Comment Trolls

Comment Trolls
John Moss
By John Moss
December 29, 2014

In Leicester we’ve been lucky enough for the last two years to have a mayor in power with the stomach to install some cycling infrastructure (even if that infrastructure is a bit of a wet fish), unfortunately this has lead to the usual rants from various drivers about how they are being hard done by the “free loading cyclist”.

So fed up of constantly explaining why various bits of their arguments are complete bollocks, I’ve decided to simply link them directly to the counter points.

You Said: I pay road tax, cyclists are freeloaders

Okay first of all it’s not road tax it’s Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) but let’s ignore that little argumentative col de sac. You pay VED not for the right to use the road but the right to use a car that emits pollution above what the government has decided is a reasonable level, there are plenty of cars you can buy the emit minimal amounts of pollution and so don’t pay any VED.

As a cyclist emits no pollution, they pay no VED.

You Said: All cyclists are law breakers

Whilst I will concede that a section of cyclists do seem to ride on the pavements or jump red lights, car drivers are hardly coming at this with clean hands often speeding or parking on the pavements. Let’s not forget the relative danger a car represents when compared to a bike. In addition there are law breakers in every group of society it shouldn’t be used to dictate investment otherwise our motorway network would be non existent.

You Said: I saw a cyclist he wasn't wearing a helmet/highviz

Nor do they have to, whilst many cyclist choose to were high viz and/or helmets it’s not a legal requirement and often wouldn’t have helped in a collision anyway.

You Said: Cyclists always in the middle of the road

And? They have every right to be, it’s often safer to be in the middle of the road where you can be seen and avoid any obstacles that are often at the side of the road. In addition a cyclist may move to the middle of the road to prevent close passes from drivers who would otherwise attempt to pass the cyclist dangerously.
Home » Campaigning » Comment Trolls