Important we all value the lives of cyclists

I HAVE just hosted three German cycle tourists, and a more humane and caring group of youngsters you could not wish to meet.

They will spend months touring here and spending money in the provinces and small towns where the tourist dollar is so badly needed. Far more, I suggest, than any day tripper off a tourist boat.

And for this they are bullied daily by Neanderthal drivers who feel

‘‘cyclists should not be on the open road’’ and use their vehicles to ‘‘teach them a lesson.’’

Each touring cyclist I have met has stories of nearmisses and nearlethal driving by truck and trailers and utilities alike.

These cyclists are mostly kids. Some just out of school. They have parents who worry about them. They are not unlike the many New Zealand youngsters who safely cycletour Europe in the summer months.

But unlike our own young people, the young cyclist touring here is subject to a barrage of bad driving and abuse that has become embedded in our driving culture.

Cycle tourists are not road kill and those that consider them so are beyond contempt. They are for the most part good and friendly youngsters who deserve better than to be on the receiving end of some moronic driver’s envious, dyspeptic hangups.

In the absence of their own families, it is incumbent on us to be their families, and ensure each cycle tourist reaches their destination safely. David Stillaman

Maori Hill