'Road tax' is coming... but not for cyclists

Apologies - I was forgetting that words don't translate across the pond.  I was meaning "doesn't take anyone he thinks is telling him what to do" - probably the key is in the "...NYC" part!

It was that he'd recently been taking a pop at e.g. some of the active travel folks and/or people who complain a bit about cars, those getting overexcited about COVID or global warming...

Liberty, personel freedom maybe. But with a conscience.

Not gun toting, truck driving?

I used to find Bikesnob quite amusing and thoughtful but parts of that piece sounds like a middle-aged man shouting into the wind.

chrisonatrike wrote:

Time to take hirsute's advice (and others) I think, having been guilty myself.  It's all very well going for bait occasionally, but when someone's all but erected a sign saying "fIsHiNG hErE" and is casting about with a bit of old crisp wrapper on a string, or is just lobbing rocks into the water...

Yes maybe...the thing is that Nigel will continue his nonsense whether ignored or challenged, as he's shown before in his many iterations - he's so desperate that he came back this time pretending to be a foreigner, like some sad twat in the local trying to come back in with a false moustache after being barred. It surely is time that road.cc mods take some action, they've banned him at least twice under different usernames for racism and other offences, if he's allowed to return simply by generating a new account it makes a mockery of any pretence that the site is moderated in any meaningful way.

They PBUs, they will all push it a bit far, again, and become CBUs.

Can't help themselves...

I think like hawkinspeter I've got bored of the repetition.  If it is the same folks then they can be safely ignored.  They've shown what they want out of interactions - nothing new will come of it.  If you don't want to play their game, don't play with them!

But they are never left unchallenged so the alternate hypothesis is not tested.

Do you have any evidence that road.cc moderators have really banned anyone?  Do we have any evidence that there are moderators?  Could road.cc afford monitors if it wanted them?

I've always guessed that the trolls get bored and tour all the websites/fora/swamps that they can find. 

Superpython/behindthebikeshed/cyclinginbeastmode was banned.

On multiple occasions, well 3 times (at least), though he wasn't really a troll, went too far on some things. Unlike some, proper cyclist.

Xena got banned, full on conspiracy nutter, obsessed with YouTube. But loved their bicycles, and shockingly light ones at that. Came back, banned again.

Some get banhammered, almost all trace of them is removed, makes some threads read very strange.

Great Eastern/Enjoy the Ride (formerly known as Nigel Garrage et al, currently operating as Rakia) was definitely banned for racism and other misdemeanours, which is why it's so ridiculous that they're allowed back under a new account with no attempt (bar their first week of pretending they were a foreigner) to disguise themselves whatsoever. Makes rather a mockery of the process, really.

Yes, as all their posts were removed.
Moderators is just just a generic term for maintaining the site. I doubt anyone has a full time job moderating.

I'm not aware that road.cc has dedicated "moderators" as such but I've definitely seen comments from the staff writers (Dave Atkinson, John Stevenson etc.) to the effect that they can and do ban users (temporarily or permanently) if they feel appropriate.  There's also the role of "Community Editor" currently held by Simon MacMichael https://road.cc/content/news/introducing-our-new-community-editor-292277 

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I've never yet seen a driver attempt to ram a green plated car off the road - but I have had a "You don't pay road tax" "Neither do you" exchange with an electric car driver.

Cyclists don't cause potholes, yet are put at the most risk by them. We should get tax back.

It's a bit like the LPG/Autogas phase. Used to be there was a pump at every service station, now you need to plan your journey in almost the same way as an EV driver. The difference though is that long haul delivery vehicles won't be electric any time soon, and that's a big part of service station demand

This is what the Germans are building for long haul electric vehicles.

https://youtu.be/_3P_S7pL7Yg

It's all about magnitudes of harm though. We KNOW climate change is likely to kill millions and cost trillions.  Particulates are the less evil.

Although from a "politics" perspective people are interested in themselves and their immediate surroundings. Global issues are distant in space and time. So it's much easier to get people interested talking about risk of asthma locally (do cute kittens get asthma? That'd help the campaign). Witness what happened with LTNs - "uncaring middle class liberals don't care that Salima's now being KILLED by all the traffic FORCED to idle in congestion down her street."

I think they'll stick with the current division - below 15.5mph / 250 W are bicycles; above are mopeds.

Seems quite tidy.

Things like microcars may be a more interesting boundary blurrer.

When petrol came back down in price why wasn't the tax decrease put back on?

Because petrol hasn't come back down in price. Hope that helps.

You'd think at this juncture that the scales would fall from people's eyes and see that the motorist is treated as a simple cash cow for the treasury, rather than this being a "tax on emissions", or whatever excuse is given.

It's come down 30p a litre in the last month or so, not far off pre-pandemic level. Saw £1.59 today. Deisel well over 185 still

Rakia wrote:

the motorist is treated as a simple cash cow for the treasury

So we should be. Vehicle use has a massive effect on obesity, diseases linked to gas and particulate emissions, and a huge cost to the government to maintain and improve the roads for an ever growing number of heavier and heavier vehicles. Motorists absolutely should be taxed accordingly.