The problem we have is of finger pointing at cyclists by drivers that have
over inflated ideas about their driving ability.
I think the biggest problem is the impunity of cyclists: because they don't
have number-plates, they cannot easily be traced and reported for occasions
when they do break laws which would see a motorist prosecuted. in other
words, resentment rather than concern about safety. I may fume inwardly but
I refuse to get riled by bad cyclists when I'm driving; other people regard
inconsiderate cyclists as fair game.
I cycle - for pleasure rather than as means of getting from A to B - and I
try to cycle as if I were a human-powered car, obeying all the same rules as
a car driver: I don't go through red traffic lights or occupied zebra
crossings, and I don't overtake on the left at junction if I want to go
straight on and the car ahead of me is indicating to turn left. As a cyclist
and a car driver I have seen an alarmingly high number of cyclists who don't
obey the rules - and get away with it. On two occasions I've witnessed
pedestrians on a zebra crossing have to jump back to avoid being hit by
cyclists. (*). If a car driver did that he would be rightly prosecuted;
cyclists seem to get away with it as it is regarded as a venial offence.
Being hit by a cyclist at 20-30 mph is nowhere near as bad as being hit by a
car, but it can still be fatal.
It is the holier-than-thou "I'm a cyclist so the rules of the road are a
mere inconvenience - ignore them" cyclists that give the rest a bad name -
unfairly.
As a driver, I hope I make a better cyclist because I can sympathise with
the needs of cars to overtake a much slower vehicle. As a cyclist, I hope I
make a better driver - I know to pass them as wide as possible, not to
hassle them when they are struggling up a hill that is chickenfeed to a car.
I try to keep as far left as is safe (avoiding the kerb and drainholes), and
when my wife and I are cycling, we always move into single file when there
are cars wanting to get past, even though the law allows two abreast.
Incidentally, "two abreast" doesn't allow cyclists to ride one close to the
kerb and one almost over the white line, with a gap "that you could drive a
double-decker bus through" in between, purposefully making it as hard as
possible for anyone to get past.
(*) I was out cycling in the centre of Oxford, where tourists are to be
expected. As I was approaching a zebra crossing I saw a large group of
people, who I imagine were tourists, starting to cross. I slowed down, as
did the cars ahead and behind me. Another cyclist, on a racing bike, yelled
"out of my fucking way", overtook and swerved round the traffic and between
a car and bollard, and rode full-tilt at the crossing, causing a party of
tourists to leap out of the way. He deserved to be punished as severely as a
car or lorry driver that did the same - but of course he was untraceable. A
rare occasion, but one that sticks in the mind, with a danger that people
think "all cyclists" are like that.