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.

WTF? really? are you not reading previous posts? im getting bored of repeating the same things over and over. i have said on 3 posts. for the last time.
if you break the law your an arsehole, cyclist, rider, or car driver!
its the fact you keep arguing saying its ok for cyclists because other do it.

lockets, of course it's not "fine" for a cyclist to do it. But every single time a thread is posted about anything related to cycling, people pile in and moan about cyclists jumping red lights. If I did the same on every thread about cars, people would rightly think I was an obsessed loon. Why are people so wound up about cyclists when they don't seem remotely bothered by similarly bad drivers?

And it's bollocks that drivers who jump red lights are found and fined - most lights don't have cameras. If they did, half the black cab drivers in London would have lost their licences by now because of accumulated points for jumping red lights.

the OP asked why cars drivers say that and i replied why.

I never implied anywhere that it was acceptable for a cyclist to jump a red light, I hate the fact that cyclist do jump red lights as it brings a bad name to all cyclists, which is more infuriating as then cyclists get tarred with the same dam brush.

Yes, of course drivers can be caught on camera - but most of them aren't, or there wouldn't be so many still on the roads! It's absolutely normal at most of the junctions on my commute to work for two or three cars to go through after the lights have gone red, and sometimes it's more blatant than that.

Well a cyclist nearly hit me when I was pushing my
Pram and 4 week old baby last week

They might have right to be on the road but they sure as hell piss me off when they want to avoid a red light or in my case
Busy roundabout and so jump straight onto the path.

I felt like crying.

YABU there is shit motorists and shit cyclists

They should just switch from road to path whenever they feel like. I was fuckig
Livid

as i hate horse riders doing shit things as it gives all riders a bad name and other road users are less inclined to be as patient with the next horse rider they meet on the road.

They shouldn't*

throws iPhone across room and gives up for the night

Freedom of information on fines for jumping red lights by both cyclists and motor vehicles would give you that information, no need to employ anyone to tally charts

Agreed, lockets. And cyclists do get caught and fined, at least in London - the police have periodic crackdowns, particularly in the City.

There are so many more cars on the road that the law of averages says that the figures will show more cars than bikes - jump the lights. It works the same -as there are more motorists on the road there will be more motorists jumping red lights

The figures on cyclists are
A crock of shit IMO.

Never ever seen one stopped for
Jumping red light in my city

Because they all jump on the friggin path! I see far more cyclists jump a red, jump the path than cars

IMO any road using vehicle needs to be insured and the user licenced for competence.

I would aslo argue that every road using vehicle should pay a proportion of the cost of maintaining the roads.

Not to mention being hit by car is going to do a lot more damage than being hit by a bike,

An additional tax whatme? Everybody pays for the roads already.

Agreed, lockets. And cyclists do get caught and fined, at least in London

Yeah right.

Now, if bikes were licenced and they had number plates things might be different.....

ultimately though if people want changes then we need to look at how to change traffic systems so it works well for motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and how to make traffic safer.

Putting more filters into traffic lights so that motorists are not jumping red lights - there is a reason that motorist jump red lights, so take away the reason.

There is a reason cyclists jump red lights and from what i can understand it is due to the fact if they get away first it is safer for them - so prevent this being a problem and put in cycle lights that change a little earlier for cyclists.

get lollipop persons to wear helmet cameras to record badly behaved cyclists - as it will often be a repeat route and then the lollipop person can report incident to police who can then turn up to fine the cyclist as they will often be on a commute to work and identifiable.

When new estates are built segregate pedestrians from cyclists and put in cycle traffic lights.

Stopping moaning and lobbying our MP's and local council to put in the infarstructure that is needed and not keep implementing the same old traffic systems that are now not working for every road and pavement user

Kayano, that's got to be rubbish - they'd be fined for riding on the pavement if that were right.

Whatmeworry, we all do - it's called tax. The roads are paid for out of general taxation, not out of VED (which brings us neatly back to the misconception that the OP was complaining about before this thread derailed).

Besides, there are some practical problems with your suggestion. What happens about horses? Pushchairs? Mobility scooters? Is this to be a fixed proportion or relative to the damage that kind of vehicle causes? Nearly all the damage to roads caused by traffic is caused by HGVs. If we're all to pay for maintaining the roads, are pedestrians to pay to maintain the pavements, and should they be licenced? (That might not be such a bad idea, actually - I'm looking at you, oblivious idiot who stepped straight out into the road in front of me without looking.)

An additional tax whatme? Everybody pays for the roads already.

Some pay a lot more than others - car users.

Oddly enough, if I don't pay this "vehicle tax", it says I can't put a car on the road.

If it quacks like a duck....