A rant about bike riders

I pay around £700 on road tax and insurance per year to be able to drive on the roads of the UK.

And this morning, in the space of 10 minutes, bike riders made me so angry. If I had my way, unless they were insured and paid road tax, I'd ban them on the roads.

Now I know that there will be loads of people who will be up in arms at my comments, but it's my blog and I have the right to say what I think.

I was sat at traffic lights at a major junction in Cambridge this morning, waiting for the lights to turn green, when a woman on a bike came up the inside of me and just turned left and joined the traffic, causing a car to have to pull over to miss her, and cross over into the oncoming lane, almost causing a crash. Obviously the red light didn't apply to her!

If he'd have hit the woman, then he'd have probably killed her and ended up in a court accused of bad driving.

And within ten minutes, I got stuck behind two girls riding bikes, side by side in the middle of the lane, dawdling along and chatting, oblivious to two things - the bike lane to their left, and the fact they were holding up traffic.

Now while I come to mention it - bike lanes - why should we have them? Bike riders contribute nothing in the way of vehicle tax, and they don't pay insurance, so why do we have to have bike lanes?  Keep them off the road.

The alternative as I see it, is to make them take a proper test to prove their competency on a bike when on the road, and make them pay tax and insurance.

And speaking of competency, what the hell do parents think they're up to letting 4 and 5 year olds ride their bikes on main roads? As a driver, they frighten me to death. Yes Dad can be riding his bike up front and Mum can be behind, but can they guarantee that if their darling child should fall off that they're going to be able to scoop them up before some horrible accident happens?

I know it doesn't help living near Cambridge where we've got more bike riders than enough. The trouble is with such large numbers of bike riders in and around the town centre, so many of them are like thugs - they fly by you, many times close enough to catch you if you're carrying anything. Lots feel like they own the road and pavements as well.

Whilst walking through the town the other day I encountered someone having a go at a bike rider for riding on the pavement when the pavement was already full of pedestrians.

I'm sorry, but it drives me nuts!!!!!!