Cyclists: Scourge of the streets?

[Denzilgts]

Sorry if you don’t pay road tax, have insurance or have taken any training and an exam you shouldn’t be on the road.

“Road tax” as you call it is VED vehicle emission duty, relevant to each particular vehicle and the emissions it produces. The cost of road infrastructure comes from council charges that householders pay regardless of car ownership

 

[Denzilgts]

If anyone is considering this, it’s worth thinking about joining British Cycling, you get free 3rd party insurance, as well as benefits such as 10% at Halfords and other outlets.

British cycling membership also gives legal protection to fight cases due to accidents etc

 

[Amarillo]

Sorry if you don’t pay road tax, have insurance or have taken any training and an exam you shouldn’t be on the road.

Fortunately I fulfill all those criteria, I pay VED, have insurance and took my cycling proficiency test in the mid 70s.

Unfortunately my four and five year old boys pay no VED and have not passed any cycling test. I can be held criminally accountable if they ride on the footway and there is no cycle path, so how should they cycle to school?

 

[MattC]

Sorry if you don’t pay road tax, have insurance or have taken any training and an exam you shouldn’t be on the road.

Sorry if you don’t pay road tax, have insurance or have taken any training and an exam you shouldn’t be on the road DRIVING A MOTOR VEHICLE - there, fixed that for you.

Pedestrians, horse-riders and cyclists have an absolute legal right to use the highway, and always have had. Motor vehicles, the relative newcomers to this remember, were rightly recognised to pose a far greater hazard and consequently can only be driven on the highway under licence following (supposedly) adequate training and with insurance.
And there really is no such thing as "road tax". There's emissions-based Vehicle Excise Duty, so on that basis what exactly should a cyclist pay?

 

[Denzilgts]

Pure ignorance.

"Road tax" doesnt exist, what you pay for on your cali or car is an emissions (pollution) tax. As bikes make no emissions they are not taxed. Roads are funded through general taxation, through which everyone contributes.

How should my kids cycle to school? They're technically not aloud on the pavement and theres no cycle path. So they have to use the road.

To anyone open to some interesting reading on the subject I'd recommend

Roads Were Not Built For Cars

Cyclists were 1st to push for good roads & were pioneers of motoring

roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com

Well said

 

[Paul_W]

I’ll just say that I cycle for fun/exercise on a regular basis and drive our California at weekends and when we’re away. I don’t jump red lights or generally ride like an idiot and seeing that sort of behaviour really annoys me as it gives cyclists a bad image across the board. Mostly when I’m cycling drivers are sensible and allow me the time and space I need but without fail every week multiple drivers have no patience at all and will overtake on blind bends rather than wait 5 seconds to make sure it’s safe to do so and then when faced with an oncoming vehicle squeeze me into the gutter rather than hit the oncoming car. It’s shocking at times how close I come to a serious incident for the sake of a few seconds on a Sunday morning All I’ll say is cyclists are like pedestrians vulnerable people and should be shown due care and respect, even if they are cycling like an idiot they are not deserving of being hit by a car/van/lorry/campervan/caravan and seriously injured or worse......

 

[Mikado]

As a relative newcomer to this club, I expect what I am about to write has been written many times. Nevertheless, here goes:
Why can we only give a thumbs up to a post? Many other forums I have seen give members the opportunity of giving a thumbs down. There are many comments in this thread which I would give a thumbs down to - indeed, possibly some members would like to give a thumbs down to this post!

 

[Amarillo]

As a relative newcomer to this club, I expect what I am about to write has been written many times. Nevertheless, here goes:
Why can we only give a thumbs up to a post? Many other forums I have seen give members the opportunity of giving a thumbs down. There are many comments in this thread which I would give a thumbs down to - indeed, possibly some members would like to give a thumbs down to this post!

You can give a if you like. Just hover over the like button and a menu will pop up.

 

[GrannyJen]

You can give a if you like. Just hover over the like button and a menu will pop up.

Now what have I done????

 

[Mikado]

Now what have I done????

Ta. Using an iPad I didn’t realise the hover facility existed. I will use it in future.

 

[Bill R]

Sorry if you don’t pay road tax, have insurance or have taken any training and an exam you shouldn’t be on the road.

Including all the cars that are exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty ?

 

[Toothlessjon]

Including all the cars that are exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty ?

No they are likely not to be undertaking, jumping the lights, squeezing between two lanes of cars banging the car mirrors, holding up the traffic and generally be a total pain in the ? But apart from that I pretty much love all cyclists. PS . I forgot about cycling on the pavements.

 

[Toothlessjon]

Pure ignorance.

"Road tax" doesnt exist, what you pay for on your cali or car is an emissions (pollution) tax. As bikes make no emissions they are not taxed. Roads are funded through general taxation, through which everyone contributes.

How should my kids cycle to school? They're technically not aloud on the pavement and theres no cycle path. So they have to use the road.

To anyone open to some interesting reading on the subject I'd recommend

Roads Were Not Built For Cars

Cyclists were 1st to push for good roads & were pioneers of motoring

roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com

Walk?

 

[Toothlessjon]

I am a cyclist. I do not possess a car but have my Cali. I believe that bikes are not the problem. It is the attitude of the person riding it. I believe that in today’s society people are becoming ever more selfish, impatient, disrespectful and rude. Throw in a lack of decency and common sense for good measure. So..to summarise, it is not the cyclist who is at fault, it is a by product of modern day society affecting how human beings behave.

I agree. But my only question wouLd be ‘why is everybody nor like that’?

 

[Toothlessjon]

Pure ignorance.

"Road tax" doesnt exist, what you pay for on your cali or car is an emissions (pollution) tax. As bikes make no emissions they are not taxed. Roads are funded through general taxation, through which everyone contributes.

How should my kids cycle to school? They're technically not aloud on the pavement and theres no cycle path. So they have to use the road.

To anyone open to some interesting reading on the subject I'd recommend

Roads Were Not Built For Cars

Cyclists were 1st to push for good roads & were pioneers of motoring

roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com

One. it’s not pure ignorance to have an opinion. Two. I would definitely not allow my children to cycle to school, even if they had be fully trained. But they are not my children so it’s none of my business. 3. I couldn’t careless what name the government has changed road tax to, we all know it’s was an excuse to rip more money out of car and truck drivers.

 

[GrannyJen]

Ta. Using an iPad I didn’t realise the hover facility existed. I will use it in future.

Just have fun

The cali is the best smiles for miles vehicle there is ... sometimes we are all serious, rest of the time it's love the lifestyle ....

 

[Amarillo]

I would definitely not allow my children to cycle to school, even if they had be fully trained.

Why? Too many dangerous drivers, or too many dangerous cyclists?

 

[Toothlessjon]

Both, but mainly drivers for sure. The road systems generally are just not designed to be a safe place for a cyclist imo.

 

[Amarillo]

Both, but mainly drivers for sure. The road systems generally are just not designed to be a safe place for a cyclist imo.

What would you say the answer is to make local roads safe for cyclists to use?

In most inner London boroughs there is now a 20mph limit on local authority roads (excludes the TfL road network).

Green = 20mph

 

[Toothlessjon]

In all honesty I think the costs are too prohibitive to the tax payer. I would have all cyclists who wish to use the public roads be fully trained, insured and have number plates.

I drove around London for years mainly City, Hackney and Shoreditch, and how there were not more cyclists deaths on the road is a miracle imo. In my view there are far more bad cyclists screaming around London than good. But I am biased, I am a car driver and I drive as good and as bad as most. Never hit a cyclist though!

 

[Digger]

A lady lost her life on an electric scooter (illegal to use on roads and footpaths) when she has been involved in a collision with a lorry. Sad and tragic loss. It highlights the danger of shared space , especially where lorries are turning left. Our roads are our lifeblood and our economy relies on transport by motor vehicles so we need to design cycle routes without making roads narrower and more dangerous. Meantime tolerance and respect coupled with recognising personal duty of care.

 

[Toothlessjon]

A lady lost her life on an electric scooter (illegal to use on roads and footpaths) when she has been involved in a collision with a lorry. Sad and tragic loss. It highlights the danger of shared space , especially where lorries are turning left. Our roads are our lifeblood and our economy relies on transport by motor vehicles so we need to design cycle routes without making roads narrower and more dangerous. Meantime tolerance and respect coupled with recognising personal duty of care.

In large Cities and towns you could ban all vehicles from entering them other than essential services. We could park outside and use electric busses only, but they would have to be many routes and sufficient quantity to avoid queues.

But that’s not happening any time soon. But training and enforcement is the key in the short term, for all road users.

 

[Nigel Whitwood]

Compulsory insurance was also part of the recently abandoned Swiss cycle vignette.

The Chichester Fire Station cycle lane clearly demonstrates why use of cycle lanes should NOT be compulsory. It would be far safer for cyclists and motorists for cyclists to use the main carriageway.

That does nothing to change my opinion.

 

[pjm-84]

How about some of these

22 Ridiculous London Cycle Lanes That Hate Cyclists

<b>Most of London is badly designed for cycling, but these bike routes stand out as being utterly horrible to ride. Or just plain ridiculous.</b>

www.buzzfeed.com

 

[Nigel Whitwood]

Sorry if you don’t pay road tax, have insurance or have taken any training and an exam you shouldn’t be on the road DRIVING A MOTOR VEHICLE - there, fixed that for you.

Pedestrians, horse-riders and cyclists have an absolute legal right to use the highway, and always have had. Motor vehicles, the relative newcomers to this remember, were rightly recognised to pose a far greater hazard and consequently can only be driven on the highway under licence following (supposedly) adequate training and with insurance.
And there really is no such thing as "road tax". There's emissions-based Vehicle Excise Duty, so on that basis what exactly should a cyclist pay?

Unless it's a Motorway of course !
WRT to vehicle tax, it is relatively recent that this has been linked to emissions, and in the case of a California it's based more upon the purchase price for the first few years. When all vehicles are zero emission it will have to be based upon something else. With the political will, a mechanism and basis for cyclists to be taxed could be determined.
Incidentally the terms Tax and Excise Duty are synonymous, although "Vehicle Tax" seems preferred to "Road Tax" as a term these days.