You think cyclists don’t pay property tax, sales tax, income tax? Even gas tax.
The cyclists pay for their upkeep as well, please stop spreading this ignorant claim on the SDMB.
I see that this thread exists. Explains much.
I wasn’t going to enter this one, because I’m not familiar with the OP area and cyclists, but then you mention London.
In London they do traffic surveys, and keep accident statistics. So we know that, in London, bicycles running the red lights make traffic flow better, and reduce bicycle accident rates, by clearing out of the intersections when the traffic is clear and stationary.
London has a fair number of cyclists, and a fair number of cycle accidents, and a fair number of traffic analysts, so the numbers are known. Dunno about the OP.
Stop confusing them with facts.
Sorry, I keep forgetting some folks have allergies to them.
There’s a popular misconception in UK that cyclist don’t pay ‘road tax’ and therefore don’t have as much right to be on the roads as motorists. The truth of the matter is that the roads are paid for by everyone, including cyclists, out of general taxation. Cyclists therefore do have as much right to be on the road as anyone.
Cyclists pay for the repairs and upkeep of roads even though a bicycle doesn’t damage road surfaces at all. It’s the constant pounding by motor vehicles that does it.
Regarding ‘road tax’ It looks like things might change to the detriment of the cyclist:
I drive a car or use public transport when distances are great but ride a bike or walk where they aren’t. I think this keeps at least one car off the congested roads. That’s maybe something else to consider. Think of the increased number of motor vehicles there would be on the roads if every adult cyclist were to get fed up with cycling and get back into their cars.
The trouble is, traffic isn’t “clear and stationary” on the cross street where drivers and pedestrians alike correctly assume they have the right of way. This is, at best, a highly controversial safety issue and not the matter of determined fact that you make it out to be, as if it was agreed to by everyone.
For example: The London Road Network Performance and Research Team Traffic Note 8 [PDF] states that the media has been making these kinds of claims based on an unpublished TFL (Transport for London) report supposedly claiming that women are more likely to obey red lights, and are therefore causally more likely to get into accidents. The report concludes that such claims are bullshit, and states that while “… the majority of cyclists do not ride through red lights … the 16% that do must be discouraged from ignoring traffic signals.”
And this site quotes a UK Department of Transport study which states that red light jumping is just as dangerous whether the perpetrator is a cyclist or a motorist. It also quotes a nine-year veteran London bike patrol officer stating that bicycle-pedestrian accident statistics are significantly under-reported because there’s no legal obligation to report them. So when Dr Rachel Aldred, senior transport lecturer at the University of Westminster, says that in London something like 4 per cent of pedestrian casualties related to red light jumping involve cyclists jumping red lights, the real number is likely much higher.
The above link mentions that cyclists quite properly are assessed the same fines as motorists for running red lights, but the consequences can be a lot more serious than a fine. Case in point (same source):
However, there can be more serious consequences as was seen in December 2013 when a cyclist was jailed for twelve months after jumping a red light, knocking down a nine year old girl and leaving the scene. The cyclist collided with the girl at what eyewitnesses estimated to be 30mph after he failed to stop at the red light and she stepped out onto the pedestrian crossing. The judge told the cyclist that he was the only one to blame for the “incredibly selfish criminal act” after the cyclist admitted to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm.
As I replay this incident in my mind, I’m sure I’m not the only one who imagines the righteous cyclist swearing at the little girl for getting in his way.
And according to this, 11,000 of these reckless idiots were fined last year in London alone for a variety of traffic violations, 4,000 for jumping red lights and ignoring road signs, and 7,000 for cycling on sidewalks. Apparently motorists must beware the vulnerable and righteous cyclist on the road, but when the cyclist is illegally on the sidewalk, or illegally running a red light, pedestrians can go to hell. This is exactly the attitude I’m talking about. The article adds, correctly, in my view:
The evidence of reckless and illegal cycling is in sharp contrast to the loud calls of cycling campaign groups who demand crackdowns on motorists and the creation of safer road junctions. And it adds concerns among motorist that too many cyclists believe the laws of the land should be rigorously enforced against drivers – but should not apply to them. A hard-core of the most militant cyclists, criticised for their confrontational attitudes including verbal abuse and hitting or kicking cars, have been dubbed ‘lycra-louts’ because of their tendency to be clad in the stretchy sports material.
Just one last general comment. It’s interesting that I came into this discussion with nothing more than a somewhat tongue-in-cheek endorsement of another poster’s suggestion that cyclists tend to be surrounded by a sort of aura of righteousness, but some of the angry vitriol that is being spewed here by bicycle defenders is just reinforcing that perception. They’re not doing their cause any favors. I think it’s leaving some of us more convinced than ever that a lot of cyclists tend to be sanctimoniously self-righteous, careless of traffic laws, careless of the safety of pedestrians, and quick to blame everybody but themselves whenever anything happens to them. But again, of course I don’t mean you, dear reader and avid cyclist, as we know you’re perfect – it’s all the other cyclists I’m talking about. 
I have a friend in Toronto who’s a bike messenger. Had to check to see if it was him. 
Awww, are you sad that you weren’t allowed to pick on cyclists with impunity? Boo-freaking-hoo. Someone called you on your crap when you used an example of a driver endangering the life of a cyclist as an example of rampant bad cyclist behavior. You’ve been nitpicking and using anecdotes to bolster your argument ever since.
I’m wasn’t really expecting to convince the anti-bike bigots, just show where their arguments are nothing more than myths and prejudices.
Hee. This sounds like a 12-step meeting.
HI, SOUL BROTHER NUMBER TWO!
As a cyclist sometimes when i’m stopped at the red light if there is no traffic I would instinctively run the lights almost by impulse or accident WITTS is that most cyclists don’t even know what they’re doing. Cycling just happens.