Myths and Rebuttals

[Arch]

Take your camera and post the results!

yeah, I should! It's one of those things I always mean to do, and never get round to.

When I get more organised, and have a working laptop again (assuming it ever IS working again)....

 

[marinyork]

I used to get nearly run over just about everytime I walked back from the supermarket in York by RLJers on a particular junction in cars. If you stood the other side of the junction you'd sometimes see upto 6 cars doing it which was why when the ped crossing had gone green for quite a few seconds you'd have cars zooming through in a convoy for several seconds. Some poor blighter on a bike got smacked one day.. The local councillor agreed about that junction but like a 20 zone said that North Yorkshire police couldn't give a monkeys about traffic offences unless it was the once a year Coppergate crackdown or cycling in the fictional pedestrianized zone. I rarely saw cyclists RLJ other than ring road related routes (and not very often then). You'd hear a lot of people moaning in York but I think a lot of it was false advocates or Mike Usherwood's fanclub or people saying I saw someone RLJ in 1973 and they're all like that, evil lot.

In Sheffield there's a small commuting belt in the south west where it's flatter and I sometimes see other cyclists pulling up behind me at lights. Mobile phone used in cars, RLJing by cars, broken lights and speeding (not as bad as North Yorkshire) are the biggest problem on the roads. Cycling RLJing must be somewhere in the top 25 problems on the road but not that high up.

 

[classic33]

Rebuttal: Worms don't come in cans.

Sure on that. Check this!
http://www.presentaid.org/invt/worms

 

[skoda38]

tax

myth; you dont pay tax

rebuttal; i pay tax and insurance for three cars and there all in the drive.

 

[hackbike 6]

Not so sure if this is a good rebuttal but some stupid old cow was reading a bit of paper while she was driving (the sort of behaviour reserved for delivery van drivers)(sorry to stereotype) and I shouted through stupid old cows window when I caught up with her in Leyton on one of my commutes to work during the week "How stupid can you get"

I think she got the point.

Silly old cow I couldn't give a monkies if you injure yourself while being so stupid but don't bring me into the equation.

 

[dondare]

myth; you dont pay tax

rebuttal; I pay tax and insurance for three cars and there all in the drive.

This is not the best answer as it implies that if you own a car (or three) you're then paying tax and that's what entitles you to cycle on the road; but what about cyclists who don't own a car?
Cyclists like everyone else pay tax on what they earn, what they spend and where they live and it's this that pays for roads, not VED. But even someone who pays no tax at all is still entitled to use the road freely.

 

[marinyork]

That's true dondare but isn't it a myth itself about cycle use, that in actual fact cyclists as a subgroup have a higher percentage of car ownership than the general population?

 

[dondare]

Cycling is more popular with the afluent middle classes (who bear the brunt of the tax burden) than it is among the lower earners and unwaged; so cyclists as a subgroup pay more than their share of the road budget. However, this does not affect the right of non-cyclists to use the roads.

 

[Ludwig]

Rebuttal to everything...Does your social worker know your hear!!!....or You're in breach of your ASBO!!!

 

[Twiggy]

"You don't pay road tax!"
"you pay road tax??" *point and laugh*

"cycling is dangerous!"
"only around you"

 

[Riding in Circles]

I get "you shouldn't be on the road on that thing"

My rebuttal is "thankyou (with a cheery wave)".

From time to time i am asked if I am disabled, to which I wave my arms about and go "naaaaargh". I expect a scottish wok wearer will tell me that is offensive in a moment.

 

[magnatom]

I get "you shouldn't be on the road on that thing"

My rebuttal is "thankyou (with a cheery wave)".

From time to time i am asked if I am disabled, to which I wave my arms about and go "naaaaargh". I expect a scottish wok wearer will tell me that is offensive in a moment.

Not at all, I think you've just reduced the price of the POV.1 to £455

 

[Arch]

I get "you shouldn't be on the road on that thing"

My rebuttal is "thankyou (with a cheery wave)".

From time to time i am asked if I am disabled, to which I wave my arms about and go "naaaaargh". I expect a scottish wok wearer will tell me that is offensive in a moment.

Better would be to say "Oh, yes, I am", and then stand up, lock the biek and walk away, leaving the mystified person to wonder what your disability is...

Or perhaps to say, "Oh, yes, I am, I'm totally deaf" and see how long it takes thier brains to clunk through "but, he heard my question..."

 

[dondare]

I get "you shouldn't be on the road on that thing"

My rebuttal is "thankyou (with a cheery wave)".

From time to time i am asked if I am disabled, to which I wave my arms about and go "naaaaargh". I expect a scottish wok wearer will tell me that is offensive in a moment.

Tell them that you're not disabled, you use your legs to make it go. Then ask them why they need an engine in their vehicle, is it because they're disabled? No? Just lazy, then.

 

[nilling]

Hoping to use this one day...

Driver: "You're holding up the traffic!"
Me: "But I AM traffic!"