Bring back the Road Fund!

[theclaud]

As ridiculous as putting even more untraceable, non-accountable cyclists on the road looks to drivers perhaps?

Any change looks ridiculous to people with no vision.

Ah, I see. This is all about currying favour with motorists. No thanks. I will be joining Jim's 15mph centre-of-the-road protest squad.

 

[brokenbetty]

Ah, I see. This is all about currying favour with motorists. No thanks. I will be joining Jim's 15mph centre-of-the-road protest squad.

No, it's about trying to see the other guy's point of view.

Instead of saying "I don wanna!" I tend to think "why not?"

 

[BentMikey]

brokenbetty's suggestion isn't the most sensible or well considered. The obvious disadvantages are probably why the government have never implemented it.

 

[theclaud]

No, it's about trying to see the other guy's point of view.

Instead of saying "I don wanna!" I tend to think "why not?"

For all the reasons we've been through. Unnecessary. Expensive. Worst of all - discourages cycling and legitimises the prejudices of motorists.

 

[goo_mason]

Thought experiment. If the police gave up altogether and didn't try to police the roads, if cars didn't require licenses and plates and insurance, would the standard of driving get

a) better
worse

?

Worse. But it's bad enough out there at the moment with all of these things in place and plod just doesn't have the manpower to cope with doing anything other than the odd bit of speed-trapping and using NPR cameras to pick up stolen / reported / untaxed vehicles.

I'd LOVE to see more of them out working and improving things. But until they do, they're not going to be checking 'tax disks' on bikes if such a thing were ever to come in. Of course, I could be wrong - maybe that's about all they'll do - after all, it'd be a much easier 'collar' and a good way to make the targets and stats look good.

 

[brokenbetty]

For all the reasons we've been through. Unnecessary. Expensive. Worst of all - discourages cycling and legitimises the prejudices of motorists.

I don't think it legitimises the prejudices of motorists. It does the opposite. It says "we are all treated the same, we are all road users". For £15 or so, why would you not want to send that message?

To be truly mainstream cycling needs to grow up, and sometimes being a grownup means doing the paperwork and paying the taxes before you go out and play.

 

[theclaud]

I don't think it legitimises the prejudices of motorists. It does the opposite. It says "we are all treated the same, we are all road users". For £15 or so, why would you not want to send that message?

To be truly mainstream cycling needs to grow up, and sometimes being a grownup means doing the paperwork and paying the taxes before you go out and play.

I'm baffled as to why you think two fundamentally different modes of transport should be treated the same. Responsible cyclists already send out the message that they are grown-ups, by er, cycling responsibly. It doesn't always engender a similarly grown-up response. And I don't want less experienced cyclists discouraged or punished for harmless transgressions or minor errors.

 

[goo_mason]

ITo be truly mainstream cycling needs to grow up, and sometimes being a grownup means doing the paperwork and paying the taxes before you go out and play.

Doing that certainly hasn't helped some motorists grow up though, has it?

I'll continue to pay my vehicle excise duty at the current rate for zero-emission vehicles, thanks.

I'll also let the council / government continue to use money from all my taxes to pay for the road upkeep and infrastructure too, just like every other road user, motorised or otherwise.

 

[jonredhornet]

You mean, like roads? We certainly need a lot less cycle paths, even if they weren't of such outstandingly bad quality.

Well, yes, better designed roads with cyclists as a key consideration, or cycle lanes which do not slow down the cyclist, are safe, debris free and easy to use. Big ask I know

 

[BentMikey]

I think they are called bus lanes...

 

[hackbike 666]

Well, yes, better designed roads with cyclists as a key consideration, or cycle lanes which do not slow down the cyclist, are safe, debris free and easy to use. Big ask I know

That's always been a problem though.Roads never have seemed to be designed for cycling.

My pet dislike at the moment is the London Bridge exits.Most of the other bridges are naff as well.That's before they start digging them up.(again)

 

[marinyork]

My pet dislike at the moment is the London Bridge exits.Most of the other bridges are naff as well.That's before they start digging them up.(again)

How so?

 

[Dan B]

I don't think it legitimises the prejudices of motorists. It does the opposite. It says "we are all treated the same, we are all road users". For £15 or so, why would you not want to send that message?

Are you going to ask pedestrians to pay it too? If not why not?

 

[brokenbetty]

I'm baffled as to why you think two fundamentally different modes of transport should be treated the same

They aren't that different. Better to look for common ground - to work to create it even - than emphsise how different we are all the time.

Responsible cyclists already send out the message that they are grown-ups, by er, cycling responsibly. It doesn't always engender a similarly grown-up response.

But right now they also send out a message that says they don't want to be insured, accountable or identifiable. And that message is heard all the time, whether or not they are on the bike.

And I don't want less experienced cyclists discouraged or punished for harmless transgressions or minor errors.

How do you feel about harmless transgressions or minor errors by drivers?

 

[marinyork]

But right now they also send out a message that says they don't want to be insured, accountable or identifiable. And that message is heard all the time, whether or not they are on the bike.

This is just paranoid waffle. Anyone that thinks that has been locked up in their mettle cage a bit too often. In many areas it tends to be people not in cars that are accountable, identifiable and stopped and harassed. You need to look at the stop and search figures for peds and then compare them to cars. If you look at town centres it is often the cyclists that are stopped and told off for things whereas say for example a car drives down a pedestrianised area and no one pays attention. I've been told off plenty of times for cycling in a contraflow cycle lane.