They should all pay to use roads

“What happened to all of the comments on this letter? They were far more informed than the original letter from Mr Bullocks.”

“"trusted source"? -crikey, BEP, you are a bit gullible!

...leaving aside the rather smelly basket of red herrings in Bob's rant, I (and, I'm pretty certain, lots of other cyclists) am also a car owner and user. It's just that I choose to use my bicycle when it is the better and most suitable mode of transport.

So when I'm cycling along, the financial contribution that I have made to the road infrastructure through the VED on my car is just the same as that of the motorists I pass, some of whom seem to resent my presence on the road, bless 'em.

Not that I think that ones entitlement to use the roads should be conditional upon having contributed to them, anyway.”

“Bob: Pwned!”

“Bob,

What about the law abiding motorists, those that park on the pavements, those that use mobile phones when driving, those that drive in excess of the speed limit. Shall I go on?”

“Does the Trusted Source rosette by this article imply anything? It is merely an anti-cyclists rant backed up with some utterly wrong assertions. Bob, you obviously do not have a clue as to how roads are funded so why do you pretend to be an expert. Roads are funded from council tax and income tax paid by people who walk, cycle, go around in wheelchairs (where they have to negotiate cars parked on the pavement which is illegal and damages them resulting in a drain on council tax), drive, take the bus or sit indoors and go nowhere. If you want to display your bigotry against cyclists and imply everybody who rides bicycle breaks the law feel free to do so but don't include a set of made up, blatantly ill-informed facts.”

“Bob,

Wrong on all counts!.

As the self styled leader of a motoring organisation you display astonishing arrogance and lack of simple knowledge. Here we go:

1) Road tax was abolished in 1937 by Winston Churchill as it never raised enough money and he felt that car owners might feel they exclusively owned the roads.

2) Roads are paid for out of income tax which cyclists pay.

3) Vehicle excise duty is based on emissions and as bicycles, along with electric cars, have none they are zero-rated.

How can you write to this paper being so wrong?. The ABD - Association of Bristish Dimwits

http://tinyurl.com/yfjzmy7”

“Unfortunately for your terrible logic, the cost of motoring is far in excess of what is collected. Taxes on the motorist (VED, fuel duty and VAT on fuel) amount to about £40bn (well about £38bn in 2011/12 - I'm not sure this is going to be more this year). The latest government report shows that the costs are roughly:

-£10bn on road infrastruture
-£10bn on cost of congestion to the economy
-£10bn of extra costs to NHS of inactivity
-£10bn costs of accidents
-£5bn to £10bn air pollution
-£4bn costs of noise pollution (this actually kills people)

This does not count the cost to society of the effects on communities being split by busy roads, nor any of the other anti-social costs. Or greenhouse gas emissions.

So at the very least motorists are being subsidised to the tune of £11bn, and very likely much more.

Scandinavian governments have calculated that there is a cost to the economy for every mile driven in a car, and a positive effect for every mile cycled. Maybe cyclists should be getting a tax rebate?”

“Bob, you really hit the nail on head there. In fact I could call you a Bull Hitter.”