Suicidal Cyclist

almillar

Perhaps road charging would be the best solution - fair, and variable according to congestion/pollution concerns?

We're charged (with exceptions) to get onto the road (let's not start that one again) and we're also chagred fuel duty (as well as VAT) on the fuel we use. Drive more, or drive in a less efficient car, and you pay more. It's PAYG, with a baseline cost for some motorists. Or do you mean actually charging per road? How much would that cost to administer?

brat

almillar wrote: »

We're charged (with exceptions) to get onto the road (let's not start that one again) and we're also chagred fuel duty (as well as VAT) on the fuel we use. Drive more, or drive in a less efficient car, and you pay more. It's PAYG, with a baseline cost for some motorists. Or do you mean actually charging per road? How much would that cost to administer?

I get that, but the point I'm making is to charge according to usage and commercial viability. You could charge a motor car driver 1p per mile on an A road in the north of Scotland at night time, and £5 per mile in some congested city routes at rush hour. That way you would resolve congestion, or at least help it pay for itself, it might encourage business to decentralise more...

...and it may get more cyclists on the road! :j

peter_the_piper

Well that would certainly slow things down a bit.:rotfl:

Retrogamer

I think after reading this thread and some other threads i'm going to pick myself up a reflective vest to wear at various times.

I won't be wearing it much in the summer daytime unless it's poor visibility, or i'm on NSL roads, but as it's always so overcast just now and cold. one extra thin layer won't affect me too much.

andrewf75

hugheskevi wrote: »

But when you are cycling you are being subsidised by motorists. So you need to add in the cost of that subsidy to your calculations.

Some purists argue that instead of cycling you could have driven, and that your decision to cycle results in less damage to roads, lower maintenance costs and less congestion, and hence society in general is better off from your decision to make the journey by bike rather than car.

But best to keep it simple - if you had chosen to drive, you would be contributing to the roads, but by deciding to cycle you are getting a subsidy and have less entitlement than motorists to be on the roads they are paying for [/sarcasm]

But as a motorist who is choosing to cycle, you are still paying as a motorist and should therefore get a refund.

I know you were being sarcastic, but some people are easily confused so we should keep things simple.

We ALL pay for the roads and by choosing to cycle you do EVERYONE a favour. It is as simple as that.

Tobster86

Retrogamer wrote: »

I think after reading this thread and some other threads i'm going to pick myself up a reflective vest to wear at various times.

I won't be wearing it much in the summer daytime unless it's poor visibility, or i'm on NSL roads, but as it's always so overcast just now and cold. one extra thin layer won't affect me too much.

It's interesting that people have been able to bring something useful away from this mess of a thread. I've fitted reflective tape to various parts of the frame to improve side-on visibility in response to comments regarding narrow FOV on LED lights.

I've also upgraded my bike cam to a substantially better one!

almillar

^ This thread was worthwhile after all!

Retrogamer

Tobster86 wrote: »

It's interesting that people have been able to bring something useful away from this mess of a thread. I've fitted reflective tape to various parts of the frame to improve side-on visibility in response to comments regarding narrow FOV on LED lights.

I've also upgraded my bike cam to a substantially better one!

I done the same. I've got bits of reflective tape over my bike to help it be seen from the side as well. It looks terrible, but it was less than £3 for the full bike and i can just peel it off in the summer again as i won't be cycling at night.

I done the same with previous threads and bought really good bicycle lighting. It was just bright reflective clothing i was lacking

Throbbe

Retrogamer wrote: »

I done the same. I've got bits of reflective tape over my bike to help it be seen from the side as well. It looks terrible, but it was less than £3 for the full bike and i can just peel it off in the summer again as i won't be cycling at night.

I done the same with previous threads and bought really good bicycle lighting. It was just bright reflective clothing i was lacking

Spoke reflectors for me, the ones that clip to individual spokes rather than the dreadful things that come as standard. As well as being visible from the side the unique rotating pattern gives a good visual clue that I'm a cyclist and therefore drivers have a better idea of the speed I'll be doing.

mattyprice4004

I think I had a new low for cyclists presented to me last night - dark, completely unlit country road, 2 abreast with no lights on, and all over the place. The first thing I saw was the reflection from one of their seat poles, but at 60MPH that still isn't much time to move over!

They must have had a death wish.