Kontact 

So if man with no legs is pulled over for DUI, you think he is made to walk the line? Is that how you think it works?

LesterOfPuppets

You could allow an exception for the balance deficient among us.

Kontact 

Is that the heart disease or the cerebral palsy model? Who paid for it? How is its use monitored? Who pays for the monitoring. Who trains people to use them? Who pays the liability if someone is hurt riding a bike they didn't want to ride?

Insane.

genec

So you want exceptions for MOST of the able bodied public based on a tiny example. Gee, last time I checked MOST cars were not drivable by people with no legs... so do we need to enable all cars too... or do you want to continue down this slope of absurd.

Kontact 

All the people with no legs that drive cars have cars that can be driven with no legs.

The absurd thing (aside from you not knowing that) is the complex system of exceptions required when you force people - especially non-able bodied people - to prove to the government that they are unfit for physical activity. The most comparable system is the draft board.

And all for a ridiculous, unproven and possibly completely useless program that is unlikely to change the accident rates at all. Because drivers don't hit cyclists because they don't care, they hit them because they don't see them. Making people ride bikes isn't going to raise America into a higher level of consciousness, it will probably just give more people reason to hate cyclists for forcing them to do something pointless just to get a driver's license.

We could also put everyone through clown college, and I guarantee that clowns won't get more popular.

genec

Now, let's tone down the rhetoric a bit and examine a few realistic ideas.

First, incorporate driver training/drivers ed into a program in our public school system... just as it was when I went to school in Texas in the early '70s. This should be no less a requirement than any other subject like history or math or english. Driving or public road use is something most American adults do daily... we should train for it.

Second, ensure rules of the road for all road users is emphasized and taught, as well as the history and ethics involved. (IE, motorists do not own the road...etc )

Third, encourage cycling to school, and as a PE subject, like swmming or golf.

Fourth, "exceptions" as you mention, can be handled by the DMV, on a case by case basis; and license is or is not issued... this is just how things are done right now.

In doing all the above, training becomes a prerequisite for a license, just as are certain classes are required to graduate. And exceptions are handled by the DMV, just as it now occurs.

There, all laid out.
Of course if self driving cars ever do become reality... then driving class becomes a mere "elective."

Kontact 

No one is ever going to pass a law like this. Why refine a fantasy?

LesterOfPuppets

Etrikes are also available.

LesterOfPuppets

Actually they often say they don't see them. Those that actually don't see them often don't see them because they aren't actively trying to see them.

LesterOfPuppets

Yes, it is currently a pipedream but it is the ideal. I see nothing wrong with seeking to define the ideal.

genec

3 foot laws were once a pipe dream... now just about every state has 'em.

You'll never get what don't even attempt to achieve.

Cadillac

Until a few years ago, the only mention of a bicycle in the driver's handbook that new drivers had to learn in order to pass the written exam was that bicycle riders must ride in the same direction as cars, not facing traffic.
I would estimate that 80% of drivers on the road did not have much more info than that when they studied for the exam.
They don't know about looking before opening car doors, safe distances, etc.
They do know that there are hot-rod cyclists like city couriers they see on movies and brand a lot of cyclists accordingly.
While the original poster and others have some good ideas for new drivers, they don't address the 80% (or more) who are currently driving.
What I would like to see is some serious cycling safety issues presented in TV ads, driver's insurance renewal forms, license renewal, social media, and news articles.
Having said that, for many drivers it has been a long time since they knew all the rules of the road.
They also have trouble with traffic circles, 4-way stops, zipper merging, hwy merging, and a few other newer procedures.
Very little is given to them to help them drive safely.
That's why I think there should be a concerted effort to continue teaching them the rules of the road.
Once any professional (doctor, lawyer, teacher) graduates, he continues to learn the latest info or else he is obsolete. -- Same goes for drivers.

OHMO

I drive a four-wheel motorized vehicle. Used to ride motor cycles. Have been riding bicycles most of my life, and have not been involved in any accidents while on a cycle.

At least a dozen of my friends and acquaintances have been hurt in car-bike (of both kinds) accidents. One even died in his accident.

Without exception the responsibility for the accidents was shared by car driver and bike rider. This observation is based on conversations with the riders after the accidents. In the case of the death, the police report, based on three witnesses, stated the (motor) cycle rider was at fault for excessive speed and failure to control his ride.

My experience is not your experience, but coulda', woulda', shoulda' goes both ways.

genec

Wholly tend to agree... watching folks approach dead traffic lights during a huge blackout showed me most drivers really are quite poor at right of way rules.

Kontact 

3 foot laws cost nothing and codify something that courts were likely finding as common sense. This boondogle is as expensive as it is unfounded.

I-Like-To-Bike

The same people who will pay and be responsible for the bicycle training programs to be instituted throughout the land in order to satisfy the pipe dreams of a handful of anti-motorist zealots.

Rollfast

And we've reached LCF-vana. OM.

Matt74

LesterOfPuppets

I'm not anti-motorist, but I am pro-enhanced-road-user-education.

The current driver education regiment is woefully inadequate, as is ongoing driver testing. Roads would likely be much safer with a comprehensive road user education for all road users every 5 years or so, instead of just applying for license renewal online and getting rubber-stamped for a new card.

Kontact 

What sort of study causes you to conclude that increased training or testing increases driver situational awareness?

Or is this just one of things that is "common sense"?

Matt74

grayEZrider

How about an automatic, mandatory 90 day driver's license suspension for any auto accident involving injury to a pedestrian or cyclist with zero exceptions? That would be possible and certainly improve things a lot.

Matt74

Matt74

Kontact 

How would punishing driver for a cyclist mistake help anything.

And how would that be legal under the Constitutional right to due process?