RobinXe wrote:
Oddly I thought this debate was about cycling, but ok, I appreciate that you have gone to the trouble of putting some genuine thought into a post JBr, finally.
Thanks, RobinXe, that means a lot. I suppose I'm suggesting that a simple solution might not be the answer to a complex problem, now where have I heard that before?
RobinXe wrote:
I think we would do well to avoid lumping all "antisocial cyclists" into some homogenous group that we can demonise from our ivory towers
Remind me, who's been doing that?
RobinXe wrote:
So what stops us from doing wrong on the roads? Ideally, in all situations for all people, it would be an overarching sense of social conscience. If only. Even those of high morals can find these taking a back seat to the pressures of everyday life, and often a transgression can seem so irrelevant in our own mind that the benefit seems to outweigh the risk. I believe that this is the far greater portion of the problem, rather than people intentionally setting out to be "pricks", as was so eloquently and urbanely put further up the thread.
So in these circumstances it is the imposition of morality through community that can keep us exhibiting good behaviour. As JBr notes, in days gone by it was the community that was known to us that could exert this pressure. Those days are gone, perhaps sadly, and I think we would do well to look to the future for solutions, rather than pining for the past. Thus, having a way that strangers could "know" us would enable the wider world to become our community, and the knowledge of such could help suppress the little devil on our shoulder.
The Big Society is the future, not the past! In the past, those people were still strangers mostly, but by coming into contact with more people on a day-to-day basis, you would never know...
RobinXe wrote:
It is true that antisocial behaviour still occurs with motor vehicles which already wear identifying marks. It is true that in some of these cases the marks are incorrectly worn and thus their effectiveness is diminished, but I'm sure we can all agree that while these cases may be amongst the more egregious, they are very much in the minority. So it's clear that registration is not the end in and of itself; it needs to be coupled with a means of the wider community letting transgressors know of their disapproval. This is where we need more road policing, dedicated to the task of spotting such behaviour and offering attitude adjustments, be it in the moment or followed up later with registration markings having facilitated identification. This will benefit the skills and attitudes of all road users.
Now who's pining for the past? Do you think the future will bring more traffic police? Or will the Big Society police itself?
RobinXe wrote:
It is worth noting that the motor car is far from the only driver (pardon the pun) in the move away from localism.
I recognised that when I said "not least of which" previously. I do think the car has been quite a "biggie" though, in making our society more anonymous.