Red traffic light jumpers.

[Montello]

I am struggling a bit to reconcile the fact that you are a cyclist in the countryside experiencing city like traffic jams.

I'll have a try to explain ...

I live in the countryside, I have a network of small lanes on my doorstep and so my cycling is unimpeded by traffic as I rarely see any cars on the roads I choose to ride on, I try to avoid busy roads and A roads. Its all very easy.

When I drive my car I am often going to an urban area and as such these journeys are typically delayed by heavy traffic. It's only 7 miles for me to get into Canterbury but I usually have to allow 30 minutes because of the awful traffic in the town. It would be quicker to cycle.

The point I have been failing to get across is that when you drive you are likely to be delayed by an inconsiderate group of 20 cyclists on maybe 1/100 journeys, where as you are likely to be delayed by other cars on perhaps 95/100 journeys ... so cyclists are really not the problem ... the problem is their is too many cars for the infrastructure and there is no plan to address the situation.

So ... the media and politicians have conditioned the majority group (car drivers) to hate a vulnerable minority group (cyclists) for the problem (overloaded infrastructure) ... it's the same tactic that gave us Brexit and other unpleasant aspects in society ...


Cycling really should be part of our transport solution not a hate group, you give the example of the school run as an essential journey, that puts a load of cars on the road at commuting time creating more traffic. When we were all kids there was no school run we walked and cycled ... and guess what the classroom wasn't full of little fat kids either ...

Because cycling has been marginalised as a mode of transport and become a hate group it is little wonder mum does not want to send little Jonny off to school on his bike for the 2 mile trip ...

If you have been to some of the European cities which embrace cycling (I am sure you have) I am sure you would agree they are very pleasant places ... plus their health service is likely less burdened by obesity and mental health problems.

It's time we developed our transport system in the UK and with the advent of eBikes and eScooters there are much better solutions for clean and simple local transport than the car and you don't have to be a Bradley Wiggins wannabe to make a 3 mile commute on an eBike ...

[oldoakknives]

I'll have a try to explain ...

I live in the countryside, I have a network of small lanes on my doorstep and so my cycling is unimpeded by traffic as I rarely see any cars on the roads I choose to ride on, I try to avoid busy roads and A roads. Its all very easy.

When I drive my car I am often going to an urban area and as such these journeys are typically delayed by heavy traffic. It's only 7 miles for me to get into Canterbury but I usually have to allow 30 minutes because of the awful traffic in the town. It would be quicker to cycle.

The point I have been failing to get across is that when you drive you are likely to be delayed by an inconsiderate group of 20 cyclists on maybe 1/100 journeys, where as you are likely to be delayed by other cars on perhaps 95/100 journeys ... so cyclists are really not the problem ... the problem is their is too many cars for the infrastructure and there is no plan to address the situation.

To be honest I rarely get delayed by other cars so that's simply not true. Did you just pluck those figures out of thin air?

So ... the media and politicians have conditioned the majority group (car drivers) to hate a vulnerable minority group (cyclists) for the problem (overloaded infrastructure) ... it's the same tactic that gave us Brexit and other unpleasant aspects in society ...

I don't think I've ever seen the 'media and politicians' in any way trying to condition people to hate cyclists. Exactly the opposite in fact. You only have to look at the cyclist friendly laws that have recently been brought in. And tagging it onto a 'tactic that gave us Brexit and other unpleasant aspects in society' to try and get sympathy for your views is pure comedy. What next, 'cyclists against gammons in cars' ?

Cycling really should be part of our transport solution not a hate group, you give the example of the school run as an essential journey, that puts a load of cars on the road at commuting time creating more traffic. When we were all kids there was no school run we walked and cycled ... and guess what the classroom wasn't full of little fat kids either ...

Because cycling has been marginalised as a mode of transport and become a hate group it is little wonder mum does not want to send little Jonny off to school on his bike for the 2 mile trip ...

I think people just decided the motor car was a more realistic way to get around. I don't think it was a conscious effort to marginalise cycling. As for being a 'hate group' are you sure it's a government plot, or is it just a result of cyclists attitudes to car drivers?

If you have been to some of the European cities which embrace cycling (I am sure you have) I am sure you would agree they are very pleasant places ... plus their health service is likely less burdened by obesity and mental health problems.

Where are these Shangri La's of future living of which you speak?

It's time we developed our transport system in the UK and with the advent of eBikes and eScooters there are much better solutions for clean and simple local transport than the car and you don't have to be a Bradley Wiggins wannabe to make a 3 mile commute on an eBike ...

Next time I take the dog to the vet, pop to the DIY store for some materials, or the garden centre for some compost I probably won't consider going on my bicycle or a scooter. I'm sure you will.

[trident-7]

Quite a few years ago a bunch of four or five of us cyclists were riding along the A4 near Bath when a car driver overtook us, blared his horn, & waved what looked like a credit card at us through his wound down nearside window. Once he’d passed us he did an emergency stop which resulted in us all having to brake heavily. One of the group, who was also my professional colleague, lost traction, hit the deck, slid along the road & ended up embedded under the rear of the vehicle. We had to pull him out. Turns out that the driver was an off duty police officer who had taken exception to us cycling in a legal manner & the ‘credit card’ was actually his warrant card.
Fortunately we were able to get his details & subsequently made a complaint. This resulted in the powers that be saying to us, in retrospect off the record, sorry he’s a known tw@t in the force.

Fast forward many years & I had arranged to meet that same colleague for a beer at the local pub at 8pm. He had arranged to go out for an evening ride with half a dozen guys from the cycling club & said he would meet me at the pub after.

At about 7.30 I had a call from him & he said that he’d be a bit late. “There’s been an incident….one of the group has been hit by a car (iirc it was a Range Rover) head on on a single track road.…….in fact he’s dead. I carried out CPR on him but his neck was clearly broken & he had cerebrospinal fluid coming out of his nose.”

The Range Rover had been barrelling towards the group & most of them had managed to veer into a gateway but the last one in line couldn’t get out of the way in time. Russian Roulette I guess.

The lad was only 23 & had just completed his PhD. The driver was curled up on the back seats of his vehicle crying.

The chalk marks were on the road for quite a few months before the rain washed them away.

I still met him for the beer :-/