Speak for yourself, Robin. What a very odd post.

As for how licensing might help: firstly, I think it is bizarre that anyone should be able to use the road without insurance. Accidents happen. It is also evident that plenty of cyclists either do not know the highway code or couldn’t care less. We can disagree about the proportions. I also think it is unreasonable that car-drivers and motorcyclists have to pay a tax to use the road, but cyclists don’t. I would suggest that cyclists would have to have a licence to ride a bike on the road, and before they get the licence they would have to pass a cycling proficiency test. Then they would renew the licence each year by paying a fee of whatever amount, it needn’t be much, part of which would go to administer the scheme, and part would go on insurance. Then the law would have some leverage. If the police pull over a cyclist on the pavement now, it’s a meaningless £30 fine. With licensing, if the cyclist breaks the law he would lose points from his licence or have it withdrawn. If he cycles without a licence, that would be a serious offence, just as it is for a car-driver or a motorcyclist. There would be some point in the police taking action, just as they do for everyone else.

Not only would this give pavements back to pedestrians, but the number of cyclists killed on the roads should drop, hopefully dramatically, partly because they would all know what they’re doing, not just some of them, and partly because motorists would respect them a whole lot more. I don’t see the problem myself – I wouldn’t have minded such a scheme one bit. I just see it as cyclists joining the adult world.

Some proper cyclists would probably feel aggrieved, but we don’t allow car drivers to do without a licence just because they drive well, or motorcyclists to do without insurance just because they don’t ride on the pavement. Personally, I think something of this sort is inevitable.

As for drivers and pedestrians: I think it would be very helpful if people had to pass the cycling proficiency test before they could move on to ride a motorbike or drive a car. That way they would understand things from the cyclist's point of view. And schools should teach children how to cross the road properly - although presumably this already happens?