We’ve enough road rage already, thanks

SO. THE West Midlands Police are to proactively harass drivers for passing cyclists too closely. Fair enough. Cyclists do need extra room, and I sometimes wonder if I am the only driver who realises this. In fact, I probably overdo the amount of space for them to wobble around on the carriageway when I overtake them.

However, there is just a hint of irritation I feel about this new initiative, because of two things.

First, that the police, throughout the country, show little interest in dealing with maverick cyclists who put their own lives and those of fellow road (and pavement) users in danger.

Second, is cyclist behaviour, which is maybe getting worse and, even if it is not, the sheer volume of cyclists is creating new dangers. For example, because of the craze for cycling, boosted by Bradley Wiggins and the Olympics team, there’s now a tendency for those MAMILS (middle-aged men in lycra) to start replicating the Tour de France on every busy suburban road or narrow rural lane, six abreast and, fast as they are, holding everyone else up. I don’t think it is considerate, shall we say.

Cyclists are vulnerable. That, by the way, is why I happen to think that we should actually encourage people to get off their bikes. I have known far too many people with terrible injuries to take any other view. It is perfectly true that these are usually the driver’s fault. Use of mobile phones is a particular menace – agreed, and I hope the new tougher penalties announced by the government deter this murderous habit.

If it helps my argument, I will concede that all of the injuries to cyclists are the fault of the drivers of cars, lorries, taxis and buses. All of them.

Prosecute

But what good does that do you when you’re lying in hospital with a broken hip, or worse? You can prosecute the driver, send them to jail, hang them, but it will not put the clock back.

Even with the toughest penalties there will still be a hard core of careless, dangerous drivers, as we see with drunk driving, which still goes on. In a world where safe separate cycle carriageways cannot be provided everywhere, or anything like it, cyclists run far too many risks to themselves.

As I say, cyclists are vulnerable – and all the more reason then for them to obey red lights, to stay off pavements, to avoid undertaking and to stop taking chances of squeezing through impossibly small gaps in the traffic.

On YouTube there is a rich archive of cyclists being caught between buses and lorries. As with drivers, there is one good way to make sure that cyclists also stick to the Highway Code and that is to enforce the Highway Code.

As for the MAMIL pelotons, well, there is something a little bit ridiculous about them, especially how they suddenly start forming in noticeable clusters after some big cycling event on TV.

Their fitness levels are awesome, I’ve no doubt, but I’d just ask, politely, with no honking of my horn or passing far too closely to them, that these bunches of cyclists avoid trying to replicate the conditions of a properly cordoned off international road race on the local ring road.

I’d also like to mention, as gently as possible, that one or two cyclists – see YouTube again – have set themselves up as sort of cops, taking to the roads with their headcams for the sole purpose of collaring errant motorists, taking their numbers, issuing warnings and reporting them to the authorities.

This sort of velo-fascism really doesn’t help anyone, I have to say and, just like any other form of vigilantism, can cause more trouble than it stops.

That then, is my message to the cyclists, my fellow road users.

I would like to think it would be received in the spirit it is meant. I fear, though, that we tribes of car drivers, truck drivers, bikers, cyclists and bus drivers are already in conflict and, as congestion and the passion for cycling both grow, those antagonisms will only intensify.

Who needs more road rage? – The Independent