to be annoyed at motorists who say that cyclists don't pay road tax

[toweraboveyou]

There are a lot of motorists who insist that cyclists have no rights on the road as they don't pay any road tax. However, this is bollocks as road tax was abolished in 1937 and all road financing comes from general tax which means that cyclists, such as myself, pay as much towards the roads as anybody else and have just as much right to be on them safely.

no i don't hate all cyclists that was never implied i was merely pointing out what pisses me off as a driver, but the other comments i made about horse riders where ignored because you only read the bits having a go at cyclists.
its bolloxs that anyone should be injured.
locally to me is RAF Northolt and the A40 the station commander who was a very well loved and respected family man and serviceman was cycling home from work as he did everyday when a van hit him and killed him instantly. now where he was hit was a busy part of road which had a cycle lane next to hit. the van driver was charged with the death of this man. an awful thing to happen whether you ride a horse, a bike or drive a car.
it seems i am not allowed my opinion because i drive a car and drivers can be dicks. never mind

I meant kind of attitude. Not sure why there is so much cyclist bashing on here. The whole point of this thread was to dispel the myth that cyclists don't pay anything towards the roads. In truth, we do pay the same and yet cause less damage to them than motorists.

Cars speed through green men too. I was narrowly missed once. Unfortunately, I didn't get the number plate.

Ivykate, I agree, no cars on pavements please, -- and no cyclists charging along on them either thank you very much..

A driver did hit me while I was on my bike - it was a classic "sorry, mate I didn't see you" at a roundabout. I had right of way, he'd stopped, looked right, didn't see anything with an engine, pulled out and hit me square on. Fortunately, because it was a standing start, he was going very slowly and I didn't have anything worse than cuts and bruises.

I reported him to the police because it was squarely in the definition of careless driving, and he wasn't even apologetic (though he did stop when he hit me so I suppose I ought to be grateful). They weren't interested. Why would number plates on bikes help? The police can't be bothered to prosecute drivers as things are.

well then why bother having them on cars?
so the bike can be traced back to an owner and address?

I suppose I don't think there's much point in extending regulation if it's already not very effective. Cars need to be identifiable for lots of reasons - tax, parking regulations, insurance, for example. Most of those don't apply to bikes (I have cycle-specific insurance, but it's me who's insured, not the bike - the insurance company doesn't even have any details of my bike). There's also the point that children ride bikes - what do you do about tracing the owner and address if the bike belongs to a child? Are you going to ban under-16s from cycling on the road?

i think your are cycling on the road and could be a possible danger to other road users your should identifiable.
as with a horse rider you are insured whether your 12 or 20.
if my horse spooks and causes an accident my insurance pays.

the reality of people jumping red traffic lights in two different modes of transport

Perhaps when motor car drivers can match cclists then i will listen to the moaning about cyclists jumping red light - one is much more likely to kill, and it isn't the cyclists

Ahsata - are you legally obliged to insure a horse when on the road or can you choose?

I have cycle insurance for myself, my dd2 and my father, I get my cycle insurance through the CTC and my dd2 has to have insurance to ride with her club.

no your not legally obliged to insure your horse, only legal requirement is that if you have horse on the public road it is in a bridle.

ivykaty so its ok for cyclists to break the law?
so if a motorist driving through there green light has to swerve to avoid a cyclist jumping a red light causing injury and damage oh well!
if your breaking the law your breaking the law.

lockets thinks it is ok for a cyclist to jump a red light - what a silly thing to say.

I'm not sure I understand your OP entirely. But I agree aggresive anti-cyclist drivers are twats.

ahsataN s its ok for a car to jump a red light and break the law? If a cyclist has to be killed because a car jumps a red light then thats ok is it?

Ahsata, if you're riding a horse, how are you more identifiable than a cyclist? I haven't noticed horses with number plates. If you're saying that if you caused an accident you would stop and provide your insurance details - well, so would I, as a cyclist.

as with a horse rider you are insured whether your 12 or 20.

not if the owner chooses not to get insurance then there will not be any payment

ivykatie, so all that matters is the likelihood of killing someone?

I think it's the case that if you are a bad driver, of whatever vehicle, you are menace to those smaller than you.

Car drivers moan about lorry drivers, who could crush them easily. Cyclists moan about cars, and pedestrians moan about cyclists.

There are people who are using all types of transport badly. Car/bike, whatever. Cars driving badly is not a reason to ignore cyclists driving badly, ivykatie. Just because there are other doing worse things, doesn't make cyclists jumping lights any less bad!

did i did i not just say if you are breaking the law your are breaking the law whatever mode of transport you are using! its not acceptable for anyone to do it.

yes of course i would provide my details, cyclists and horse riders both do very similar shit things on the road and also suffer very similar shit things at the hands of motorists.
my blood boils when i see riders riding 3 abreast in the middle of the road not looking behind them oblivious the line of traffic behind them not giving a shit. or when riders ride on the pavements for no reason letting their horse shit all over the pavement, or going round roundabouts the wrong way.

so is it ok for the motorist to jump the red lights and for more people to be in cars jumping red lights?

Surely they are both as bad as each other but the fact that over 10 times as many motorists jump red lights - yet no one moans about that fact?

Please do explain why it people moan about cyclist jumping red lights but never a motorist jumping a red light?

All three of you are obsessed with the cyclists jumping the red lights - but not one of you has anything bad to say about 150000 motorists that do the same - please do explain?

fines for cyclists

lockets do show me where I said it was fine for cyclist to jump a red light?