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?

You've answered your own question.

Cars don't drive on pavements or on cycle tracks.

Tell me about one freight tram in the UK.

But you could have felt unwell and as a result fallen under a vehicle.

Not a good call to use a bicycle under those circumstances.

So you want everyone to drive everywhere, because 1/6 of the population live rurally?

Towns and cities are cyclable for the majority of their residents. Particularly with the right infrastructure.

No, I don't wish I could get to work faster.

I know @Kazzyhoward
I was being facetious to the poster who suggested that cyclists should drive or get a cab or the bus.

No buses or trains go where I want to go and I prefer to cycle 😊

Nobody wants to cycle. That's what you don't seem to understand. In the UK the climate means that cycling is just not an attractive option for the vast majority of people.

So you don’t want to get where you’re going faster but you’re on here moaning about being held up by cyclists?

yeah right

I do and so does my DH.

He cycles 9 miles to work each day and is currently in the frustrating situation of trying to find additional parking facilities, at great expense to his company, for all the staff who live within 5 miles and choose to drive.
Meanwhile they sit at their desks, moaning about the roadworks delaying their commute, the money that’s been spent on the new cycle path and how much weight they’ve put on because they don’t have time to exercise.

“then when I do finally get here there’s NOWHERE TO PARK”

@onefinemess

Coats exist.

They manage fine with basically the same climate in the Netherlands.

Sure, you don't want to get an extra 40 minutes in bed and an extra 40 minutes at home in the evenings.

Sure. Sure.

Sure they do.

Lots do already.

Lots want to but feel unsafe on the roads because of the actions of drivers.

Every cyclist on the road is one less car causing congestion. You should be thanking them.

So of the 3.5 miles I cycle to work I can cycle on the 2.8 miles of roads that were built for horses, but not the 0.7 miles that is on the A470 (single carriageway but very generously wide lanes)? Presumably cars should only be permitted to use the roads specifically designed with them in mind too?

If they were on bikes they wouldn't be creating any.

How is riding to work (I'm a shift-working "key worker") a "hobby"?

When walking back from the shops earlies I had to wait for a car to pass before stepping off of the pavement to walk around several cars parked upon it. Quite apart from the delay I incurred while waiting for a car to pass (some hulking great SUV taking up the full width of the lane with only one person in it), how did those cars come to be parked upon the pavement if they hadn't driven on it first?

I was referring to the idea that being stuck in traffic was a bad thing. I fully accept that I may encounter traffic, it's an unavoidable consequence of driving. But cycling isn't necessary, a delay caused by a cyclist is just pointless and unnecessary.

Bet you wish you get home faster though, don't you.

It's about time that we invested in better infrastructure, don't you agree? Rather than sacrificing yet more space to the car. Compare these pictures of the same area of Denver, the first in the 1920s, the second in the 1970s. Massive parts of the city bulldozed to widen roads and provide parking. And the streets are still congested!

Do we therefore ban all unecessary car journeys?

I was held up for half an hour at the weekend in a traffic jam caused by a large volume of drivers going to a concert, which is a leisure activity and unnecessary.

Yes but your husband chooses to cycle, he's demonstrably, by your own post, in the minority.

As I said, the vast majority of people believe that cycling is inefficient, uncomfortable and just not something they want to do.

People cycle in Montreal, Canada in the middle of winter. There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. I hardly ever wear full waterproofs, even cycling to work in Wales.

The real reasons that people don't cycle to work in the UK include that the standard of driving is dangerously appalling, and that they've sunk large amounts of money into a depreciating liability so feel obliged to get as much use out of it as possible.

Some people are just plain lazy too, of course...

No modern roads were built for horses. Think of it like this, the road networks are full of directional sinage and road markings, these apply to vehicles, not horses. If roads were built for horses there wouldn't be any road markings or speed limits or regulations.

I would tell them that they can make their own arrangements. And then point out the tax advantages of the cycle2work scheme.

I'm referring to the hobby cyclists who ride in groups and pretend they're in the Tour De France.