"If you want to ride in the middle of the road pay road tax!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_excise_duty

'Road tax' is just a confused generic term that stems from ancient history, when the 'Road Fund' was hypothecated to pay for roads. For some reason, the 'road' component has stuck. It's incredibly difficult to dislodge an urban myth once it's taken hold in English. If you have to explain it on the street, just simply say something like: 'There are several reasons why you have to pay tax on your vehicle but I don't have to pay tax on mine. There is no tax on roads.'

Jenne - I presume the argument is with Graeme? :-) Oliver is right - there is no such thing as Road Tax. The site you linked to 'Parkers' is primarily a forum for trading motor vehicles - which kind of exp[alins their inaccuracy.

Surprisingly Wikipedia gives a very good breakdown of the history of vehicle[B][/B] excise duty, which Oliver linked to.

You raise an interesting point on insurance. I also think cyclists should have to be insured, however I also think there should be a large tax break for not owning a motor vehicle to offset this.