...pay "road tax. They don't have insurance or pass a test" Go the cyclist haters on Twitter, the Daily Mail and localnews sites. "Ban 'em from the roads" until they do go the shouts from the baying mob.
As we all know this is a complete load of codswallop spouted from ignorant loons who don't frankly have a clue.
So lets quickly debunk these one by one,with a little bit of Google-Fu...
Tax (VED) - 2.1 Million vehicles untaxed according to this report published by Autocar in 2009. Also based on data from What Car there are over 230 models on sale that are legally VED free and pay the same amount as bicycles.
Insurance - 1.3 Million cars (1 in 25) without insurance - confused.com
Driver testing - It was not possible to get any accurate figure of unlicenced drivers, which includes disqualified and people who have never taken or passed a test, but estimates range from 1 million to 5 million+.
In addition, although bicycles are not subject to maintenance checks, cars are and 4.5 million MOT renewals are missed every year according to this report from uswitch So that is 4.5 million cars that are on the road illegally at some point during the year.
So to all drivers. STFU and sort your own house out, as you are all one and all guilty of the above
At least until you treat cyclists as individuals and not some delinquent hive mind!
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