<*dv_2*>I cycle to work every day. It means I dont have to put up with crowded tubes or tailbacks on the Holborn Viaduct. It also saves me a lot of money.
However, cycling into work is not without its downside. Getting across London on a bike is dangerous. Navigating the five lanes of traffic at Hyde Park Corner requires the same personal disregard for safety found in kamikaze pilots.
<*dv_0*> So imagine my ire when I learnt that the AA, the RAC, road safety campaigners and MPs are ganging up my two wheeled brethren to ensure that if cyclists run a red light or ride on the pavement that we face the full force of the law for our crime. Apparently we dont realise what a danger we are to other road users.
Now maybe Ive missed something but the last time I looked across at the lights at the vehicle next to me it was fitted with seatbelt, airbag, anti lock brakes, rear impact protection, side impact protection all encased inside approximately a tonne of reinforced steel. I meanwhile ride around on a few cylindrical tubes with only my wits and nerves for protection.
<*dv_3*> Who do you think has the most to worry about?
If I make a mistake on the road and crash I die. You, make a mistake on the road and crash into me, I die.
<*dv_1*> I am not one of these so-called lycra louts who go up one way streets the wrong way, jump the lights and weaves in and out of traffic. But if one of my two wheeled brothers wants to do that and run the risks then I say good luck to them.
<*dv_4*> The real reason for this campaign seems to have nothing to do with cyclists causing a danger to other road users. As the man interviewed from the AAs hinted at when he said that cyclists behaviour was more annoying than harmful. Here is the real truth of the argument with cyclists. As they sit, grid locked in traffic, pumping out green house gases, Talk Sport sound tracking the stand still, the sight of cyclists weaving their way freely down the road unhindered by tailbacks winds them up. With congestion charging, road tolls and petrol tax all pushing up the price of motoring the idea that someone else can use the same roads without paying a penny sets off a petty vindictive rage in Mr Motorist. All this constipated anger needs somewhere to go. So gazing out the windscreen their eyes alight on the perfect scapegoat. Cyclists.
It is at this point that your car driver makes the wrong choice. He becomes a splenetic blustering balloon of indignation at the scandal of cyclists behaviour. But if he thought for a moment, just one moment, he would realise the sheer folly of trying to drive anywhere and head for the nearest Halford's.
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