Rewind 24hrs.

During tea break, I was horrified to hear the above from a work colleague.

I cycle to work 99% of the time, he drives in 99% of the time.

Thing is, he does actually cycle very occasionally.

IMO: It’s comments like this that causes issues between cyclists & drivers.

Did you ask him what he thought about drivers of cars with low emissions who pay no ‘road tax’?

Do they have less right to be on the road than him?

tell him you pay the same rates for your bike as your car and then explain it to him when he is confused.

You can tell him bikes have the right to use roads and car are entitled as well so he is actually wrong.

you can just ignore it and him as he is a fool and that would be my usual stance

Just tell him that it’s general taxation that pays for the roads, so unless he earns significantly more than you do, get off MY roads!!

DrP

“Tell him this”, “tell him that”, “tell him the other”.

Pffft. Amateurs. What’s he going to learn from that?

Spear a dog poo with a short but sturdy stick and smear it under his car door handles.

Well by his reckoning, wagon drivers have more right to be on the road than him then. So tell him he has to yield to all other drivers of bigger vehicles than his!

And then do what The Flying Ox said!

This all day long 🙂

“I’ve got more right to be on the road coz I pay road tax”

My stock reply is along the lines of “Oh really, what VED band is your car then?”. They usually bite…my response “Well, my Alfa’s VED is £250 a year, so then you’ve acknowledged I’ve more right to be on the road than you? Thanks!”.

Sometimes you can fight stupid with stupid.

I found out this morning I work with a couple of people who are very much anti-cycling-in-the-countryside. Bikes apparently knacker countryside trails, scare old people with dogs etc etc.

More importantly he doesn’t pay road tax anyway.

And then the discussion often moves to insurance and (thanks to learning some things recently here) chances are on a bike you have 3rd party insurance through your house insurance. So “you should have insurance” argument can often be shot down too.

I had a lovely discussion last night on the way home from work with a knuckledragger in a van.

Apparantly i’m a “f*cking ****, get the f*ck out of the road, f*ck off & ride on the pavement” all whilst giving it the five knuckle shuffle out of the window.

TI Engineering in Chichester – professional company it would seem 🙂

Just goes to show the level of intelligence you are dealing with, if they can’t restrain themselves in a sign written company van.

My stock reply is along the lines of “Oh really, what VED band is your car then?”. They usually bite…my response “Well, my Alfa’s VED is £250 a year, so then you’ve acknowledged I’ve more right to be on the road than you? Thanks!”.

Yep this.

“So when I drive in tomorrow in my car that I pay £265 a year for will you move out of my way?”

OP

Did you try slapping him across the face with a large Salmon ,while shouting ” ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE” ?

My Father In Law is just the same OP.

No seriously he is. Typical Yorkshireman of the highest order and as belligerent as you like. He still thinks “car tax” is just that despite many arguments to the contrary, and often (I reckon just for fun) brings this topic up when we’re all there and they have visitors.
Proper Arse.
We have a couple of Farm vehicles there (a Landy and Ford Ranger) that cost a small fortune to run and tax etc. but we need them for doing their job, he reckons (get this) that Farm vehicles should have priority over ALL other vehicles except Fire/Police/Ambulance and should be exempt from paying the Duty in the first instance.

Oh how we all laugh, proper winds him up when we fire back at him.

And to think he met his wife whilst BOTH were young and riding bikes, on the road.

😆

Bikes apparently knacker countryside trails, scare old people with dogs etc etc

Riding along North Downs Way recently, absolute mud fest and heavily churned up. The imprints on the ground are massively in the main from walkers and horses. Some other areas I’ve been recently are unrideable and unwalkable due to horses. Rarely do I find places that are like that due to bikes. Come dryer weather the bikes often smooth the trails out.

And do old people not scare if they don’t have a dog? 😀

Apparently not. You HAVE to be older than 65 AND have a dog to be scared by 1 person on a push bike enjoying the fresh air.

And I can’t believe the level of stupidness that can occur when driving a vehicle with a company name on.

Leave it; When you argue with an idiot,they will just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I wonder if the idiots would prefer it if – seeing as we pay road tax – we got in our cars and make the traffic worse for them.

Similar topic on Pistonheads yesterday. It’s up to page 11 now … 🙄

On a related issue, my neighbour uses the same nursery as us. She seemed inordinately pleased, that having set off at the same time, she got there in her car a full 30 seconds ahead of me with the bike and trailer.

I used to fire back and try and make people see the error of their ways when they said this. Unfortunately not once did it make any difference. Normally its shouted by an angry motorist who isn’t going to take a blind bit of notice to any counter-arguments you might come up with anyway.

I hate to say it but I usually don’t waste my breath any more. If you’re arguing with an idiot chances are they’re doing the same

I’ve had this shouted a few times, after the event I always wish I’d replied (in a loud/slow voice) “Im terribly sorry, I dont speak ‘stupid’. could you try english please”.

…..but the reality is i just smile and wiggle my little finger at them. *sigh*

I love the little finger wiggle. Blowing them a kiss works just as well.

last time i had this conversation it went like this

lady with dog who has just stepped out from behind her parked car : “you can’t ride here”

me, having slowed to a stop seeing boot hatch closing : “it’s a shared path” points to sign

lovely lady : but you ride too fast and scare my dog

me : “I just stopped before you stepped in front of me, and shouldn’t your dog be on a lead?”

ignorant lady : ” you don’t pay rego* ”

*aus’ road tax

me : ” I pay rego, have a car, but choose to ride my bike and pay taxes that actually provide roads – rego contributes nothing”

lady with dog running around madly : “why aren’t you on the road”

me : “I’d prefer to be on the road but it is has narrow lanes and too many drivers try to squeeze past, too close at high speed – are you one of those drivers?”

mad lady : “you’re wasting my time”

me : “hang on you started this”

complete waste of time

It’s part of the problem, but not the whole problem.

Some stunning ignorance on display in so many comments on that R2 Jeremy V*ne FB page yesterday, and of the most deadly type. (why do I read them? Oh yes, to educate self re my enemy)

Weird how the most divided and militant comments seem to emanate from those who are most ignorant on issues such as tax, highway code, law etc … and yet seem unwilling to change their opinions based upon new information given to them. Victim-blaming. The conversation goes:

They should pay road tax!

There isnt road tax. I pay tax just like you do, and it goes to roads.

Well they shouldnt run red lights!

Agree, neither should motorists.

****?? Well they should have insurance!

I do.

Well, er, well you are a menace!

Er, no I’m not, I am an individual who happens to ride a bicycle, legally, with due care and attention to the highway code – something you seem not to have read.

You ARE a menace! You’re all the same, well most of you are, bloody do-gooders, cheapskates, show-offs, no lights, too bright lights, annoying hi viz nonsense, black clothing, bloody lycra louts! Gnaaaaar, graaargh! You are all on yr high horse and a menace!

Er, no I’m not a menace, neither am I on a horse, no matter how high you think it is -and neither may you be, but the more you reveal about yr attitude to other road users the more I feel it’s likely that I (or someone else on a bicycle) will die by your angry hand via your angrily driven vehicle. PS I drive and cycle. I know exactly what it is like out there for both you and I. You on the other, seem to know very little about anything yet have a very loud opinion just the same.

Or reply with “that’s correct, but I’ll be around later to take your wife as I have a larger penis”.

You can just about see their head exploded with rage at that one.

Unfortunately my lycra reveals this to be untrue Onzadog. Well it’s cold out there 😳

Apparantly i’m a “f*cking ****, get the f*ck out of the road, f*ck off & ride on the pavement” all whilst giving it the five knuckle shuffle out of the window.

TI Engineering in Chichester – professional company it would seem

Would be getting a letter or a facebook post with the reg number and details…

*Edit*, just seen your post / review…

And to think he met his wife whilst BOTH were young and riding bikes, on the road.

Think that many (most?) of my father’s generation considered it to be ‘bettering themselves’ to step off a bike and into a car. Understandable in a sad way, as they only rode bikes because they couldn’t afford a car, and in the 1950/60s you ‘weren’t anyone unless you had a car’. Not a lot has changed in that respect. Car culture is all-pervasive in ways I couldn’t even have imagined as a kid growing up in the 70s-80s.

When you argue with an idiot,they will just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I love this quote 🙂 it’s like the one about wrestling with the pig

but in reality if anyone takes this tack I call it out straight away, I quote the highway code first to make the point about his driving behaviour (which is the bit that causes me danger, not the road tax rubbish) usually something like

“WRONG! if the cyclist is on the road in front of you THEY have right of way, the Road traffic act is very clear on this”

then I follow up with the road tax stuff

.On a related issue, my neighbour uses the same nursery as us. She seemed inordinately pleased, that having set off at the same time, she got there in her car a full 30 seconds ahead of me with the bike and trailer.

Train hard. Train well.Then.
Stravaaaaaaaaa!
8)

Angry and stupid people are angry and stupid… best leave them alone to their anger and stupidity 😀

If someone’s angry and stupid enough to abuse a stranger about something like ‘road tax’ then there’s no kind of response that will lead them to say ‘oh I didn’t realise I had no idea what I was talking about and I’m sorry for abusing you’. They’ll carry on trying to justify their position no matter how many factually correct and rational arguments you respond with. If anything they’ll resent you more for backing them into a corner and exposing their anger and stupidity…

Minorities always get it in the neck during hard times/times of change… and cyclists are one of the outgroups currently getting it in the neck. Also see Jews and Muslims and immigrants. It’s less socially and legally acceptable to be outright racist, sexist and homophobic these days, so angry and stupid people have moved on to the next unprotected target.

In some ways it’s’ pretty tragic – they’d be better off having a few therapy sessions than abusing strangers on bikes…

Whilst crossing a side road, a car on the main road suddenly decided to turn into the side road without indicating and nearly run me over… He had his window down so hears me say WTF! … cue him stopping the car and shouting “What did you say?” so I repeated “you didn’t focking indicate” to which he replied “What’s it to you?”

Oh how I laughed out loud as I imagined dragging him out of the car by his ears and stamping on him.

I imagined dragging him out of the car by his ears

Poor bloke, I’m sure he learnt his lesson! 🙂

In my head he definitely learnt his lesson, that’s for sure.