Cyclists who act like they own the road should pay towards it

[dreamingofsun]

So cyclists get priority on the roads, and are happy to ride two abreast so they hold all the car traffic up. Shouldnt they at least pay towards the upkeep of the road?

This. Cyclists are advised to ride two abreast for safety.

Plus we want to encourage people out of their cars and onto their bikes, so no, I don't think they should have to pay road tax.

Cyclist should have third party insurance. If they ride into my car I have no comeback!

@DatumTarum

Or are you suggesting that the people you list above should be allowed to drive dangerously?

Of course not but to suggest that drivers shouldn't feel frustrated at being held up is unrealistic. Apparently, the simple fix to avoid this is to allow time. I merely pointed out that this is not something easily achieved by all drivers so they are perfectly entitled to feel frustrated. I personally allow time for hold ups but I would be lying if I stated that traffic jams, road works etc. don't occasionally qfrustrate me. Are we telling people how they should or shouldn't feel now?

If they ride into my car I have no comeback!

of course you do, if I rode into the back of your car and damaged your car - then id have to pay. Whether I have insurance or not is irrelevant to you - Id still have to pay.

I don't know why people don't understand why insurance just covers the cost of the damages for you and is a gamble You don't have to have insurance against being burgled - but if you do then the insurance pays out, otherwise you have to replace the TV and cover the costs if it gets stolen.

@Owlet64 of course you are allowed to feel a little frustrated when held up by things, but you don’t get week after week angry threads stating that roadworks should vanish for cars, that lead to the point road workers get subjected to items being thrown at them from cars or cars driving at them whilst they go about their business.

Cyclists have an absolute right to use the road that drivers are only permitted to use by licence. Politely, and I’m genuinely interested in your answer, why is it that cyclists are eating into the time you allowed in case of traffic jams which makes you late, rather than traffic jams eating in to the time you’d allowed in case there was a cyclist that makes you late (or horse rider, and round me we still get the milk float which is so slow I have to pass it on my bike), and thus why don’t other drivers get told to get off the road, get a bike or take the bus, drive outside of busy times etc when the cause is high volumes of traffic. One frustration isn’t worse than another. The frustration is being held up. One can be internally frustrated without having to be a dick to the thing that is frustrating. (Generally, i don’t know you so I’m not suggesting you personally are a dick to cyclists)

But if a car drives into your car and they aren’t insured, the MIB will pay. If the cyclist isn’t insured it won’t be simple to get the money back, as they aren’t covered by the MIB. I’m not aware of an equivalent for cyclists. The cyclist may not agree to pay or be able to afford to pay.

I don’t have a strong view on if cyclists should be insured - I’m reading this thread for education and interest and haven’t posted before - but I think your insurance analogy is flawed.

@TeresaCrowd

I guess I explained my point badly. I don't have to regularly commute at given times so my experiences are not the same as work commuters for example. I am not personally held up regularly by cyclists but I can appreciate the frustrations that some might feel about the delays caused which could be alleviated or avoided e.g. a cyclist maybe just pulling over for a couple of minutes to allow a tailback to get moving or using a safe cycle lane rather than use the road at peak times etc. (I am fully expecting to be annihilated for these suggestions 😂 (light-hearted remark)). Sometimes the attitudes of cyclists towards drivers on these threads are as bad as they claim the reverse to be. The overriding impression that I have from following this thread is that some cyclists like to play the victim, refuse to acknowledge that there just might be some cyclists out there who behave like, to use your term, "dicks" and that just maybe there are times when so much of the animosity could be avoided by a little more consideration from everybody.
P.S. I'm not a bad person!

I live in a village surrounded by single lane roads with no pavement, many of which have the occasional house dotted along them. What are those residents supposed to do if they don't have a car? Yes we have lots of footpaths across the fields, but they are across fields. I trail run and can tell you that a lot of people would struggle with those footpaths for maybe 75% if the year.
If I'm not ankle deep in mud thanks to the farmer ploughing the field (and there is something very satisfying about being the first across a ploughed field), I'm wondering if I should have brought along a machete to hack my way through the rapeseed crop or being extra careful not to trip on the frozen ruts left by horses or struggling to climb over a style (no idea why the styles here are so high especially as I'm so short). None of these footpaths are suitable for bikes even if it was legal to cycle on them.
I'm a car driver, runner and cyclist, I use the backroads and lanes in each of those roles. Because I also run and cycle I'm extra curtieous of runners, cyclists and horses when driving. When running I take cars, cyclists and horses in to account reacting to them in the appropriate manner. Same when cycling. If I'm driving and end up behind a cyclist (and believe there is no safe way to overtake until you get to a passing spot) I'll drop back and slow down giving them space and hope that they'll pull in to the next passing spot and let me pass, if they don't then I'm patient. Same with a horse, although I might end up just stopping and letting them past if they're coming towards me. I'm always aware of where the next passing spot is anyway and if there are any vehicles or pedestrians coming in the opposite direction
As a runner I'm always hyper aware for cars and ready to jump on the verge if necessary. I also walk past horses. As a cyclist again I'm aware of everything around me and if I notice a car coming in either direction I pull in to the next passing spot.
The only traffic that annoys me in any of the ways I use the road are car drivers that don't know the area and the roads and don't seem to understand what passing spots are for. (Although I do have to say I'm not keen on how little noise electric cars make, if the wind is blowing over the fields it often drowns out electric cars until they are right behind me)

Very obvious you don't live in a rural area.

Let's take where I live, a village with one little shop surrounded by many other villages within a few miles of each other. To get to many of these villages, unless you have a car you have to either walk across fields or along single lane roads (that don't have pavements). Some of the villages have bus routes that go through them, but many of them don't. Even to get to my local church you either have to walk through a field full of sheep (not sure anyone wants to walk in to church with that on their shoes) or up a road that doesn't have a pavement.

@firef1y

I think we all could do with taking a leaf out of your book. Consideration for others (regardless of mode of transport) would go such a long way to reducing the negative and often hostile mindset of one group towards another.

@Owlet64 ill pull over if there are more than 5 cars and the road is single track for more than a mile, and I can also see the ability to pull easily back out, when it is safe ie into a passing place. If there is a dashed white line or two distinct lanes and it’s just oncoming traffic then unless I’m feeling very charitable I probably won’t, because to be honest holding speed is quite easy but getting going back up to 18-20mph from standstill repeatedly is energy sapping. I definitely won’t stop on an uphill because if it’s steeper than about 6-8% then getting going again is particularly challenging and sometimes ends up meaning walking pushing your bike to the top of the hill. If people haven’t cycled, or only pootled a couple of miles with the kids they probably don’t get that it’s difficult to do.

certainly for me, and my friends, we are considerate and allow things through when we can, without making it unduly difficult for ourselves. We waved through anyone waiting behind us when we stopped at roundabouts/T junctions today. (We don’t really see that many traffic lights in the countryside, but have done this at temporary lights in the past as well) but we aren’t going to pull in to a side road if it would be a reasonably blind exit again and we are sitting at 20+ mph on the flat on a normal 2 lane road just because it’s been 30s and the car hasn’t overtaken yet for example. It’s not because we are inconsiderate, it’s acting within the reasonable limitations of our engines and machines which being entirely human powered are not the same limitations as a car engine.

Cyclists will know every local suitable location and the ones that might look it to something with 200bhp acceleration but not for 350W human powered acceleration (cycling power is in Watts, but 350w is equivalent to around 0.35 horsepower, and is the sort of power that the Tour de France riders put out on average, so you can bet that is much lower again for an amateur female)

Off topic a little bit, but I also think since everyone has started using mobile phone sat navs that more drivers are ending up on little lanes because waze or whatever thinks it’s a shortcut. Certainly round here there are long single lanes wit maybe 1 or 2 farm units on and that’s it. The other 2 sides of the triangle are A roads. You used to only see occasional tractors and 4x4 farm trucks and didn’t mind if 1 in 10 rides meant pulling in to a passing place for an obviously working vehicle but now those same roads seem to be regular cars in both directions if there’s a bit of heavy traffic at the A road roundabout. We’ve not taken the A road, so if you are going to back route down little country lanes then expect little country lane road users. (I know it’s different in areas where there are no big roads, but that’s absolutely not the case here)

Posted on Friday but not been back since.
For those asking, yes I have cycled quite a few times along the cycle track. It is well-maintained, with a grass verge between it and the road, and runs for about 5 miles.
There are no pot-holes or bumpy drain covers, and only one side turn onto a farm gate to negotiate.
I've been more than happy to use it, but then I'm not a mamil, just a rather elderly lady going about her business.

I don't give a stuff how the drivers of cars that almost kill me, feel

I was out for a walk today and a couple of motorcyclists screamed past me - they must have been doing at least 50mph on a 30 limit road. Possibly even faster.

And it made me wonder why all the vitriol is saved for push-bike-cyclists, rather than motorcyclists who have never kept to a speed limit since they passed their tests in their lives.

Surely it's not because they pay "road tax"?

@enchantedsquirrelwood we were passed by a very respectful group of motorcyclists today. Probably 20 of them. Passed widely and slowly and a couple of cheery waves. Some people are idiots and some are not regardless of mode of transport.

I don't think they should be taxed, but they should be insured.
We have many cyclists here (rural seaside area), I don't mind them, you can't live here and worry about hurrying anywhere, too many tractors, I am happy to match their speed until it's safe to overtake, we have very bendy roads, though I do get irritated when they wave me to overtake on blind bends.

https://www.pedalsure.com/blog/can-cyclist-be-sued-cause-accident

@freepo. The cyclist mentioned in the case above, has had a crowd fund. This has prevented him going bankrupt

its a gamble I’m not prepared to take, it costs me £27 for BC membership which comes with insurance.

I have a feeling that any clubs, so club rides have to have insurance and helmets to ride with them. I think this is any club associated with BC. British cycling have different levels of membership as they cover racing

If you drive into my bike then insurance (I'm fully comp by the way) won't get me out of the morgue.

Oh do grow up!

It's worth noting that if you're uninsured then there's no cap on the damages/legal costs you can be liable for.

Excuse me? Fear of being killed by reckless motorists is what prevents many people cycling.

I've recently started cycling again in a bid to get a bit fitter. In general I stick to local roads and cycle paths but on some of them people insist on walking on the cycle lane even with a much wider footpath to the side.
Most of the time I find people polite and considerate, as I am to them but occasionally you get drivers who don't give you room when they pass.

Actually this is in highway code to, much safer to be in front of the traffic, most junction boxes have a place for cyclists at the front of the rest of the traffic.

Goldencup. I think you are taking about the advanced stop boxes rather than cycling through red traffic lights, which is what the other post was concerning.

half the ti
e I don’t bother moving forward to advanced stop box, as drivers often close pass afterwards as punishment 😩 or drivers are stopped in the box