The AA Complaining Again

[mcshroom]

Unless you are going to count the camp site warden Dalness isn't an 'inhabited' place. Seathwaite, however is and is number 2 on that list which is to where I was referring (it also holds the record for the highest rainfall in 24hrs (314.4 mm (12.38 in) - I cycled in that rainfall event too).

As for wind, the top gusting wind I commuted in last year was 91mph, and I ride along a ridge near the coast and then straight at the sea for 1.5 miles. You may think not, but from experience you think wrong.

 

[Brandane]

wonder what my dad did then for all the years he did odd starts when he was driving HGVs . maybe he had a wormhole oh no he used his bike.

Did you bother to read post #71? You're Dad probably drove HGVs back in the day when it was a reasonably well paid job. Maybe it was worth his while commuting 50 miles each way on major trunk roads in the pi5hing rain to work 12 hour + shifts. But I doubt that he really did that.....

 

[Paul J]

Unless you are going to count the camp site warden Dalness isn't an 'inhabited' place. Seathwaite, however is and is number 2 on that list which is to where I was referring (it also holds the record for the highest rainfall in 24hrs (314.4 mm (12.38 in) - I cycled in that rainfall event too).

As for wind, the top gusting wind I commuted in last year was 91mph, and I ride along a ridge near the coast and then straight at the sea for 1.5 miles. You may think not, but from experience you think wrong.

One person living there means it is populated . 91mph is a stiff breeze try 124+ mph (not gusting) strong enough to throw my mondeo 2 crofts away like a tumble weed. So I still challenge someone to ride and get their family weekly shopping on a cycle and do a daily commute. Don't take my word for it, speak to anyone who has lived in the Outer Hebs about the weather.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Greg, I took up cycling in 1968. I've done the whole lot, cycle touring with tents and panniers, racing, commuting to work, and just riding a bike because I love it. But I also rely on my car. I need a car as much as I need my bike. That's about it, really.

Got the jump on you by four years, started cycling in '64. Up until seven years ago I thought the same as you. Fell off the wagon for a period when I took up a hobby for which I 'needed' a car, and am personally car free again, though the lovely Helen owns one, having come to my senses.

I don't hate cars btw. Just the "you need me" con-trick they've played on society.

 

[Paul J]

These extreme examples are showing how everyone everywhere needs to get about by car?

Is it 26K people live in the Outer Hebrides and it's actually the second largest island in the British Isles. My views are no more extreme than the first two posts in this thread.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

So many choices. So what happened to the motorists choices which you feel should incur such huge financial penalties?

the adage "you pays your money and you makes your choice" would seem to sum up their predicament nicely.

Clearly we do not live on the same planet. In 34 years of work, I have NEVER worked in a job that did NOT involve shift work.

Different countries at least. But I'm not responsible for your career choices.

I used to work shifts. In the late 1970's. In my first job after school. I chose to change jobs. Do you want to take a guess as to how many folk, out of the hundreds and hundreds that drive into my town, driving north on the A281 at 8:30 on a Thursday morning are on their way to drive an HGV?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Fair point if they are not mostly East Europeans like where I worked. Most of the British workers either lived in Peterborough or very close to it. In the whole factory there where 3 British workers, one on each shift that lived anywhere near me. I suppose I could have ridden the 20+ miles each way to work starting shift at 6am or 10pm. Not everyone has the luxury of working locally, able to car share, or is 100% physically able to cycle 100% of the time.

True. Undoubtedly. But what about the vast majority who can?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

 

[Paul J]

True. Undoubtedly. But what about the vast majority who can?

Who can what? If they car share? Petrol price increases are still not justified.

TBH If all cyclists paid road tax, insurance, mot inspections etc, then I would agree with petrol increases. What I don't agree to is a group of people that can cycle more often than most making stupid statements of make petrol £2.50 a litre because they are forunate enough not to need a car.

 

[Paul J]

Love to see a cycle emergency service vehicle like an ambulance or fire engine. I'm a walker better ban the cycle as more people walk on the earth. Increase tyres to £1500 each.

 

[Paul J]

No comment but this does bear reading in isolation

No not really just being pedantic like the early posts on this thread.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Love to see a cycle emergency service vehicle like an ambulance or fire engine. I'm a walker better ban the cycle as more people walk on the earth. Increase tyres to £1500 each.

No cycle paramedics out your way then? And as far as I know fire engines and ambulance aren't primary transport systems even in Cambridgeshire.

i don't wish to ban cars, just tax them heavily to discourage their use.

 

[mcshroom]

Right so this has nothing to do with petrol prices, you feel you have more right to use the road because you pay taxes (that are not linked to the roads nor do they cover the costs of the roads, even the costs of the ones that exclude non-motorised transport).

I pay the same 'road tax' (hasn't actually been road tax since before World War 2) as any other vehicle that produces less than 100g CO2/km (plus VED for the car I'm not damaging the road with while it's on the driveway), I pay for the roads (council tax/income tax), I pay insurance (it's so cheap for bikes that they throw it in with club membership - cars cost a lot more, despite the fact that the motor insurance trade actually pays out more than it gets in premiums and so is subsidised by other insurance products) and as for an MOT - I hope you check your bike more often than annually.

Just because you have made choices that have left you reliant on motor transport doesn't mean that everyone else has to have the same world view as yourself.

 

[snorri]

Not everyone has the luxury of working locally, able to car share, or is 100% physically able to cycle 100% of the time.

This is all true, but is it justification for everyone getting cheap fuel to the point where the sheer volume of motor traffic is now causing all sorts of problems in this country?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Right so this has nothing to do with petrol prices, you feel you have more right to use the road because you pay taxes (that are not linked to the roads nor do they cover the costs of the roads, even the costs of the ones that exclude non-motorised transport).

I pay the same 'road tax' (hasn't actually been road tax since before World War 2) as any other vehicle that produces less than 100g CO2/km (plus VED for the car I'm not damaging the road with while it's on the driveway), I pay for the roads (council tax/income tax), I pay insurance (it's so cheap for bikes that they throw it in with club membership - cars cost a lot more, despite the fact that the motor insurance trade actually pays out more than it gets in premiums and so is subsidised by other insurance products) and as for an MOT - I hope you check your bike more often than annually.

Just because you have made choices that have left you reliant on motor transport doesn't mean that everyone else has to have the same world view as yourself.

don't cloud the argument with facts...