Friday 9 May 2008

Cyclists, bloody cyclists!

I should immediately preface this post by pointing out that I myself am a cyclist who commutes to work on a daily basis. On my route every day I see cyclists displaying an astounding lack of regard for various laws pertaining to road use (and applicable to all road users, including cyclists). 

Two offences particularly irritate me: cycling on the pavement (this is not acceptable under any circumstances, in the same way that doing 120MPH on the motorway is unacceptable even at 2am with no other traffic visible) and 'jumping' red lights.

A surprising number of cyclists also disregard their own safety (and that of no one else) by not wearing helmets or not using lights when necessary. Frankly, any cyclist who fails to take these most basic steps to protect themselves ought to have little right to recourse if injured. They also, in my view, have little right to express dissatisfaction with the habits of other road users.

There are two particular examples of my two main bugbears that particularly enrage me:

I work on Albert Embankment, beside the SIS ("MI6") building. Every day when I leave work I turn right and, in order to do so cross 5 lanes to reach the bus lane on the left side of the road. This can be achieved in absolute safety since the traffic is often sparse and slow on this stretch of road. For some reason, though, my colleagues have decided that it is preferable to cycle on the pavement and past the entrance to SIS in order to reach the cycle lanes at Vauxhall Cross. This stretch of pavement is wide, but packed with people walking to Vauxhall station and the risk to pedestrians from cyclists appears to be rather high. The cyclists travel faster than pedestrians yet the pedestrians are not necessarily aware of their approach, meaning that they could easily (and legitimately) step into the path of a cyclist with no notice. 

Whilst cycling home last Friday I happened across a colleague of mine on his way home about 5 miles from our office. I don't think that he spotted or recognised me. I stopped for a red light at a crossroads and he sailed on through, past me. Shortly after this the light turned green and I overtook him in the next lane (I was about to turn right) and, again, stopped for a set of traffic lights at a very busy crossroads. Again, he passed straight through the junction. This is not the sort of behaviour that I would have expected of the individual in question, which makes it all the more annoying.

There is no doubt in my mind that the majority of cyclists are careful, law abiding road users whose lives are often put in jeopardy by cars, buses, vans, lorries and any other type of vehicle you can think of, however it's about time that we all start observing the law when using the road for each other's benefit as well as our own. When we do not do so we ought to take responsibility for our own actions.