Policy Officer for CTC (formerly: Cyclists’ Touring Club) and one of our favourite nutters, Chris Peck has popped on to our radar again.
Chris last came to our attention in July 2008 when he claimed (and I quote) ‘cyclists need different rules to every other form of road user’.
Mr Peck has been speaking about the – just released – figures that state there has been a 3% increase in cyclist accidents in the last year.
He has said, and I quote, ‘… since neither pedestrian nor cyclist casualties are falling as fast as motorist casualties, we need to do more to tackle bad driving and improve conditions for the road users outside cars.’
Really?
No.
Fucking really?
How about we make it compulsory for all cyclists to take a theory and a practical test?
Because, frankly, given the standard of road use that I see the vast majority of cyclists executing every single day, the best way of improving conditions for road users outside cars is to teach the cyclists some fucking common sense.
And some rules.
And punishing the shit out of the fucking cyclists who are a menace to everyone else out there.
Every single day I drive in to Oxford I have to take avoiding action to miss cyclists.
I’ll say that again.
*I have to take avoiding action to miss cyclists*
One of these days I’m not going to be quick enough.
As an Oxford resident, I can vouch for the fact that there are a lot of mental cyclists out there. The worst are the ones who drive down country lanes with few or not lights!
Prepare to be invaded by the militant wing of the cyclists freedom party.
They just luvs a good internet row.
How about we teach cyclists some basic rules –
1)Wear clothing that can be seen and lights at night otherwise you’ve got no fucking business whining that you got hit. If I can’t see you, I can’t avoid you, simple as that.
2) Red lights apply to everyone. If you storm through them and then attempt to turn right across two lanes of traffic you’re going to get hurt.
3) You do not have a divine right to behave exactly how you like and yes, sometimes it IS your fault.
4) If you do something stupid and I shout at you out of the window, banging on my bonnet to try and dent or scratch it doesn’t bother me, for the simple reason that the car belongs to work, not me. You are armed with a lightweight frame, I am armed with a tonne or so of Ford Focus. Trying to intimidate me is pointless.
5) Your bicycle is narrow. This means you do not need to cycle down the middle of the road. If there are two of you, you should be cycling one behind the other, not next to each other.
Yes, there are some godawful drivers out there but let’s be honest, there are some godawful cyclists as well. It’s not automatically the driver’s fault just because they happen to be driving the bigger vehicle.
British cyclists are obviously Italian drivers who have moved to England and now travel on bicycles.
It’s the same in the States. No lights, no reflective clothing, no regard for traffic rules – and physics is not on their side.