes, i had a car but i sold it, no point owning one down here unless you like looking at other cars brake lights for hours. I know on ebay you can get people to post you ''show plates'' ie, numberplates meant only for being shown at shows, like car meets. I wonder though, what would happen if i got one of my insured, taxed and mot'd motorbikes numberplates, and duct taped it onto my backpack, so people driving behind me can see it when im cycling? it would probably stop them saying ''pay tax'', but i wonder, would the police take a dim view of it, or find it amusing and for an experiment- do idiot drivers treat you different on a bicycle when they see you've got a numberplate? or i'll just get a show plate saying'' ved paid, £594'' or'' camera equipped, or anything else i can think of. Suggestions for such extra words on theoretical plate?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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13 comments

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Rome73 | 4 years ago
1 like

Don’t think it would make any difference. The Santander bikes all have ‘number plates’ on the stays - which are visible and can easily be reported. And obviously there have not been loads of reports of fatalities, speeding, dangerous cycling, drunk cycling, pedestrian fatalities - by Santander bike users (which all have ‘number plates) because it’s all rubbish that cycles are a hazard. So number plate and VED or not - it’ll make no difference.

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David9694 | 4 years ago
1 like

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18519481.four-uninsured-drivers-s...

re: cyclists should have insurance - faintly comical this, uninsured cars\drivers popping out so fast, the police could be barely keep up!

and so it goes on (S Yorks Police take note):

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18519524.ford-focus-driver-sped-1...

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David9694 | 4 years ago
1 like

I thought I’d curate some of the anti-cyclist stuff for the benefit of future generations (or something)

Contributions welcome.

Cyclists should be made to...

Wear a helmet

Have a bell 

Not ride two abreast

Wear high visibility clothing

Take a proficiency test/ “MOT”

Have insurance

Have a registration mark

Pay road tax

Only ride in the cycle lane

Not ride “fast” roads (“roads are for cars”)

Not ride x “dangerous” road

Not ride at rush hour when it’s busy

Not ride at night 

 

In fact, it’s a sliding scale, a slippery slope. 

Any act of appeasement in the form of a change in the law simply takes “them” further down the list.

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mdavidford replied to David9694 | 4 years ago
0 likes

Get off the road

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Aberdeencyclist | 4 years ago
1 like

Number plates : the best reason to avoid these is 'number plate wars ' . Somebody would bring out carbon number plates, steel for hairy jumper old school , aluminium for cost . Then it'd be aero number plate wars , long .v. short etc. Noooooo

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David9694 replied to Aberdeencyclist | 4 years ago
0 likes

REY 531C

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Gary's bike channel | 4 years ago
0 likes

ok i wont do it. But i find the idea funny of it annoying some old fat man in a 4by4, like that guy on scourge of the streets, when he follows a group in his huge truck on a narrow old country lane and then says ''theyre taking up the whole road!''  picture his ignorant face when he reads the numberplates sellotaped to their backpacks. It would probably explode his confused brain into smithereens with confusion.

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Pilot Pete replied to Gary's bike channel | 4 years ago
1 like

I think you live in some deluded world if you think a driver's head would explode if you celotape a number plate to a backpack. Do you really think that any driver would actually think it is a cycling number plate or just some clown with a vaguely car like number plate all wrinkled up and wrapped around his back pack?

Why on Earth you would think that a cycling number plate or paying more than you, or any electric car owner has to pay in VED would change their attitude is equally bizarre. By the time you have had your 'altercation' and start shouting 'but I've got a reg and I pay £10 VED', he will already be telling you to fuck off, giving you the finger and accelerating aggressively, really close by you.

Just don't.

PP

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
0 likes

Just no.
See above.
Practically, it would fall off giving you more problems.

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hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
4 likes

I've given up trying to argue with the idiots out there. Instead, I just ride how and where I want and if drivers behave dangerously or shout abuse, then I submit video evidence to the police.

Number plates on bikes are a dumb idea (no pros and all cons) and if I were you, I wouldn't pander to the ignorant drivers. However, if you want to do it, then good luck to you and it'll be interesting if you get a reaction from other traffic.

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David9694 | 4 years ago
2 likes

Don't do it. 
whatever we concede (or lose) we will never get back and "they" will just go after the next thing.

I sometimes think, would it be good to pay a nominal £10 VED for my bikes, just to shut "them" up (at a push, advance the cause for infrastructure).  

But then I go back to the above. 
 

would you get more respect from idiots  on the roads if you did do any of it? I doubt. 
 

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brooksby replied to David9694 | 4 years ago
0 likes

David9694 wrote:

Don't do it. 
whatever we concede (or lose) we will never get back and "they" will just go after the next thing.

I sometimes think, would it be good to pay a nominal £10 VED for my bikes, just to shut "them" up (at a push, advance the cause for infrastructure).  

But then I go back to the above. 
 

would you get more respect from idiots  on the roads if you did do any of it? I doubt. 
 

No, we wouldn't - its not really about VED, after all. Its about the fact that cyclists exist at all and are perceived to be playing with kids toys, too slowly , on THEIR roads.

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David9694 replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
0 likes

Costing several nano seconds of precious time to get to the back of the 50 minute drive-thru queue. "Fast food" indeed!

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