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?

The reason motorways are called such is because they are built specifically for motor vehicles and no other road users. This is what distinguishes them from other roads. They are a recent phenomenon compared to the roads in this country, some of which have existed for thousands of years.

On any other road, the motorist is the only one who is there by license and not by right. Roads were built for pedestrians, carts, horses.

Anyone can use the roads - pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders, cart drivers, and those driving motor vehicles.

The difference between a driver and a cyclist, pedestrian, or horse rider is that the latter three have an inalienable right to be on that road. Anyone can walk on a road. Anyone can take a pedal bike onto a road.

If you want to take a car onto the road, you have to prove you are sufficiently competent, healthy, and make sure you are insured. Drivers do not have a right to be on the road: they have a license only and that can be removed.

Actually, that's a very valid point and I can certainly make an exception. But I do live in a city and it enrages me seeing the insane traffic clogging up the streets while there's a tram, buses, walkable roads, trains. It is batshit ridiculous. So definitely discussing it from an opposite POV.

People have lost the ability to want to move at all apparently (in cities).

We have a car that we use for long journeys when they work out to be cheaper than rail travel, as well as for emergencies - probably use it about once a month.

Otherwise I will walk any distance under 1hr, or get public transport. It baffles me how people outside of having medical issues are so lazy in cities.

Cars are registered because people need a license to use them, among other things, and take them onto the public road.

This is because the law has recognised, for decades, that motor vehicles pose a disproportionately greater hazard to other users than vice versa.

Exactly this. The only time I get irritated with cyclists on the road (pretty rare as I also like to cycle!) is when they ride in a long straggling line you can’t overtake in any way. And this almost never happens, as most cyclists sensibly ride in a peloton formation or leave a passing distance between them if they’re in groups.

@MXVIT

it would cost a fortune to administer & ne very very difficult to enforce, it's really not cost effective.

Well I drive and cycle, and my car is taxed, so I'm assuming that, plus the tax I pay from my wages goes towards repairing the non existent damage my bike causes to our utterly buggered roads....

😂😂😂

@Flickersy Exactly that. I wish I could have that on a piece of lamianted card to give to all the arsehole motorists who woud hoot, shout and drive to close to animals my dad has to occasionally move along or across roads. NB on the few times he has to move sheep across a large bypass (which cuts through his farm) he has to apply to the police to stop the traffic for him.

At the end of the day MAMIL's riding out in a group on a weekend aren't going anywhere, they're just exercising - so let them use the gym and cycle machines and get them off my roads.

And that is also why, except on motoways, jaywalking is not a thing in the UK.

@Brumbies What about people who go for leisurly weekend drives? Or leisure trips?

They don't need to be on the road either.

Surely this is satire 😂

They're not "just exercising" though... they're socialising and getting outdoor enjoyment out of something that's a heck of a lot more healthy than paying a fortune to sit alone on a machine inside a dingy gym. Heaven forbid people want to spend time together outdoors...!

And yes, I totally agree that there are some ignorant, careless cyclists on the road, but there are FAR more dangerous, inept and thoughtless drivers.

I sincerely hope it's satire.... sadly I fear it might not be.....

It's satire!

Thank Gawd for that.... 😉

People on bikes can cause accidents, break the law etc and there is absolutely no way to catch them without registration plates.

if that was the case, then why is it that every death a cyclist has caused - the cyclist has been caught even when they have left the scene? Whereas registered car drivers are escaping 5000+ hit and run incidents each year, if they have registration plates why aren't they being caught?

Very glad to see the sensible comments outweigh the utterly moronic ones. Interesting that those living in small towns with country roads are only up in arms about cyclists, but aren’t demanding that slow-moving vehicles like tractors get off the road too? It’s almost as if these posters have an axe to grind. 🤔

"get them off my roads" And there we have it, the essence of the entitled motorist. They're not your roads, you shrub. Why should anyone have to go to a gym if they'd prefer to cycle out in the open? The world isn't actually only here to facilitate cars, as much as you'd be forgiven for thinking so looking at the state of our infrastructure and town planning.

@Brumbies ...I've just seen your comment saying it's satire. Oh well, I got something off my chest, at least! 😂sorry for directing my ire your way

You have my sympathies. I am no stranger to trying to move sheep and cows down the road, or trying to move heavy farm machinery down narrow lanes.

Even if you do it at the crack of dawn the odds are there'll be someone. People need to realise the roads are for everyone - sometimes you'll be held up (that applies to me too, as a driver) because others need to use it. And that's OK. Sometimes you'll be the one holding others up. And that's OK too.

I would go further and say that bicycles and pedestrians should be banned from public roads.

That would mean my friend couldn't leave her garden, @onefinemess !

She lives in a terraced cottage on a rural road with no pavement. She has a parking space, but it's at the end of the row of cottages, so she has to walk along the road to get to it.

Yes, she was.

What has it got to do with anyone's lungs?