They're welcome as far as they go, but they don't provide a solution.

Driving a car or riding a motorbike without a licence is a serious offence. It would be the same for a bicycle. And you wouldn't get a licence until you had passed a test. Do you really think training cyclists would not achieve anything? Plus, idiots would end up losing their licences.

Of course, and you're entirely free to look for solutions to those problems. Indeed, I'll probably support you.

I suspect that cyclists' antipathy to licensing etc is simply because they have grown used to the status quo, and it suits them. And if there were only serious cyclists on the road I would agree. But the fact is that the demographics have changed radically. With so many more cyclists, and with so many idiots among them, the existing laissez-faire approach (which I always used to support) is hopelessly out of date.