Calls for cyclists to hold compulsory insurance and registration numbers

CYCLISTS should not only wear helmets irrespective of their age, but should also have registration numbers and compulsory third party insurance, like car drivers, according to the Spanish Cathedra of Road Safety.

This department, part of the International Political Science Institute, says the country’s ‘leniency’ with cyclists is ‘creating risky situations’ in towns and cities, since riders are ‘effectively immune’ to liability in road traffic accidents they cause, including injury or damage suffered by pedestrians.

Anyone involved in an accident with a bike, or police who see someone riding dangerously, should be able to take down a registration number – which goes with the rider rather than the vehicle – to enable them to be identified.

Reflective jackets and helmets should be made compulsory and the ‘number plate’ displayed clearly on it, the Cathedra states.

And bikers should carry a compulsory third party liability insurance, given that they ‘create certain safety risks for pedestrians and other road users’, researchers claim, and should be able to be fined for not respecting road signs and markings, in the same way as car drivers are.

The Cathedra adds that pavements and footpaths should not be adapted to include cycle lanes, since pedestrians and bikes ‘do not go together’ and accidents were very likely where they could coincide.

Photograph: Cyclists during the Vuelta a España, Spain’s answer to the Tour de France (Wikimedia Commons)