I think you'll find that cyclists and motorists pay the same for highway maintenance. Which seems a little unfair since there are many motorways to which we are denied access and cars cause far more wear and tear.

Road maintenance is paid for from council tax and other national taxes such as income tax and VAT.

In fact since cyclists are on average higher earners than car drivers I would suggest that we pay disproportionately more for road maintenance than you do.

Surely if the council have painted cyclist signs on the road then you have to abide by them whether they're meant to be there or not. If they painted a give way sign on the road but they weren't supposed to, i'm sure you wouldn't just drive straight through it hoping that every other road user is as clued up as you. I drive a car but try to cycle to work every day to a)keep fit b) save some money c) to not sit in traffic jams for 10 mins in the morning and I have to say having a close shave with drivers who either don't care or haven't got a clue is a daily occurance.

How many times must it be repeated? There is no such thing as a road tax and hasn't been since 1937. Car owners (of which I am one) pay vehicle excise duty (VED). It's a tax like all others and is part of the general taxation system.

I have no children, but I pay tax towards education (gladly), and no, I do not earn an income from that sector. VED has nothing to do with road building or maintenance. Similarly, airline tax has nothing to do with improving airports or flights.

So car owners have no more right to the road than cyclists, many of whom, as Ian said above, may well pay more tax (some of which is used for roads) than non cyclists.

Surely if it's marked as a cycle lane, then it's a cycle lane, mistake or not, and will remain as a cycle lane until the marks are removed?

Time for a rant...

Note to cyclists: "Less wear and tear on roads...", "equal rights..." (but apparently without caring about equal responsibilities in some cases), "fitter and so less burden on the NHS...", "statistically pay more tax..." - nobody really CARES. Enjoy your bikes, but please climb down off your high horse, or penny farthing, and quit your sanctimonious whining. It's the moaning minority who give the happy majority a bad name.

Oh, and this comment... "Which seems a little unfair since there are many motorways to which we are denied access and cars cause far more wear and tear." --- There are 13,400 miles of walking and cycle routes (contrast that with 2,200 miles of motorway) to which motorists are denied access, but which many cyclists choose to shun, preferring instead to ride on the adjacent roads shoulder to shoulder with cars, vans and lorries?

I would like to add that I am seriously considering taking up cycling and if any of my friends should ever catch me adopting a holier-than-thou attitude then you have my express permission to put me back in my box.

Rant over.

Jake, I was only responding to the comment made in the letter above. Clearly the correspondent cares. And what does your snide comment about responsibilities mean ? I have insurance I obey the rules of the road (which I also pay for) so what are you trying to say that wouldn't also apply to the drivers of cars? Do I detect a hint of prejudice?

Yes, of course cyclists are superior in every way and I also care very much about it. I would like you to explain how much the maintenance of the 13,400 miles of cycleways costs and how much of that comes from charities such as Sustrans and the National Trust? And how much do Motorways cost? A lot more I'm willing to bet, sadly I can't be bothered looking it up.

Ta Ta

@Jake "sanctimonious whining"??? Since when was countering an inaccurate diatribe with simple facts either sanctimonious or whiny?

Surely that is the 'I pay road tax' brigade and those (get the mirror ready) who can happily generalise about cyclists abdicating responsibilities without a single mention of the far more prevalent and lethal problem of speeding & equally prevalant problem of bad/inconsiderate/dangerous parking who fit the sanctimonious whiner category far better.

I'd also add that motorways are bigger, wider,deeply rooted and layered & fabulously more expensive to build in comparison to footpaths & cycle lanes so your disingenuous by distance argument is utter rubbish.

But if you'd like to stick with distance uber alles, I'll give you a mile of string if you give me a 20 foot gold ingot. How's about that?

Not only that but 'motorists' occasionally walk to places & cycle too, thus making use of these facilities in addition to our much more exclusive and restricted access motorways.

@Jake "sanctimonious whining"??? Since when was countering an inaccurate diatribe with simple facts either sanctimonious or whiny?

Surely that is the ill informed 'I pay road tax' brigade and those (get the mirror ready) who can happily generalise about cyclists abdicating responsibilities without a single mention of the far more prevalent and lethal problem of motor vehicles speeding & equally prevalant problem of bad/inconsiderate/dangerous parking who fit the sanctimonious whiner bill far better.

I'd also add that motorways are bigger, wider, deeply rooted and layered structures which are fabulously expensive to build in comparison to footpaths & cycle lanes. Your disingenuous by distance argument is utter rubbish.

But if you'd like to stick with it, I'll give you a mile of string if you give me a 20 foot gold ingot. How about that?

Not only that but 'motorists' occasionally walk to places & cycle too, thus making use of these facilities in addition to our much more exclusive and restricted access motorways.

Ian, you may have gathered from my rant that I am bored of hearing the 'same old same old' that's trotted out by a small, yet vociferous, group that I like to refer to as 'militant cyclists'.

Only as recently as Tuesday I had to stop on a zebra crossing in London to give way to a cyclist who assumed that the Highway Code applied to everybody except him.

If you read closely what I wrote, you would quickly realise that I only targeted a small minority of cyclists, the 'militants'. They are the ones that the cycling community in general should despair of. They're a small group, but more often than not they are the only group that get heard by the general public. The general public, in turn, form their opinions of all cyclists based on the opinions spouted by this hardcore group. I believe that moderate cyclists should do all they can to censure the militants as they do more harm than good.

I should point out that I don't approve of another, equally repugnant group: militant drivers.

Okay, responsibilities. There's a road and there's a cycle path adjacent to the road. The cycle path is in good repair. There's a cyclist on the road and he's holding up a long line of traffic. He has the right to use the road, but he also has the right to use the cycle path. He has chosen not to use the cycle path. The traffic that he's holding up does not have the right to use the cycle path. The cyclist is exercising his right but is not doing so responsibly. I see this every other day on roads around Telford. If you cannot see what is wrong with this cyclist's behaviour then you clearly belong to the minority, 'militant' category of cyclist and other road users are justified if they hold you in contempt,

@Rich: I realise I risk incurring the wrath of the minority group of militant cyclists by pointing out a few truths, but they're a very small group so it doesn't bother me particularly.

I think giving the bad actions of a few either motorists or cyclists as a base for an argument is a very weak starting point. Yes there both parties sometimes make poor judgements. I am fed up with one is better than the other or has more rights on the road - they should both learn to co exist.

As a cyclist you can feel very vunerable to the actions of drivers, near misses are a common event on my commute to work. I hope that maybe with the increase in cyclist numbers that this would raise awareness and therefore peoples driving actions.

It is a fine line for me whether to use the cycle lanes or the road in response to the last comment - on my commute I use the cycle lanes however when I am out on my road bike I travel at around 20mph which I deem would be better to be on the road rather than mixing with pedestrians.

My view would be to not mix motorists / cyclists and pedestrians at all however we are stuck with this awful infrastructure which is a complete bodge in my book. So we therefore have to learn to get along.

I stay up all night reading the highway code. And since when have horses been able to read?

Yours,

A pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist, motorist, tax-payer, mother, wife and observer of life.