Is it finally time to tax our Lycra clad cyclists ?

[Milltown Row2]

Jesus! A lot of anger on this thread.... get a bit of perspective, nearly 70 people died on the roads last year, bad driving, drunk driving, texting or on phone.... drivers would need to get their act together

[dclane]

70? There was nearly 180 killed on the road last year.
There's been 90+ already this year.

[Aughafad]

Think he is talking about the north not the south

[Milltown Row2]

70? There was nearly 180 killed on the road last year.
There's been 90+ already this year.

Belfast telegraph has it wrong, you southern drivers are halons

http://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-road-deaths-fall-to-68-in-2016-but-safety-still-police-priority-35334656.html

[Hardy]

He was CYCLING behind the guy who had an accident and killed the motorist who caused the accident - it was a direct answer to a direct question.

I think I can help.

Lambeth then mounted his bike and cycled away

This implies that when he punched the victim he was not mounted on his bike. Therefore, he wasn't a cyclist when he committed the killing. Therefore this was not a case of a cyclist killing a car driver. Doubly so, as the "car driver" was presumably stopped when he was attacked and therefore not a driver.

Your semantics are amusing, on this occasion they make you look like a bit of a dick.  Is a taxi driver parked up waiting for his next fare not a taxi driver, an ambulance driver helping take a patient into the hospital not an ambulance driver!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miSP9YwhktQ

[dclane]

Think he is talking about the north not the south

He should have been more specific.  Not everyone who posts on here is from the North.

[Milltown Row2]

Think he is talking about the north not the south

He should have been more specific.  Not everyone who posts on here is from the North.

70 plus the 180 from down south then. Just for you

[bennydorano]

An asshole is an asshole wether he's on a bike or in a car and he'll generally act accordingly. As someone who rides a lot of solo miles I find threads like these (& the daily Facebook rants) very unnerving. Motorists (who don't cycle) have no idea how vulnerable a cyclist is, I have been down a few times in crashes & icey conditions and I know how painful it can be, I dread to think what a motor vehicle could do to me.

Group riding is a fact of life these days and motorists are going to have to get over themselves. It really is no different than overtaking a Lorry or the likes.

Regarding the opening post, taxing cyclists won't change behaviour. I can see a day when a chip system that might be the equivalent of a number plate will come to pass.  I already pay £80 odd annually for my cycling licence anyway - as well as my car tax, income tax & national insurance contributions. 

[Eamonnca1]

Think he is talking about the north not the south

He should have been more specific.  Not everyone who posts on here is from the North.

I assumed he was talking about the free state which is why I quoted free state rules.

[Eamonnca1]

Riding single file makes it harder to overtake because it makes the group longer. Riding abreast makes it easier to get past because it shortens the group.

[Tony Baloney]

An asshole is an asshole wether he's on a bike or in a car and he'll generally act accordingly. As someone who rides a lot of solo miles I find threads like these (& the daily Facebook rants) very unnerving. Motorists (who don't cycle) have no idea how vulnerable a cyclist is, I have been down a few times in crashes & icey conditions and I know how painful it can be, I dread to think what a motor vehicle could do to me.

Group riding is a fact of life these days and motorists are going to have to get over themselves. It really is no different than overtaking a Lorry or the likes.

Regarding the opening post, taxing cyclists won't change behaviour. I can see a day when a chip system that might be the equivalent of a number plate will come to pass.  I already pay £80 odd annually for my cycling licence anyway - as well as my car tax, income tax & national insurance contributions.

Not this again. When a mass group of cyclists can move at the same speed as a lorry I'll stop moaning about them.

There is room for everyone on the road and I always overtake lone cyclists on the opposite side of the road as if it was a car. They arent the problem. It's the idiots who allow a build-up of traffic on busy roads who need to be sanctioned. Motorists in the south pull aside to allow faster traffic to pass, tractors (sometimes, the pricks!) aside to let faster moving traffic pass. Why can large groups of cyclists not have the same level of civility?

[laoislad]

Riding single file makes it harder to overtake because it makes the group longer. Riding abreast makes it easier to get past because it shortens the group.

f**king typical cyclists...they are on the wrong side of the road.

[thewobbler]

It's a tad condescending to suggest that motorists don't understand how vulnerable cyclists are.

Motorists face a similar situation every day in that there are HGVs and buses on the road, and if you happen to run into one, it's game over. Hence we (almost) all give them a little bit more room and leeway. We all use our feet from time to time as well and there's genuinely not many people who take a risk when walking (or jogging) in a busy road system.

From my observations, those that are drawn to cycling - especially those who need lycra to cycle - seem to have a deficiency in this department. It takes a pecualiar personality to want to put your life at risk to ensure that others are inconvenienced for your pleasure.

Part of this festers from the pack mentality of getting involved in a sport, but I do believe most of it is a personality trait, which in any other situation could be described politely as a selfish disregard for others.

----

It's not practical to force cyclists to be insured. But it is becoming necessary that their actions and behaviours on the road are assessed, and if needs be punished, in line with all other road users.

[Taylor]

It's a tad condescending to suggest that motorists don't understand how vulnerable cyclists are.

Motorists face a similar situation every day in that there are HGVs and buses on the road, and if you happen to run into one, it's game over. Hence we (almost) all give them a little bit more room and leeway. We all use our feet from time to time as well and there's genuinely not many people who take a risk when walking (or jogging) in a busy road system.

From my observations, those that are drawn to cycling - especially those who need lycra to cycle - seem to have a deficiency in this department. It takes a pecualiar personality to want to put your life at risk to ensure that others are inconvenienced for your pleasure.

Part of this festers from the pack mentality of getting involved in a sport, but I do believe most of it is a personality trait, which in any other situation could be described politely as a selfish disregard for others.

----

It's not practical to force cyclists to be insured. But it is becoming necessary that their actions and behaviours on the road are assessed, and if needs be punished, in line with all other road users.

+1
Great post

[bennydorano]

An asshole is an asshole wether he's on a bike or in a car and he'll generally act accordingly. As someone who rides a lot of solo miles I find threads like these (& the daily Facebook rants) very unnerving. Motorists (who don't cycle) have no idea how vulnerable a cyclist is, I have been down a few times in crashes & icey conditions and I know how painful it can be, I dread to think what a motor vehicle could do to me.

Group riding is a fact of life these days and motorists are going to have to get over themselves. It really is no different than overtaking a Lorry or the likes.

Regarding the opening post, taxing cyclists won't change behaviour. I can see a day when a chip system that might be the equivalent of a number plate will come to pass.  I already pay £80 odd annually for my cycling licence anyway - as well as my car tax, income tax & national insurance contributions.

Not this again. When a mass group of cyclists can move at the same speed as a lorry I'll stop moaning about them.

There is room for everyone on the road and I always overtake lone cyclists on the opposite side of the road as if it was a car. They arent the problem. It's the idiots who allow a build-up of traffic on busy roads who need to be sanctioned. Motorists in the south pull aside to allow faster traffic to pass, tractors (sometimes, the pricks!) aside to let faster moving traffic pass. Why can large groups of cyclists not have the same level of civility?

Just pull over every 2 minutes?

Surely a slow moving bunch of cyclists is easier to overtake than a lorry? I don't understand that logic?