CYCLISTS Grrrrrrr

[h's dad]

Bicycles clearly designed for small children are not allowed on the road and so are exempt. Clear?

Not really. Presumably this is one of your new laws as it isn't current law. It is specifically a matter for discretion based on the view that FPN's can only be issued to those over 16. I really think you need to work on it.

[h's dad]

It may sound easily achievable but if the police can't make sure motor vehicles and their drivers have mots, insurance, rfl and licenses, how are they going to enforce this?

rfl was abolished in 1937, we now have VED which gives no "right to the road" for motorists (or car-owning cyclists).

Apologies for any confusion - I must be showing somebody else's age.

[Kinoulton]

I don't buy the "car tax" thing though. That's totally bogus.

The car tax is just a random stealth tax on car owners to boost the civil servants' coffers.

It's not spent on roads.

It's an injustice and there is no more reason to impose the same injustice on cyclists than there is on women with prams, old folk on zimmer frames, or ramblers out walking.

Far more money is spent on accomodating pedestrians (i.e. pavements, road bridges, subways, pedestriant crossings etc) than has ever been spent on accomodating cyclists.

So if cyclists were to be charged even £10 per year, then I would say that on a pro-rata basis, us pedestrians would need to stump up £10,000 per year.

Or we could just have a free country, like what we have.

[Bill W (2)]

It's an injustice and there is no more reason to impose the same injustice on cyclists than there is on women with prams, old folk on zimmer frames, or ramblers out walking.

.

Shhh! Osbourne is listening!!!

[madoqua]

Cheese wire at neck height.

[Bill W (2)]

Cheese wire at neck height.

Catches motorcyclists too!!!

[Daveyboy]

A friend and I got on the Liverpool-Norwich train last week at Sheffield. We had our bikes with us and, luckily, there was a space in the carriage that was reserved for bicycles. Unfortunately, the space was filled up with baggage. As we coldn't move down the train with our bikes, we had to ask the owner of the baggage to move it, which she did.

At that point, some reactionary old fart leapt out of his seat and started haranguing us for moving the lady out of the place where bicycles are supposed to go. He called me a total Assh*le before moving down the carriage, muttering anti-cyclist insults under his breath.

We were somewhat taken aback by his rant because, not only are our bikes insured against accident and loss, we are both car owners and so also pay road tax for these cars. As any fool knows, it makes sense to wear a helmet when cycling and shorts are quite comfortable, especially in the summer.

It's a funny old world.

[Bill W (2)]

I await madoqua's response with interest.

[Gate]

shorts are quite comfortable, especially in the summer..

Not to look at, they're not. Why Lycra? Eeeuuuwww. Looks like half a pound of cheap chipolatas wrapped in clingfilm.



My own proposal is that cyclists on the pavement should be fair game for pedestrians. And the stocks for cyclists on the pavement who are smug and self-satisfied and don't get how thoughtless and really rather motorist-like they're being. In fact, the stocks for any cyclist who announces how green he or she is being by cycling. Just cycle (other than on the pavements) and don't try to make out you're a saint for doing it.

[madoqua]

Old fart and proud of it here.

Cyclists wouldn't be able to fart if I could stuff their bikes and attitude up where the sun don't shine.

[Bill W (2)]

Let us be charitable - it is our culture.

In this corner of Essex there are about five buses a fortnight and those only on the main roads. To some, therefore, a bicycle is an essential form of transport to get to work, to get to the shops or to get to the working mens club or womens institute.

Those who ride them down the lanes (which are barely a tractor wide) greet us motorists and dog walkers with a cheery wave as they leap off their bicycles to let others through.

Then there are the lycra clad helmeted morons who ride several abreast and worse in a line stretching 20+ yards.

[Daveyboy]

Cyclists wouldn't be able to fart if I could stuff their bikes and attitude up where the sun don't shine.

It would appear that cyclists aren't the only people with "attitude".

It's a good job that this is a free country where people are allowed to hold bigoted opinions and cyclists can cycle on the road.

[Old Hob]

It's a good job that this is a free country where ... cyclists can cycle on the road.

If only they did (or in the cycle lanes paid for by everybody for the use of a few) as opposed to on the pavements.

[Kinoulton]

I just worry that reasonable tolerance is draining away from this country:

We all have our pet hates. I detest people who talk too loudly on the phone when they're in public. I hate it when kids play those hand held games when they're in company but refuse to turn the sound off. But I'm not going to write to my MP about it.

I'm a "good" cyclist who never rides on the pavements, has never run a red light and, as Bill alluded to, when I'm cycling along a narrow country lane, I always stop and pull into the verge to let motors past.

Mind you, that's partly because I fear the car driver might be Madoqua!

Joke

[Bill W (2)]

I just worry that reasonable tolerance is draining away from this country:

I blame Gordon Brown!!!