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

[Drago]

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

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

Cycling directly side by side is daft. One comes off, his chum will likely join him, and then carnage ensues as those behind ride into the mess. Any good peloton crash demonstrates this neatly. One should stagger oneself about 2/3 back from the rider on the inside. This gives the brain greater opportunity to spot the visual clues that precede a rider dumping it, and greater time and space to react accordingly.

 

[Mr Celine]

My two stock replies to this nonsense are
'you don't look your age. You must be 98 if you've ever paid road tax' and
'do you harangue drivers of tractors / electric vehicles / motability cars as well?'

 

[Threevok]

My reply is usually "You pay road tax ? Where's your DeLorean - Marty McFly ?"

 

[pawl]

Tell them it's based on emissions, and as they're currently spouting sh1t......

Just don’t fart passing one of those emission devices

 

[Drago]

There no law or moral code that entitles a car driver to blat along at any speed that pleases them, regardless of anyone else. The road is full of others who are entitled to be there, be they cyclists, tractors, or even car drivers who aren't in a hurry, joggers, mopeds, Renault Twizys, and there's no God given right to be able to overtake them.

If you can't overtake safety, don't. If you're the sort of character who can't sit back, enjoy the radio and wait for a safe overtaking opportunity, then you're not fit to be in charge of a large kinetic weapon. The speed limit is not a target - it's the absolute fastest you should drive when the road, weather, and traffic conditions permit.

 

[pawl]

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

Back in the day when I rode with my local club50s 60s the rider at the back would call car ,If it was a rural lane we would single out and leave a gap in the group.Rare to have a problem.less cars about them,also back then are first mode of transport was a bike.

 

[fossyant]

Most of us pay VED anyway, as we have cars too !

 

[fossyant]

I get crap spouted by colleagues, but all seams to have gone very quiet since a driver broke my spine, and I was off work 7 months. No-one has ever moaned since about road tax/cyclists in the way too me... Hmmm I might just say 'cyclists don't give people life changing injuries do they ?'

 

[pawl]

I can being retired ride any day of the week.If on a narrow lane I have a vehicle behind me a tractor delivery van or car I will pull into a field gate to let them pass
I take the view that I’m riding for enjoyment they are working and I’m in no hurry.

 

[pawl]

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.

Agree with you.Ther are dick heads in all walks of life,riding a bike dosent naturally make us immune.

 

[User10119]

When I do my Friday commute there are large sections of the route that simply aren't suitable or safe for overtaking. I have a number of spots along the way that I _always_ pull over (generally quite obviously and ostentatiously, giving any passing drivers a big smile and a cheery wave) if there is any vehicle behind me. I, like most of the vehicle drivers on that road, am on my way to work but when it is safe and appropriate to do so, I will cheerfully add a minute or two of delay to my commute time in the interests of everyone having a better, safer journey. The other side of that is that in certain places I will take a very assertive primary position (and if I were cycling with a companion, would definitely ride two abreast and not single out) and I expect drivers to show the same courtesy, being prepared to add a minute or two to their journey, in return. I know from experience that there are sections of that road where, given the opportunity, some drivers will attempt to 'squeeze past' a lone cyclist - even when there are double white centre lines, a cyclist travelling between 15 and 20 mph, and a series of blind bends that have a history on nasty head-on collisions.

 

[Drago]

Well done Sir. The Cheery Wave (tm, Drago Enterprises 2012) does wonders for cyclo-cager relations.

 

[smutchin]

[QUOTE 5254829, member: 10119"]I expect drivers to show the same courtesy, being prepared to add a minute or two to their journey, in return.[/QUOTE]

In reality, it's unlikely to add any time to their journey, since overtaking you sooner will only get them to the back of the next traffic jam that bit quicker. At worst, it's likely to be a matter of seconds rather than minutes.

What drivers really object to, I find, is being required to moderate their speed for a few moments. It's the slowing down and speeding up that creates the perception of being delayed, but objective analysis would most likely reveal that it has made no difference to their overall journey time whatsoever. Because in truth motorists are never actually 'delayed' by cyclists, except in rare extreme examples like getting stuck behind a critical mass - and a group of club cyclists out on a training ride is hardly a critical mass, a lone cycle commuter even less so.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I might use GIYF in future, and not the polite version either.

 

[fossyant]

It's the bloody rocks that get me know. They jump out and ambush you. Then the trees jump out just as you get sorted.. and don't get me started on extendable dog leads...