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Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing you this letter as a concerned citizen. I am one of the various cyclists whom you pass every day when you are driving in your car to work, or to play, or taking the children to school, or going to the shops, or any one of the myriad reasons that drivers seem to think are adequate for using the personal motor vehicle. It may seem obvious to the majority of you, sitting in your air-conditioned personal spaces with all the comforts of home, that cyclists are some form of second-class creature whose journey couldn't possibly be as important as yours because otherwise we'd be using a car; or because we don't pay "road tax" and therefore "have no right to be there"; or because we go so much more slowly than you do; or because we have cycle lanes cluttering up "your" roads and don't always use them; or simply because perhaps we spark some twinge of guilt as you drive 300 yards from your front door to the school gate and park on the zig-zags. There are some points to which I should like to draw your attention. This is not vindictive: my only concern is to get where I am going as safely as I can and with the minimum of fuss. Hopefully the incidents in which individuals of your number have variously spat at me, sworn at me, thrown lit cigarettes in my face, tried to run me off the road in their BMWs, passed me with bare inches to spare while screaming obscenities out of the window, or forced me to stop while they get out and hurl abuse at me will turn out to be no more than misunderstandings. Perhaps the next time one of my friends tells me he was hit by a three by four being held out of a passenger window so as to knock him off his bike I will be able to tell him about our meaningful and frank dialogue. Point 1 - "Road Tax" Despite the signs in police stations (and you'd think they'd know better) there is no such thing as 'Road Tax'. The little paper disc that you are required to display in the windscreen of your vehicle is proof of payment for Vehicle Excise Duty. There is no 'Road Fund Licence' - that is colloquial terminology. The funds from the VED are not ring-fenced for roads. They are a payment that vehicle owners must make for the privilege of putting a car on the Queen's Highway. The roads are funded from general taxes, so we all pay them. Including cyclists. I would also like to point out that, even if this were not the case, a great many, if not the majority of cyclists also own a car. We pay as much as you do, and we even help pay for the motorways, which we're not allowed to use. Point 2 - Rights This might come as a painful shock, but everyone has a right to use public highways and by-ways. Everyone. There are roads that are restricted to certain uses, and there are modes of travel on roads that require special permission. While you have every right to use the Queen's Highway, if you are going to operate a piece of heavy machinery on the road, you will need a permissive licence. That's right: there is no requirement for a bicycle user to gain permission to use the road because it is not a piece of heavy machinery that might kill someone during a momentary lapse of attention. You see, you have no right to use your car on the road. You have permission to use your car on the road. So please don't think that you have a right to be there and we don't; it's actually the other way around. Point 3 - Speed Cyclists are not that slow. I average a smidge over 20mph on my way into work, and frequently achieve speeds of 40mph and upwards. Given that half of my route is posted as a 30mph zone and the other half is 60mph or below, I'm not going that much slower than you. So please don't look at a bike and immediately assume that it is travelling at near-to walking pace. Take a moment to ascertain its speed before deciding on a manoeuvre. Cyclists are human powered; it's a lot more effort for us to get back up to speed if we are forced to brake because a car driver has decided to pull out in front of us with only 20 yards to spare. Try to imagine that the cyclist and his machine are a big lorry and ask yourself how keen you would be to pull out then. Point 4 - Overtaking The Highway Code says that one should give a cyclist at least as much room as a car when overtaking. Remember that we might need to swerve to avoid a pothole or some other obstruction that you have not noticed. It is quite hair-raising to have a car go past at high speed and high revs with inches to spare. If you can think of the effect of being buffeted by the wake of lorries on the motorway on a windy day and then imagine being on a two-wheeled machine with nothing more protecting the skin than a thin t-shirt, then you might understand why we like to be given plenty of room. Remember that you will probably only be delayed for a couple of minutes at most, which isn't much out of your life, but if you cause the cyclist to fall not only will he possibly end up injured or worse but it's going to cost you a lot more time. You should also be aware that it is illegal to cross a double white line in the middle of the road to overtake unless the cyclist is doing 10mph or less. This does not mean squeeze past between cyclist and line; after all we might need to dodge a brick or a manhole. It means just wait a little while until it is safe to overtake. All we are asking is that you remember we are more concerned about staying alive and healthy than we are about you saving a few seconds. I am sure you'll agree that this is perfectly natural. Point 5 - Cycle Lanes Not all cyclists like cycle lanes. We are not obliged to use them, although I'm sure that when someone asks you if you think they are a good idea you think that it means all the cyclists will be off in their own little runs and out of your way so you say "Of course!" The thing is, segregated paths have been shown in studies actually to lead to an increase in the number and severity of accidents. We have to share them with pedestrians and their dogs, and they tend to be designed with a 12 year old in mind, not a dedicated adult cycle commuter or racer-in-training like some of us. They have increased numbers of conflict points - that is where the cyclist is encouraged to do something that you wouldn't expect a vehicle to do, like cross against the flow of traffic. On-road cycle lanes can be even worse. They go along in the gutter, where all the debris gets thrown and all the manholes and drain covers are. Some of them even feed cyclists up the inside of left-turn only filter lanes, which is a disaster waiting to happen. They do not always go where we want them to, either. Next time you want to ask a cyclist why he is not using a cycle path, ask yourself why you do not always use the motorway. The chances are that the reasons are not dissimilar. Point 6 - Red Light Jumpers Just as we cyclists remember the bad drivers much more clearly than we remember the good ones, it is more than likely that when you think "No-good cyclists always run red lights/ride on pavements etc" you are remembering the bad ones rather than the sensible majority (this may not be the case if you live in London, which is an entirely different matter). A lot of us do stick to the rules, obey red lights and never cycle on pavements. But also remember that many people today are confused because drivers insist on treating cyclists as if they were pedestrians on two wheels: you ask us to stay on the pavement, out of your way, where we have to use pedestrian crossings and not behave like vehicles any more. It is hardly surprising that some cyclists are forgetting that they are using a vehicle, nor is it surprising that some people never found out. If you would start treating us like vehicles, like other road users, then people might start remembering. Cyclists from London tend to fall into two camps - those that obey the Highway Code and those who know they should but do not. Those that do not will argue that it is safer for them to ride through red lights if the junction is clear as it keeps them ahead of aggressive car drivers. I am not going to argue their case, but you might like to take it up with them personally if you disagree. Just try to be polite. They might have a point. Point 7 - Hills I know it must be really tempting to hurtle past a cyclist on a fast downhill section in order to get in front for the slow uphill bit. But the cyclist is probably pedalling as fast as he can to gain speed so he does not have to work as hard to get up the next bit. It is incredibly frustrating to find oneself having to work three times as hard because someone has overtaken and then braked to slower than one's previous speed, or that one has to brake hard because someone has pulled out of a side road and driven away leisurely. Remember we are relying on our own strength and stamina to propel ourselves along. It is not like sitting back, adjusting the volume on the in-car entertainment centre and fluttering the throttle pedal. Once the cyclist has slowed down to a crawl on the uphill section you can overtake, and as he's probably going to be doing 10mph or less, you can even cross a double white line to do so, as long as it is safe. If the hill is very steep, remember the cyclist might wobble around a bit. It is very hard work. Point 8 - The Weather Cyclists are affected by weather. This includes wind and rain. Strangely enough it is one of the reasons that many of us do it. We prefer that feeling of being connected to the elements. However, it does mean that we would appreciate a little more care and attention from you, sir or madam, during certain weather conditions. A sudden gust of wind can knock a cyclist sideways and cause him to wobble two or three feet. Rain can be quite blinding. I have pulled out to angry hooting in heavy rain - not because I did not bother to look, but simply because the rain made it impossible to see clearly. Cyclists are not infallible; we do make mistakes just like you do. Remember that when we make a mistake we are unlikely to hurt anyone other than ourselves. If you make a mistake you have the best part of a tonne of metal and plastic going places you do not want it to go. If the wind is gusting and you see a cyclist, remember that he is struggling with the wind while you are creating more, so give him some extra room. You probably don't want to hit him any more than he wants to be hit: apart from the obvious human tragedy there are all the police reports and the damage to the paint. Point 9 - Insurance Quite a few of us actually do have insurance. I have third party insurance because I am a member of the CTC. Other people have third party insurance because it is provided on their contents insurance, or through the company with which they insure their bicycle. Point 10 - Holding up traffic We don't hold up traffic. We are traffic. It is just as important for us to get to our destinations as it is for you to get to yours. We have simply chosen what we consider to be a better method of getting there. Try thinking about what would happen if all the cyclists you think of as being in your way were in cars instead. Wouldn't that make congestion worse? In reality we're doing you a favour, and all those who suffer from asthma, air pollution, noise pollution and being unable to walk or play outside their houses for fear of being run over. Here in Exeter it has been estimated if people car-shared with just one other person for just one day a week, all our congestion problems would be gone. Imagine if they chose to cycle to work every day instead. Point 11 - Safety An argument we often hear is that the roads are dangerous and we shouldn't be on them. Well, if we imagine removing all the motor traffic from the roads, it should be blatantly obvious that any danger comes from the motor vehicles. Right? Wrong. If we left all the vehicles on the road, without their drivers, it would still be safe because the vehicles wouldn't be doing anything. What makes the roads hazardous is the behaviour of the drivers. This is true for cyclists, pedestrians, and other drivers, so I am not being selfish in pointing this out. If all drivers showed just a little more consideration then perhaps more people would be willing to try getting out of their cars and onto their bikes and congestion might become a thing of the past. I would now like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I will have achieved my objective if, the next time you see a cyclist, you recall any of this at all. We are not a breed apart: not special, not different not superheroes or scum. We're just people, like you, who have chosen a different form of personal transport. We're all just trying to get where we're going, and get there alive with as little stress as possible. Yours faithfully, Etc
The author grants permission for reprinting, publishing or use of this material, as long as it is unaltered, duly credited and no fee is sought. |