Real bicycle lane in my town – in the jokes section as it is a bit of a joke – folk in other countries especially across the North Sea and even many Asian nations will certainly laugh at us..
Whilst I can’t exactly measure the lane easily without putting myself at personal danger (it is one of the busiest roads in Ipswich, it is about 0.5m wide at most. The dotted white lines mean that motor cars and vans/lorries can also use it if they need to. Immediately ahead is a big crack in the road surface.
Despite common misconceptions in the UK, those who ride bicycles still pay a lot of tax for roads, (the vehicle tax just gets treated as normal tax and spent on all sorts).
On mine about 30% of the price was tax (including some extra the bike is Chinese although designed in Britain, but there is no other way of getting one with the right frame size for me and sufficient gears for UK roads (the bikes and e-bikes sold in NL are for way taller people, plus look like old grandpa’s bike – you do see them here but old people tend to ride them (who may well be from NL anyway))
Also there is tax on the lamp, the tyres, and all other bits you need to maintain a bike (though I think the Germans got some of it as those bits of my bike are German). The only thing you don’t pay tax on is a crash helmet or safety kit for children (below age 16) which is fair enough but otherwise its 20% VAT + import duty on anything made outside the EU (i.e 99% of the bike and its parts)…
