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.

If you drive an electric car, you don't pay it. VED is a tax on carbon emissions, and cyclists don't produce any, so even if cyclists were technically liable for it the rate would be zero.

One problem cyclists face at traffic lights is when the lights use censors to detect cars and change accordingly. Sometimes, I'll have to wait until a car comes along for them to turn green. In some countries, Italy for example, cyclists and motorcyclists can run these reds if traffic is clear.

erh - I don't pay this vehicle tax and it says I can put a motor car on the road and it is legal to do so - I just have toi make sure my car doesn't emit emissions - so I purchased a car that doesn't

Your talking a load of ole bull whatmeworry

Whatme - You have proven my point. You don't pay more to be on the road. You pay because your vehicle is a pollutant.

Lockets, the thing about pushchairs was rather specific to my patch of London - one area near where I live has such narrow, badly maintained pavements that wheelchair users and people with pushchairs tend to use the roads. In any case, I was making a rhetorical point - it's a duff idea.

I was on the pavement with my pushchair. The cyclist was also on the pavement to avoid a roundabout

I see it all the time where
I live (northeast) I have NEVER seen a cyclist fined

I am also not a lier or talk rubbish ta

cyclists are just fuckers though

Occupied prams are required to use the road as they are classed as a carriage or cart

Kayano, sorry - I didn't mean to suggest that you weren't telling the truth about cyclists using the pavements, only that it couldn't be right that they avoided being caught jumping red lights by hopping onto the pavements, because if they did that they'd just get fined for being on the pavement instead.

If you drive an electric car, you don't pay it. VED is a tax on carbon emissions, and cyclists don't produce any, so even if cyclists were technically liable for it the rate would be zero.

Which just shows the bullshit it is, as of course electric cars have emissions.

That was a government sleight of hand, to justify spending less on the roads than they were taking in tax and try and score a few green points at the same time.

There has been some form of road tax for hundreds of years in the UK before they changed the tax name, and it remains a road tax today, no matter what its called.

It is local council that have to upkeep the roads - not central government.

Central government do have to upkeep motorways, but motorways do not allow cycles

All roads should have adequate cycle lanes.

definately a good idea for cyclists to have identity plates, that way we can report the fuckers who GO OVER READ LIGHTS, especially PEDESTRIAN CROSSINGS when the lights are GREEN TO CROSS. this happens on a daily basis when i take and collect dd from school. i now regularl out of necessity have to look for cyclists even when the green man is indicating that it is safe to cross, yeah right

red lights

YANBU I came home from buying my bike in a car

i have just laughed at the post about an occupied carriage ha ha ha fuck right off!
this thread has got pathetic anything to make cyclists look better or at less fault.
i dont cycle A.because im fat and it would look stupid and B.i have a car which i enjoy using. and D.i have a horse and if i can cycle id rather ride.

Those people jumping red lights are scum aren't they.

Don't even have insurance, the evil bastard scum.

Should be in prison and banned from the roads for life.

But no, no such luck.

Shame.

fixed link

pedestrians can be just as silly

and cars

Late to this but can I add the fuckers who chain their bikes to my railings and then act like they're saving the planet when I politely ask them to pay to use one of the bike parks round here.

I have bolt cutters and I will use them. On a bike chain or a tender part of your anatomy.