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?

Car tax is not road tax. It hasn't been road tax for many years.

Riding 2 abreast is recommended in the highway code for safety: to improve visibility and to make cars slow down enough to pass safely. To the poster that complained that it makes them drive on the other side of the road, that is the point.

Thanks for the goady thread

As multiple people have alreasy said VED is emissions based so bikes are exempt just like other zero emissions vehicles.
And many cyclists ARE insured. Anyone who is a member of British Cycling or Cycling UK has significant public liability insurance as part of their membership. Plus lots of people who own more expensive bikes, particularly if they race, also have specific bike insurance policies, primarily because of the high risk of theft but they also cover accidents.Home insurance policies may also provide some cover too. No, it's not legally mandated but most serious cyclists that I know are insured by one or more method.
Yes, some cyclists are arseholes. As are some pedestrians, some horseriders, some motorcyclists and some drivers. No single group of road users has the monopoly on stupidity or selfishness. And no one group is comprised wholly of arseholes either. One group does have a far greater potential to kill or seriously injure though.

Silly post. We all need to cycle more and drive less. No one should be driving in city centres.

You pay emissions tax annually. The emissions for some cars and all bikes are zero so even if they did pay the tax they would simply get a bill of £0. It amazes me how people still don’t get this!!!

Riding two a breast is safer for everyone as the cyclists get given the appropriate space to overtake as the car is forced into the other lane which when they are single cars rarely think to do!

It also reduces the distance that you need to be in the over lane so it’s safer all round.

Bloody hell. Stop bellyaching. As has been pointed out, the "extra" £180 you're paying is emissions tax. Cyclists may ride two abreast for safety. They are exceptionally vulnerable road users. You are shielded by a massive metal box that can go 100 miles an hour. Get a grip.

Car tax is just a source of income for the Treasury. A tax if you like on the luxury of car ownership.
It hasn't paid for road maintenance in a very long time.
Anyone who thinks they have a greater right to the road because they have a car are somewhat mistaken.

On the flipside, why do you think that as a car user you "own the road" any more than a cyclist does? That's what always gets me. The roads are for travel purposes. Anyone can use them - cyclists, horseriders, motorists. You just don't like having to take extra care and attention to vulnerable road users because for some reason you think roads are just for cars. They're not.

Most cyclists are also car owners. There is no such thing as road tax, there is a tax on vehicle emissions. Bicycles don't make emissions.

1. Road maintenance comes out of general taxation so they do pay.
2. Bicycles don't wear down the road or it's markings like cars do.
3. Car tax is for emissions.
4. Stop rushing everywhere and leave in good time.

"I can’t get my head round why some motorists drive so close and aggressively to people on bikes. The imbalance of safety and power is enormous. You could bloody kill them!"

This a million times over.
I regularly (think multiple times a day every day) do a 3.5 mile/5 minute drive on a main A road with a mainly 50mph limit - Id much prefer to cycle it - I'd save money on petrol and get a bit of exercise - win win you'd think BUT Im not afraid to admit, Im scared to! I'm self-employed and have dependents - if I get knocked off my bike at the sort of speeds and distances the vehicles pass me at (even when I try and avoid peak times) - I would most likely be killed or at least very seriously injured.

What about cars that park in cycle lanes, thereby totally negating the value of their presence?

Then you shouldn't be overtaking the cyclists. Suggest you read the latest version of the Highway Code.

• give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders and horse drawn vehicles at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211 to 215). As a guide:leave at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds
• you should wait behind the motorcyclist, cyclist, horse rider, horse drawn vehicle or pedestrian and not overtake if it is unsafe or not possible to meet these clearances.

You do realise some people need to carry equipment for work don't you? Should I strap my ladder to the back of my bike?

Cargo bikes can carry lots of things

Op, if you have to be somewhere in a hurry, car travel is unpredictable because of traffic jams mainly caused by other traffic, not bikes, just leave earlier

Well unfortunately for you OP the roads were made for road users. Not specifically car drivers. So no, you, as a car driver, do not have priority over other more vulnerable road users. I'm sure you were held up for all of 5 minutes (most likely a lot less than that).

Where do I get my rebate?

I’ve been paying towards the roads since 1991, if only I’d known that being a cyclist means I don’t have to pay all or partial of my council tax

where did I get the rebate 😂😂😂😂

on a serious note can we charge dumb people that don’t understand tax, twice as much 🙄

Whats the acronym for an Older Female who wears Lycra when cycling as thats me? !
There are a couple of chaps in my cycling club who get really angry at the way the faster cyclists treat motorists! our steadier group is always polite, say thank you, pull over if we know the opportunities to overtake are minimal, and generally try not to piss drivers off - impossible sometimes as one bloke in a Merc once blasted his horn at us as we waited to turn right! He was coming the other way and was in no way inconvenienced by us!

But it does seem that the more of us there are who try to do the right thing by other road users, the more we get tarred with the same brush as those who don't .

Plenty of cyclists are also drivers too so already pay plenty.

I honestly don't care as long as they obey the rules of the road. I've nearly been taking out by twats in lycra dozens of times because red lights do not apply to them apparently.

Should I strap my ladder to the back of my bike?

it’s always amazed me how my local window cleaner carries his ladder but he does it like this chap & has done for years

Cyclists riding in groups of 10 or 20 is much safer than a single rider. They are being sensible, not rude.

The cyclists are just 'going about their business'. I'm unclear why the business of someone in a motor vehicle is more important?

No one is stopping you using your car or driving. They are stopping you from driving as fast as you'd like, as you need to slow down and follow safely until it is safe to pass.

Motorists do not own the road, do not take precedence over other road users and are not guaranteed a trip that allows them to drive at the speed limit.

Once you take that on board, it's not hard to just slow down and drive safely for all road users.

Theyareonlynoodkes, if I had a pound for every driver I see jump red lights on my cycle commute, I'd have enough to buy a tesla, oh and a car jumping a red light is more likely to kill

OP, you won't get any sense on here. I agree with you, in fact I would go further and say that bicycles and pedestrians should be banned from public roads. There are footpaths for pedestrians and cycle tracks for bicycles. Where there are neither, then there should only be cars.

You don't need to cycle, it's just a massive EGO TRIP. If you can cycle somewhere, you can just as easily take a bus or taxi, the same doesnt apply for cars. Cycling isn't a legitimate form of transport in the UK and shouldn't be seen as one. There is absolutely 💯 no reason for anybody to cycle on a road

You wouldn't buy a boat if you had nowhere to sail it, same logic should apply to bicycles. If you don't have a bike path to ride on, then you shouldn't buy a bicycle.

They are so dangerous, holding up traffic and none of them obey any rules. They should be banned immediately.

Yesterday I say a woman riding a bicycle with one of those stupid little trailers attached. Inside was a toddler. How fucking stupid and irresponsible was she to put a child in that position. She was quite happily cycling down the inside of an HGV approaching a set of lights. And then she just sat there, with her toddler literally inches from the double axle and exhaust. What kind of moronic stupidity was that. Completely clueless and oblivious to the danger.

Yeah, bicycles need to be banned from the roads ASAP.

Only if those other road users should be there. And treating a public road as a race track for your hobby isn't acceptable.