[JayBar]

I know this is an old thread. I came across it doing a search for something else.
I am on my second Cobra, and have a Corvette for track events, as well as a Mustang as a daily driver, so I consider myself a car guy.
I am a cyclist. I am not going to touch the "payment" issue. But I buy huge amounts of gas and pay all the associate taxes. Insurance would be a good idea but only if motorists without insurance were arrested on the spot when detected. I think motor vehicles have a better chance of causing damage than my 18lb bike.
Now there are divers and drivers, there are cyclist and there are people that ride bikes. There are A$$ holes in both groups. Kids who ride on the wrong side of the road are not cyclist. They are kids who have toys. Their total ride may be 3 blocks to a friends house. They have no concept of the rules of the road. They only know their mother told them to ride facing traffic. This of course is dangerous and not correct but that myth has been handed down from mother to child since the bike was invented. Most cyclist are law abiding and courteous. There are woman drivers and there are woman cyclist need I say more. There are cyclist who are racer want to be's. They are the problem. They are arrogant, inconsiderate and just plane a$$ holes.
I wish the police would stop them and issue tickets for stop signs, and riding two abreast and all for all other inconsiderate things they do.

The solution is mutual respect, and acceptance. You can't drive around with the attitude that bikes have no right to be on the road.
Many times when I am driving I will come across a pack of cyclists who may be riding two abreast. If I can't pass because of oncoming traffic, I roll down the window and yell "car back". That is the command used by polite cyclist to inform those up ahead a car is approaching and to get over.
You can't make the assumption that all cyclist know each other. I had a motorist complain that a bike rider committed some infraction and pointed to a guy I had never seen before in my life. It's like if you are cut off by a car and stop at the next light and complain to the driver of the car next to you.
So in the words of that famous american ,Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along"