Columnist says cyclists should "do something in return" for pop-up cycle lanes – Cycling UK responds

So has the paper actually published that letter? Can't see it on the website.

Does he mean something like paying taxes and lowering the burden on the NHS by staying fitter and healthier? Then we can add contributing to the common good by not filling his lungs with carbon dioxide...though that sounds tempting.

When are we going to get to the point that this sort of thing is classed as inciting hatred against a minority in the same way that it would be if it was religious or racial stereotyping?

This and the other biased/sensationist press is inciting things like punishment passes if it's felt someone should be using a cycle lane, even though it's puncture central or full of pedestrians. Or tacks thrown in the road, or nails in pieces of wood buring in leaves or barbed wire strung across a cycle path.

Cyclists should do the same as everyone else. Go about their normal business (as far as current circumstances permit) using safe and effective infrastructure provided from public resources to faciltate their travel.

Nothing more, nothing less. Why the suggestion that people using bicycles have some sort of higher obligation?

I'm beginning to like the way The Scotsman's Helen Martin thinks - national policy and funding could be decided this way.  Five reasons why why the motor car should be off the goodies/presents list, for starters, just from one town, in one weekend:

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18439575.uninsured-driver-caught-...

So if cyclists shouldn't wear black, pedestrians shouldn't wear black either. After all, it is the responsibility of the motorist to ensure that their eyesight is good enough to be able to see when they get behind the wheel. Inconsiderate other road users should not wear black, thus giving the motorist an excuse.

Lines on an Importune Column by William McGonagall

'twas the year of our Lord twenty-twenty

And in the opinion column of The Scotsman, there grew trouble a-plenty

For I am sorry to report that instead of the regular news,

Helen Martin was allowed to exhibit her unseemly views

On yon cyclists, whom she did accuse

Of not wearing helmets, or donning high viz

To the tax payer, one giant swiz

£10 million was to be invested 

The Royal Mile with white lines infested 

To make cycle lanes, but Helen protested,
"You must be worthy and earn to earn the right

To have all this money spent to be better your plight!"

But the cyclists rose up, mustering their might 

Said "Helmets are complex and we'll gi'you a fight.

The decision to wear high viz, an individual right.

Yon motorist, he's a regular offender,

Ignoring the road rules, the vulnerable's defender.

The views in your column, Helen, are a barrel o'shite!

my nissan cabstar- think it was 260 quid ved. My corsa, 155 quid. My sv650 was 90. My er500 was 66 quid. My 125 was 20 quid. Total ved paid this year[ tax them all near april]  so just shy of 600 quid a year. Whereas some hybrid cars dont cost anything! How dare they use the road when they havent paid as much as me! they should contribute more to these cycle lanes and if they dont use them i will complain with a gammon face expression.      such stupid people out there, the road tax argument is all over internet, google.... if they still dont accept it then i suppose it just means they dont want to learn or are incapable. I have to work with a very anti cyclist old man, he tells me he beeps at them when they cycle in groups because'' theyre all over the road'. I didnt try to explain it, as hes not the type to accept it. So when we went to get fuel, bear in mind this is in a 3 tonne cab tipper truck, we came up behind two ycclists, side by side. Old man says to me angrily '' see this is why people hate cyclist, fucking idiots, get single file''. I said nothing, waited for maybe 8 seconds, dropped to second gear and went past them in the other lane. No issue.  If that doesnt show how dumb people who dont cycle are, there is no hope. Its easier to overtake cyclists riding two or three abreast and makes no difference to the overtake- if they were occupying the opposite lane as well then yes, it would.  Cyclists do make the best drivers. 

I pay tax and 2 lots of road tax and endless tax on petrol. Is this not enough?

Yes, the thing cyclists can do in terms of "payback" is to ... erm ... cycle more. It is not just cyclists who have been pleasantly surprised by the reduction in motor traffic. We all appreciate the birdsong we can now hear, the clear air, the noise reduction and so on. And the benefits to the economy by way of improved health, lower NHS costs, lower absenteeism and so on are huge.

Despite it being short and what is clearly an incoherent passively-agressive rant, the article should have come with a troll warning.

Stupid article designed to generate irritation/clicks, a little while ago now; good reply.

Can we let it go and not give it the oxygen of belated publicity?

Great letter, and I particularly liked "If we decided that all motorists must stop speeding before any more money is spent on them, our road builders could pack up for good."

But has the newspaper published it?