Member

We know that the improvements in motor vehicle safety have been achieved by vehicle design, use of endorsable points, disqualification from driving for persistent and serious offenders—as the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, mentioned—and, more importantly, the use of technology to enforce the law when the police are not present. I am afraid the technology works only when there is a registration mark, which is why I argue for a registration mark system for cyclists. I accept that the Government might challenge this, which is why I probably will not push this to a vote: it could be a great bureaucracy. There are about 7 million cyclists and that is a great task—I get that—but my point is that unless we consider that possibility, I do not think some things will improve, because the registration mark not only works for the technology but allows a member of the public who is affected by bad behaviour to report to the police something that has just happened. At the moment, they do not have a cat in hell’s chance of identifying that rider after they have ridden past them on a pavement, hit them or anything else. The only time you really get an investigation is when someone dies or is seriously hurt, and then you have a chance of challenging the cyclist about their behaviour.