The recent carnage on the capital’s roads brings into sharp focus the reality of the cycling debate. The issue of rights keeps popping up driving something of a wedge between motorists – who pay for the right to use the roads, on the one hand, and cyclists who do not, on the other. Thus far the vocal cycling lobby has had the whip hand, buoyed as they are by a green morality that stomachs little if any criticism.
As a Londoner in the 1990s I found using a bicycle an unrivalled way to get about town. Not only could you see so much more than if trapped in the confines of a car, but the journey was usually quicker and the health benefits were clear, and the only accessory borne of fashion was a face mask in the summer.
I no longer live in London, but when I’m there it never ceases to amaze me, the sheer scale of change on the roads since those days when pedal power was a properly viable mode of urban transport. It takes an infrequent visitor’s eye to really see that, notwithstanding the state of the roads, the very size of the cycling population in relation to overall traffic levels, in a city struggling with its historical heritage is an obvious recipe for disaster. Five deaths a week seems pretty understandable, in fact.
I drove into the City on a Friday afternoon some months back. What was I thinking? I could barely exceed 15 mph, such was the swarm and ferocity of cyclists of all descriptions. As a group it was as if – in a post-congestion charge world – there was a blanket belief the road and the rights to it, was theirs, and theirs alone. The notion of driving in such conditions was clearly preposterous.
As a licence holder I guess I’ve driven round the world numerous times, including a two-year stint as a courier in London in the 80s. It does seem as if London is at war with the motorist. There’s a radical social evolution going on on capital’s roads, and the death-toll mounts as a consequence. Talk of banning Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) at rush hour underlines that for London at least, cyclists in these numbers, and of specific types: single geared, no brakes, racing bikes, disc brakes, sprung suspension etc etc, not to mention MAMIL rider culture, have no business sharing public roads with motorised vehicles.
History will look back on the insanity of the righteous and irresponsible, feeling they can take on rightful road users, and crying when they or one of their brethren gets squished on an altar of green dogma obliging the cult of cycle lanes that instil a sense of right into the cyclist while funnelling him or her into impossibly dangerous situations. The lack of accountability of the cyclist merely exacerbates what is a distinctly ugly social demographic. Cycle lanes are no such thing until they are physically or structurally separate from a motor vehicles’ road. The huge cost could be borne by a tax on bicycle sales and riders.
In the end I chopped my bicycle in for a motor cycle, and, on passing the test, adopted the notion that any accident, regardless of who was at fault, would ultimately be my fault. It served me well, as did investment in advanced training. I covered many miles across continents and major cities, and never dropped a bike once. Cyclists need to adopt the same thinking and cease the hysterical shrieking at motorists.
I miss cycling back then, but then I do remember one time riding up behind a sizeable, slowing HGV, and, resisting the temptation to filter down its left hand side, I came to a halt a car’s length behind it. On the HGV’s rear mud flaps, the driver had written in large letters – ‘OFFSIDE’ on the right mudflap, and ‘SUICIDE’ on the left.
All HGVs should have such signage. And government and cyclists alike need to change the thinking, ditch the political correctness and come up with solutions that both force and enable cyclists to be responsible, accountable and safe.
Jonathan Bracey-Gibbon is a freelance journalist who over the past 15 years has written for The Times, the Financial Times, The Sunday Times and Sunday Express
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