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?

Actually Bingbang has a point. It was the inconsiderate cycling that really narked me. Holding up about ten or so cars for about a mile because they insisted on cycling two abreast so no-one felt safe to overtake.

I don't mind cyclists who obey the rules of the road. The ones that feel they are entitled to go through red lights on the other hand......

The roads are shoddy and patchy in my area anyway. No money being spent unless there is actual damage to a vehicle or an accident.

Would you have overtaken another car on the same stretch? If not, then it wasn't the cyclists making it unsafe to overtake.

Well I love cycling . If more people did it maybe the government could spend the money the NHS currently needs to deal with illnesses caused by inactivity & obesity on the roads.

I drive a car and don't have to pay VED because its emissions are low. Perhaps the op needs a less polluting car.

Actually Bingbang has a point. It was the inconsiderate cycling that really narked me. Holding up about ten or so cars for about a mile because they insisted on cycling two abreast so no-one felt safe to overtake.

If it's not safe, cars need to wait. They don't own the road and don't come above other road users. Not sure what you don't understand about it 🤔

Exactly! People making sanctimonious comments about being easier to overtake clearly don't have the narrow lanes that many places have and not for 30 seconds, it can be miles.

Timefortea- no i wouldnt have overtaken a car on the same stretch, but the car wouldnt have been going so slowly and holding so much traffic up for such a long distance

The attitude from some posters on this thread to cyclists really illustrates the danger posed by motorists who are convinced THEY own the fucking road. One reason why I tend to only bike in London where drivers are actually used to bikes and don't freak out, largely considerate and there is infrastructure to keep bikers safe.

If the drivers behind we're aware of the Highway Code then they would have felt able to overtake. Unless of course there wasn't the space available to do so which would apply to one bike or two.
But well done to you for your clichéd ill informed goady post.

What if it was? What if it was a learner driver, or a hearse, or somebody unfamiliar with the area? Should they also keep off roads they can’t be overtaken on?

I don't know if you know this but many cyclists are also drivers and pay their car tax.

DH is a cyclist and has commuted by bike for the 22 years we've been together. In that time he's been knocked off his bike at least twice by cars not seeing him, including someone who opened their door in a traffic jam without looking - ffs. And someone turning into their drive and hotting him head on as he cycled along - that was a bad one. I fear for his safety every day
Injuries he has caused to otthers: 0.

Yeah, I am sick of seeing those pesky bikes causing all those potholes, and emissions.

@JudgeJ if it was two cyclists riding in single file it would take twice as long to overtake. Surely that's harder on narrow twisty roads?

You need 2 metres clearance to overtake a single bike which is probably 2 metres from the kerb, so total 4 metres from kerb.

If they're two abreast, you need 2 metres clearance from the outside bike, which itself should be 2 metres from the inside one, which should be 2 metres from the kerb, so 6 metres in total.

There are plenty of places where you could overtake with a distance of 4 metres from the kerb, i.e. one bike width plus safety allowance, but far fewer places where there's 6 metres from the kerb.

Plenty of places where you could safely overtake a couple of bikes in single file, but not enough space to overtake a couple riding abreast.

"Sometimes", it's safer for bikes to ride two abreast, but sometimes not. I really don't like the way some cyclists just default to two abreast regardless of road conditions, road width, other traffic, central white lines, etc., "just because they can" - they're typically the arrogant lycra louts.

I own a car but mostly use my bike. Therefore shouldn't I pay less tax, because I cause less wear and tear on the road, and am emission free?

But that's not how tax works, and I hope you're being facetious with your comment and aren't daft enough to actually believe people "pay towards" a certain thing with their tax.

If you can’t overtake two abreast safely you probably can’t overtake two one in front of the other safely either. Which is probably why they went two abreast in the first place.

Assuming it was a windy narrow road / very busy in the opposite direction or something?

Context is everything. Yes, you;re right, maybe on some stretches of some roads. Cyclists should adapt to the road, sometimes single file, sometimes two abreast.

Assuming they are taxpayers, they do pay to use the road.

I don’t think cyclists who just want to have more than a whiskers length of room on the road without being mowed down by a load of off-road vehicles (that happen to never go off-road), think they ‘own the road’.

Assuming the cyclists were going at a (pretty slow for MAMILs) 18mph, it took them 3’20” to cover that mile.

If a car was travelling 40mph, it would take them 1’30”

At 60mph it would take them 1’ flat.

I think the less than 2 minute delay they caused you has been eclipsed by the time you’ve wasted moaning about it on MN.

The road doesn’t belong to you or other motorists. They aren’t in your way, they’re using what they’re perfectly entitled to use ;and being more environmentally friendly about it too)

Like drivers all cyclists are individuals - some of them are more considerate than others .

I come across one on my narrow country lane school run regularly . There is one stretch of the road it’s safe to overtake him - he invariably sticks himself in the middle of the road so I can’t . My son is an avid cyclist and even he’s sick of him . Our issue is with the individual though not the breed .

The reality is on narrow country lanes you need a bit of give and take .

No issue with cyclists on the road and riding as if they own their lane, because they do.

But, they should have to have registration and insurance. They need to follow the rules of the road and not all do.

I was hit crossing a pedestrian crossing in London by a cyclist, broke my wrist, he just kept going.

@dreamingofsun you might find this helpful:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/road-users-requiring-extra-care-204-to-225

Riding in gangs of ten or twenty on narrow (think Yorkshire Dales) roads is not only ill -mannered but downright dangerous. They should pay not least for the lost revenue of people trying to go about their business.
I assume that they are the same
people who when driving a car push in, hoot loudly and generally behave ignorantly then as well ☹️