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?

• Emissions of nitrogen oxides and non-methane volatile organic compoundss_ from road transport also decreased by 51 per cent and 66 per cent respectively between 2011 and 2021. This is largely as a result of tighter emissions standards being introduced for petrol and diesel cars.
• For particulate matterr_, decreases in emissions from many sources have been partially offset by increases in emissions from domestic combustion (emissions of PM2.5 from this source increased by 50 per cent between 2011 and 2021). This reflects the increasing popularity of solid fuel appliances in the home such as wood-burning stoves. Industrial combustion of biomass also represents a growing source in recent years.

Are you actually trying to argue that car emissions are not a problem?

The trouble with this stuff is that it becomes an endless game of buck passing.

You try to do something about car emissions, and people immediately say "But! The wood burning stoves! Why aren't you doing something about them?"

So you try cracking down on wood burning stoves, and those people immediately start complaining "But! Plane emissions! Why aren't you cracking down on those people instead?"

So you start trying to do things to discourage flying, and straightaway "Hang on! Surely you should be starting off by doing something about all the emissions from cars!"

And so on and so on and so on. And meanwhile, nothing is being done about any of these issues.

I'm getting a bit tired of car-addicts who suddenly develop a terribly pious and deeply-felt concern about wood burning stoves etc. the moment society puts the tiniest bit of pressure on motorists. How about we deal with all of these issues in turn, and stop the endless what-about-ery in the meantime?

Nah that'd be ridiculous. You'd just put ownership onto a permit system.

Believe me, the opposition aren't any more likely to be pro-car. Quite the opposite in fact.

@Q2C4 Cleaner technologies exist
Indeed they do. We call them "trains".

& if the government really wanted to reduce emissions they would subsidize this form of transport.
You're preaching to the organist here. Unfortunately the government (who have suddenly discovered their inner petrolhead) have been cutting budgets for rail.

I'm getting a bit tired of car-addicts who suddenly develop a terribly pious and deeply-felt concern about wood burning stoves etc. the moment society puts the tiniest bit of pressure on motorists. How about we deal with all of these issues in turn, and stop the endless what-about-ery in the meantime

All those things also need to be dealt with - dog ownership needs more controls, pedestrians who don't pay attention need sorting out, and yes, garden bonfires should be banned in urban areas. None of this means that you can't deal with drivers as well. We have a whole army of civil servants to look at this stuff.

@Kazzyhoward Certainly didn't mean to implying your a liar, but can see why you d think that, reading the post back... Sorry for that.

As far as i can see from Google and various design and population sites, a Village is between a few 100 to 2500, anything with 7000 would be a town... Isn't Notting Hill often referred to as a Village... anyway, definitions of settlements is probably for another thread......

But i take your point that services across the country have been centralised and or shut down and moved online, including Pharmacy.

Which is what the 15 min city movement was designed to solve.

Despite how the conspiracy nuts/useful idiots have twisted it.

Unfortunately the sensible concept of "almost everyone should be able to walk to basic facilities*" has been ignored by local politicians who instead have come up with batshit schemes where they put restrictions on which zone you are permitted to drive to. Sort out the facilities and public transport first, the rest will follow.

*facilities meaning a doctor's surgery, school, bus stop (with at least a half-hourly service), shops, primary school, pub. This should be achievable for 95% of the population (I know that the statistics say that 15% of the population is rural, but most of those live in villages that are large enough to able to sustain these facilities).

Draiggoch - well we live in a town and dont have many of the things you mention - seconday school, bus stop with decent service and our shops are primarily hairdressers and estate agents. No swimming pool either. We have to travel 5 miles each way to get decent facilities. And that is why we dont cycle/walk to a lot of places.

Five miles? That's an easy bike ride, just so long as the drivers don't behave like idiots.

The point was that the 15 minute neighbourhood concept is that everyone should have access to basic facilities within walking distance. Some local authorities have plans to fix that, but the daft scheme that Oxfordshire County Council had to restrict circulation into zones has been used by the likes of Katie Hopkins to discredit the concept.

Just split drives into business or leisure peak off peak.
This make drivers think and plan journeys.
At the moment people just jump in their cars without a second thought leading to congestion hot spots.

With the number of parking threads on this board, I’m definitely up for more car ownership. Everyone should own their own motorised sofa to get round. Bigger, the better.

cars are not dangerous. Bad drivers are

It is not that clear cut.

A bad bike driver crashes into 100 pedestrians with a 10kg bike at 15 mph how many pedestrians die?

A bad car driver crashes into 100 pedestrians with a 1500kg car at 30 mph. How any people die?

A car is much more likey to kill in the wrong hands than a bike.

A car is much more likey to kill in the wrong hands than a bike

..and when they do knock down a cyclist, whilst drunk, then murders the cyclist by not getting medical help... buries him in an unmarked grave for years... finally gets caught, convicted and get a 12 year sentence.

Didn't even get charged with murder but Culpable Homicide, so will be out inside 6 years.

So long as these sorts of lenient sentences are handed out, few will chose alternatives to the car.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/driver-hit-killed-cyclist-hid-body-jailed/

I saw a fantastic graphic yesterday which showed how ludicrously large cars have become compared with 1980. And yet people moan about cyclists and taking up road space.

That's a horrific story

Didn't even get charged with murder but Culpable Homicide, so will be out inside 6 years

I think any sentence where you have killed another person you should do the full term. Whatever the length it might be.