After funeral and a relative asks, "why don't cyclists pay road tax?"

[MontyVeda]

Off topic i know but... @Charlotte Alice Button ...this 'big' group of cyclists riding two or three abreast is a much shorter 'obstacle' than a 'big' group of cyclists in single file.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

 

[lane]

I don't get this sort of thing often. Possibly because I generally associate with other cyclists. Generally socially, and at work many of my conversations are with other colleagues interested in cycling of which there are a few. Occasionally a family member will show their sense of entitlement by complaining to me that they were momentarily held up by a cyclist or that a cyclist has been filtering. So when it does happen it takes me back a bit. I recall that some people I have dealings with at work - not actual work colleagues so I don't see them so often - seemed like nice people - then it came up in conversation that I was cyclist. I could really feel the instant hostility. They expressed utter amazement that I would indulge in such a dangerous activity, then came all the complaints which I recall included the fact that someone who cycled to their workplace turned up in lycra. It was really as if they viewed cyclists as an alien species. As I say it doesn't happen often but that stuck with me as I realised then that there is a section of the population that are really hostile to the whole idea of cycling.

Although there is a BMW driver at work who is always complaining about cyclists - but what more can you expect so I just generally ignore him?

 

[Drago]

Hold on a dang minute. Car drivers clog up the roads when it's busy and regularly bring town centres to a stand still, but no one is suggesting that their presence is irresponsible.

Cyclists are entitled to be on the road, cyclists can't move as fast as motorised traffic, that's the way it is, period (as the colonials would say). Motor vehicle drivers need to simply get over that fact.

 

[lane]

Hold on a dang minute. Car drivers clog up the roads when it's busy and regularly bring town centres to a stand still, but no one is suggesting that their presence is irresponsible.

Cyclists are entitled to be on the road, cyclists can't move as fast as motorised traffic, that's the way it is, period (as the colonials would say). Motor vehicle drivers need to simply get over that fact.

Yes - but some people have such a car centric view of the world that it is utterly impossible for them to comprehend such obvious facts

 

[Drago]

Very true. that is why when a car driver complains to me, "why don't cyclists pay road tax?" I reply "foxtrot oscar, you nodder." You can't fix stupid.

 

[TheDoctor]

My usual reply is 'Because no-ones asked me to. Write to your MP and suggest it!'

 

[MontyVeda]

Hold on a dang minute. Car drivers clog up the roads when it's busy and regularly bring town centres to a stand still, but no one is suggesting that their presence is irresponsible.

...

Long live the standing traffic.... there's no better feeling than cycling right past it all

 

[rikki]

My usual reply is 'Because no-ones asked me to. Write to your MP and suggest it!'

Yes. The reason cyclists don't pay road tax / VED / registration fees is because they don't have to.

 

[captain nemo1701]

As soon as anyone knows I am a regular cyclist, they start having a go.

I got the "why don't cyclists pay road tax?" line yesterday after a family funeral.

I retorted with the "It's called Vehicle Excise Duty now".

On a sad day, the discussion made me even more sad.

I sometimes get this. My stock answer is that it doesn't exist.

This usually results in a perplexed look on the face. I then educate them that the road fund was abolished in 1937 by Winston Churchill and that VED is basically a pollution tax.

 

[Levo-Lon]

To be fair it's usually salad Dodgers who want cyclists to pay road tax..



Pigeon hole in one

 

[Drago]

I'm a card carrying salad dodger!

 

[Threevok]

I'm a card carrying salad dodger!

Is that like my Donner Card ? - where (in the event of my death) someone else gets my Kebab ?

 

[Dayvo]

As soon as anyone knows I am a regular cyclist, they start having a go.

I got the "why don't cyclists pay road tax?" line yesterday after a family funeral.

I retorted with the "It's called Vehicle Excise Duty now".On a sad day, the discussion made me even more sad.

Using a sarcastic tone, just say, 'What are you, a fackin' tax inspector or something???'

 

[Rooster1]

I won't take the bait in future. I'll just decline to comment.