Are they genuinely thick, or what?

There are a few cyclist and motor bike riders who treat the road correctly, but they are fairly rare around these parts.
Often see bikes without lights, none seem to abide with traffic lights correctly, they usually mount the pavement to avoid them, cross the side road and drop back into the road the other side without even a glace behind.
Sunday bikers are the worst, the licra crowd poncing around in groups often racing one another along narrow roads, and the other posers on their weekend 850cc in custom leathers just ignoring every rule of the road.

Having said that, tonight we were all queuing to get onto a roundabout to turn right, this pregnant fish in a range rover, decides he wasn't going to wait, so he overtook the whole queue of around 15 cars, forcing oncoming traffic to go onto the verge, he then cut in on the queue, when he reaced an island in the road just before the roundabout.
He then took the left hand lane and went round the roundabout and turned right.

As to 4x4s, mostly unless you only want to travel the lanes during snow, they are useless in the UK.
Other traffic will always hold you up.
Mostly a jackknifed artic at the front of the jam.

 

Probably because its the motorists who in 2015 alone managed to kill 1,732 people and seriously injure another 22,137.

 

All by themselves? While it's always tragic when someone is killed, I don't think it's right to imply, as you appear to be, that 'the motorist' was 100% to blame in all 1,732 cases. There is a reason that the emergency stop drill is a core part of the driving curriculum and test. It's because every sane person knows beyond doubt that sooner or later, every driver, no matter how observant and careful, will have to react as fast as possible to the stupid, careless or erroneous actions of another. It is also widely recognised and objectively provable fact that neither driver nor vehicle can defy the laws of physics, so unfortunately there will always be tragic cases where someone does something and 'the motorist' simply can not do a thing about it.

 

@ARMANDII I used the delete button

 

I think all rules of the road should be scraped and they be a free for all on the roads

 

The main cause of road accidents between bicycles/motor cycles and cars - is that the former do not act as the latter on the road.

Cyclists weave in and out of traffic, they pass between queuing cars - cyclists in particular ignore traffic lights etc. - so when the road is supposed to be clear it isn't.

Cars make drivers feel safe so they take more risks - cyclists/motor cyclists are vulnerable but don't always comply with the rules of the road - a sometimes lethal combination.

I speak from bitter experience - in my 'biking' days I head butted a volvo as it pulled into a junction in front of me.

I'll never ride a motorbike again on the roads - it's dangerous enough in car - there really are some plebs on the road nowadays.

 

I think many cyclists hold onto the misguided belief that as they and their transport are vastly more manoeuvrable than cars, that will always get them out of bother. That plus I think on same bizarre and twisted subconscious level, SOME cyclists actually want something to happen, so then they can be in some bizarre clique of fellow cyclists that have been done an injustice by 'the motorist'.

As you say, many car drivers see their vehicle as a mobile fortress, exempt from the laws of physics and detached from reality.

I think if the driving test featured some realistic but simulated emergency situations, then perhaps the roads would be safer. I know from experience, in that split second amongst all the unusual noises and G forces of tyre rubber on the threshold of letting go and the beautiful union of electronics and hydraulics working in harmony to brake as hard as possible, then you switch from 'must avoid this' mode to 'must limit the force of inevitable impact as much as possible', it really does make you re-evaluate your beliefs about what a car can do.

 

I think that a rear view mirror should be a legal requirement for all bicycles used on public highways. I've used one for well over 30 years.

Should also have insurance, but how on on earth this could be policed when cars no longer have to display a disk indicating they have insurance, etc.?

 

They were abolished in the '80's

 

Agree yoiu dont need a dog licence anymore, but its best to have insurance that covers any events that the dog might cause on the road or otherwise.

But a cyclist can just wander around causing mayhem in their wake and do not require insurance.
Does this mean that dogs are more important than cyclists ?