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

[smutchin]

So you are saying that if on a busy road there is a big group of cyclists taking up the whole lane....and it is not possible to overtake safely - then that is OK? I must be missing something.

I live in a rural area where cyclists regularly cycle in large groups taking up the whole road, and they do not move over or go single file - which is incredibly infuriating. Then they wonder why people b*tch at them

Hmmm. I'm willing to bet any money that your perception is not backed up by an objective analysis of the evidence, rather it is a reflection of your prejudices.

 

[swee'pea99]

Hmmm. I'm willing to bet any money that your perception is not backed up by an objective analysis of the evidence, rather it is a reflection of your prejudices.

I totally disagree. There may well be situations where it's safer for cyclists to ride abreast. There are also situations where it isn't, but they do it anyway, displaying a total disregard for other road users. Cyclists, in short, sometimes act like dicks. In this, they are much like the other humans. Doesn't mean we have to pretend it doesn't happen. Or, for that matter, that it isn't reprehensible when it does. Or, for that matter, that it isn't inconsiderate also to other cyclists, in that such behaviour can only increase some people's antipathy to cyclists, making them more likely to do stupid and dangerous things around them.

 

[User10119]

So you are saying that if on a busy road there is a big group of cyclists taking up the whole lane....and it is not possible to overtake safely - then that is OK?

Yes. If it isn't possible to overtake safely, don't overtake.

View: https://youtu.be/OTGRQgw6PDA?t=1m7s

 

[Tizme]

On my JOGLE several years back, on the A38 towards Tewkesbury we met a long tailback of vehicles (due to a major pile up on the motorway all traffic had been diverted onto the, up to that point, quiet A38). Took great delight in cycling passed a porsche (amongst others) and gave the driver a wave, about half an hour later, as I sat in a cafe in Tewkesbury enjoying a coffee

 

[MontyVeda]

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.

...and the usual retort is one along the lines of "it's still road tax though." At this point, i try to explain that VAT and the tax we pay on beer and fags pays for the roads as much as 'road' tax does, and that means we're all contributing regardless of our mode of transport... but it seldom sinks in.

 

[winjim]

Regarding singling out, it's worth bearing in mind that car drivers are two abreast even in single file. A car with a single occupant has three or more empty seats taking up space on the road.

 

[Tizme]

I had a "chat" with a van driver one afternoon after he had close passed me (to get to the end of a queue of traffic). When I tried to politely explain how uncomfortable his pass was all he kept repeating was "put a [tax] disc on it", his passenger looked genuinely contrite.

 

[Drago]

Or you could reply...

"For the same reason you don't pay higher rate income tax like I do."

 

[mustang1]

Idiot: why don't cyclists pay road tax?
Cyclist: do you like paying tax?
Idiot: no
Cyclist: why don't you become a cyclist then?

 

[smutchin]

I totally disagree. There may well be situations where it's safer for cyclists to ride abreast. There are also situations where it isn't, but they do it anyway, displaying a total disregard for other road users.

The precise bit of @Charlotte Alice Button's post I take issue with is "I live in a rural area where cyclists regularly cycle in large groups taking up the whole road" - and this is where I suspect her perception is at odds with reality.

I simply don't believe this happens often enough to be a justifiable grievance.

Depends what she means by "regularly" though - after all, Christmas is pretty regular, and so is Halley's comet...

 

[Drago]

Been a long time since Kent was rural.

 

[Kajjal]

[QUOTE 5254623, member: 10119"]Yes. If it isn't possible to overtake safely, don't overtake.

View: https://youtu.be/OTGRQgw6PDA?t=1m7s[/QUOTE]

While true it is important cyclists in groups show courtesy to other road users or they simply become the cycling equivalent of the crazed white van man, creating hostile conditions unnecessarily.

 

[User10119]

While true it is important cyclists in groups show courtesy to other road users

Of course.
But if the safest thing in a particular circumstance is to ride two up, then that is also the courteous thing to do. I think it it would be most discourteous to introduce unnecessary danger to a situation.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Why don't cyclists pay road tax?
Because they don't spout shoot like motorists do.

 

[winjim]

[QUOTE 5254623, member: 10119"]Yes. If it isn't possible to overtake safely, don't overtake.

View: https://youtu.be/OTGRQgw6PDA?t=1m7s[/QUOTE]I do have to say I'm not terribly keen on the 'cyclists will...' tone of the video as if all cyclists one comes across will behave in a certain way. Some will, some won't. Some will have good reason for doing/not doing so, some won't. Some will be thinking very carefully about their roadcraft, some won't. Some will be entitled nobbers with chips on their shoulders, some won't. Same as motorists or anybody really.

But that's a minor whinge and it's still a good video.