Millions have been spent on the cycle lanes, (bizarrely twice the width of the remaining carriageway in some places), and whilst the majority of responsible cyclists use them, there are still a number who are willing to ignore the fact that they exist and put themselves in between cars, buses and lorries on the road and the only reason is that it shaves a few seconds off their journey.
Something has to give because a ‘them and us’ mentality has developed on our streets and it’s going to result in road rage incident after incident. The responsible cyclists have to be willing to admit that just like the driving fraternity, they too have their share of morons who give the rest of them a bad name.
This ‘hatred’ of drivers appears to be growing and it’s a real concern as someone who spends so much time on London’s road system as I do. The result of the cycle lanes should have meant that both sets of road users are happily co-existing but, sadly, that’s just not the way things are working out. We motorists pay our dues and we have every right to have the same protection from aggressive and dangerous cyclists that the Super Highways were created to give them.
Yes, cycling in London or any major city is extremely dangerous and I applaud anything that makes it safer. But all cyclists have to play by the rules too and this view that anything on four wheels is the devil reincarnated is not acceptable.
If drivers are at fault when they kill or injure cyclists then they should quite obviously be at the full mercy of the law, but don’t tarnish us all with the same brush and cyclists shouldn’t think that they’re completely devoid of any responsibility as road users, as they have to be prepared to play by the rules as well!