This may interest some of you (Cycle Heros article)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6900694.stm

yeah, just noticed that and thought I'd check on here to see what anyone else thought. bit annoying, but seems like another uninformed narrow minded attempt to get a rise out of cyclists.

"Bill whilst talking on the phone, smoking a fag, masterbating and speeding along at 35 mph in a 30mph zone tells us that cyclist are a menace"

Not once in the article does it acknowledge that some people cycle because they enjoy cycling. Ease of journey, time taken, the environment, cost, blah blah blah. It's just more fun to cycle to my mates house than get on a smelly bus.

The other really annoying thing is their burned out rant of "I pay my road tax!!!", bellowed from their rolled down windows like sweating bulls, leaves me a bit riled too. Yeah, I know you pay your precious taxes, good for you, so do I, on my car; which is at home on the drive. While I'm paying the same amount, I'm using next to no space on the road, making next to nowt in the form of emissions, etc etc. The debate makes me weary.

Why does it bother drivers so much that cyclists jump red lights? Envy? I don't really get it. If a cyclist jumps the red light how does that negatively affect you? I'm genuinely asking.

dominiclincoln The other really annoying thing is their burned out rant of "I pay my road tax!!!", bellowed from their rolled down windows like sweating bulls, leaves me a bit riled too. Yeah, I know you pay your precious taxes, good for you, so do I, on my car; which is at home on the drive. While I'm paying the same amount, I'm using next to no space on the road, making next to nowt in the form of emissions, etc etc. The debate makes me weary.

Do they yell a peds? They walk on the road, pevements are constructed and built by the same contractos as build roads and the moeny comes from the same pot.
"Oi ped I pay road tax! I pay for your pavement!"

What we need is more cyle lanes like this

6 feet long and to no where!

i think it is just envy,while there sitting in there car waiting,we the cyclists are already on our way

And they've never crossed the road when the red man is showing.....

TheBrick(Tommy) [quote]dominiclincoln The other really annoying thing is their burned out rant of "I pay my road tax!!!", bellowed from their rolled down windows like sweating bulls, leaves me a bit riled too. Yeah, I know you pay your precious taxes, good for you, so do I, on my car; which is at home on the drive. While I'm paying the same amount, I'm using next to no space on the road, making next to nowt in the form of emissions, etc etc. The debate makes me weary.

Do they yell a peds? They walk on the road, pevements are constructed and built by the same contractos as build roads and the moeny comes from the same pot.
"Oi ped I pay road tax! I pay for your pavement!"[/quote]
haaaa,that would be funny,someone driving around shouting about the tax he pay's gonig towards traffic lights and road markings

"It isn't road tax, its a car tax" is my favorite rejoinder to some self-righteous motorist.

Or the classic reminder that no matter whoose fault it is when we crash, cyclist is always gonna be the one that comes off worse. Half the time I'm just trying to get out of their way.

He says cyclists have also "become more argumentative".

Because before they never used to say anything when he ran them over.

yer i love the fact that the reason for car tax is to pay for the damage they do to the roads (thus the bigger the car the higher the tax) the actual road building is taken out of general taxes i believe.

Yes, in fact none of the money from car tax goes anywhere near the roads, i have been told.

Anyway, whether that is true or not, the fact is that the law requires Car drivers to pay the tax. It doesn't require cyclists to do so. However, this does not in any way mean that the cyclist does not have equal rights to use them.

There are very few (maybe no) ring-fenced taxes. Most tax money goes into a central pot and is then divided between the government departments and given to local authorities to pay for things (e.g. roads, schools, hospitals, civil servants salaries, etc.). His road tax doesn't pay for roads any more than my income tax or the VAT I pay on bike parts.

Plus his job is driving aroud with labourers in the back of his van - I doubt that he and his employers are model citizens when it comes to paying taxes.

Overall it's a bit of a dull article though. I prefer Time Out's mandatory cycling letter of the week as a way of exhibiting the prejudices of both sides of the argument.

ffub Why does it bother drivers so much that cyclists jump red lights? Envy? I don't really get it. If a cyclist jumps the red light how does that negatively affect you? I'm genuinely asking.

The car that's coming the other way that has to slam on the brakes..

Yes, yes, it's not you that blindly rides through reds but fscking hell have I seen some close calls out there. Usually from Halfords specials types..

Sh1t.. have I just contributed to turning this forum into a RLJ thread like C+. Now you see why we need delete :)

my mum spends a fortune in car tax, she has a big car for her job i will add!
but just outside of our house there are two massive potholes thathave been filled
in the past but always end up as bad as they were before, also dodging one of the
holes involves hitting the other. she hit one of the holes in her new mercedes and
it burst her tyre, ruined her alloy and cracked her windscreen.

so much for paying road tax,car tax or whatever its called.

Drive slower.

it was a new car with low profile tyres. also the pothole had just become
as fcuked as it used to be. with the amount of money car drivers pay
the government they should atleast have roads without massive holes in.

http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/ describes how I feel about the BBC's unpaid comment section in a more elegant fashion than I could ever manage.

joe_b:
FillThatHole
works a treat in my experience, at least in SW London and Surrey. turnaround is usually between one and two weeks.

mr tom, what does your mum do?

My mum? She's an art teacher. But doesn't have a car of any description, let alone a Merc. Did you mean to ask Joe that question?