Bikers block Tel Aviv highway to protest insurance hikes

Hi Susan Motorcyleist/ Bikers are not more dangerous as other people in public traffic. Of course you are much quicker and faster. Every biker know what he do,mostly. Therfore, be tolerant. Riding is freedom. In a case of a accident mostly the biker loose. This is a fact allover the world. Greets Peter

People who have greviences, and who hurt innocents just to draw attention to their cause are called "terrorists". So these bikers- however justified their cause may be...who are they punishing? What if there is an ambulance on its way to hospital, or a tourist on his way to the airport to catch a flight, or a mother on her way home to her kids,.....Do they care???????

Regarding the claim that 4x4 vehicles are somehow "subsidizing" bikers' insurance, we should remember that the state - the taxpayer - is subsidizing 4x4s in its roadbuilding efforts and other transport infrastructures. In addition, we, the residents of the cities, are "subsidising" these and other oversized vehicles in terms of poorer quality of life: increased traffic jams (which affects public transport too), increased parking and/or more parking on what are supposed to be pavements and cyclepaths. Bikers may drive dangerously or fail to respect driving laws, but pricing bikers off the roads is not the only way of dealing with these problems.

The "debate" around the insurance price hikes has missed the point. The question is what kind of transport we want on our roads. Do we want to encourage a cheap form of transport that many can afford who cannot allow themselves cars? Do we want to encourage bikes as a way of decreasing the burden of traffic on our roads, not to mention the burden of parking? Or would we rather do away with bikes, force the less affluent to give up independent transport and encourage yet more cars to jam up the roads? Goverment policy must address this question, and probably does - in fact, we can assume that policies reflect hidden objectives. Thus, it seems that the state would rather support the affluent at the price of traffic-jams, fumes and more concrete - and the less wealthy can look after themselves...

I expect the bikers to get harsher sentences than the harel Brothers who got respectively 30 and 40 months in jail for their intention (not actually achieved) to block the Ayalon Expressway during the Gush Katif protests. Unless bikers, like truck drivers in the past, are treated diferently than rightists who have always been undr-citizens!

I would like to understand, why the insurance fees here are nearly 10x higher than in Europe (e.g., Germany: ca. 100 Euro per year). This cannot be related to risk (as much as Israeli drivers perversely hope that it's most dangerous to drive here, Italy or Spain are at least as dangerous). It must be related to liability: who is responsible for paying what in the event of an accident. While the rider is certainly at a higher risk, he probably causes less 3rd party damage, and obviously the value of the vehicle is about a 10th. So, could some reporter once go into the details, of *why* the insurance fees here are so absurdly high?

Bikers should drive more carefully all the time. Stay in their lane and not weave between cars. Sometimes they pop out from behind me at intersections and I don't even know where they came from.

You mean Israeli Motorcylcle drivers will stage a protest where they will drive according to the rules of the road. Wow... that's fantastic. See the price hike has worked already.

Weaving in and out, in front and behind, with no regard for blind spots, laws, or even common decency. And since they generally drive beyond the speed limit, the police have given up on holding them to the law - we taxpayers just pay for the results of their recklessness. Whatever the height of their insurance payments, it isn't high enough.