Bad riding is less common than bad driving

I’M a cyclist and, like pretty much every other cyclist I know, I’m also a motorist – so yes, I do pay road tax and I know the rules of the road. I even obey them.

Like other drivers, I also get annoyed when I see a cyclist doing something they shouldn’t but I don’t see it happen that often. Not nearly as often as I see a motorist cutting a corner, failing to indicate, driving while chatting on their mobile or, worse still, texting. This I see all the time – go on, admit it, you have too.

Just yesterday I saw motorists chatting away on their phones while doing well over 100kph – the speed limit – on the M50.

As it happens, all but one was male. One lad was driving a van, another a taxi, and another chatty man was steering a massive lorry with more blind spots than there are spokes on a bike wheel.

I’ve also seen drivers putting on their make-up, dressing themselves (honestly), and overtaking on countyy lanes barely wide enough to accommodate a pair of annoying cyclists riding two abreast.

I’ll bet at least one of these same eejits will give out about “bleeding cyclists” if you asked them their opinion of two-wheelers. To be fair, I do get annoyed by rogue cyclists, especially those militant lycra-clad riders who insist on riding two abreast – because “it’s legal” - even when they clearly know they’re holding up traffic and it wouldn’t hurt them to let a few cars get past.

Nothing gives cyclists a bad name like those who slow up traffic but then again for all the whining from motorists, I suspect that’s what really annoys them most – not being able to speed.