Cyclopaths

Bring up the subject of cyclists in a conversation and you will soon see some very polarised reactions. Everything from defensive outrage to sheer, consuming hatred. I tend to fall on the side of defending the cyclist. After all, they are the vulnerable ones and they are doing their bit to stay healthy, not pollute our City air and generally reduce the traffic on our roads at critical times of day – aren’t they? But it’s not quite as simple as that.

I was once a keen cyclist who cycled everywhere. During the week I would cycle to work and back. At weekends I would go out on organised rides using the trains, or spend a weekend in France, wheels a-spin and legs out with glee. I was the coordinator of Bricycles (the Brighton Cycling campaign group) for a while and remember having to face up to the Hove Transport committee when campaigning for Brighton & Hove’s first cycle lane. This committee was run by a cab driver who probably had notches on his steering wheel for cyclists he’d taken down 😉 These days I am a fair weather cyclist, but still believe that cycling can be a very good thing for a City.

However, when I cycled regularly, I cycled safely. I, and most of my fellow cyclists on the roads would stop at red traffic lights, try not to cycle on pavements (not always avoidable) and make sure that we had lights etc. I have a definite feeling that this is no longer the case. Even back then, there were always the idiots who ignored traffic lights, treated pedestrians with scorn and never bothered with lights, but these people were in a very small minority. Now it seems that this statistical divide has been totally reversed. You are far more likely to be sent arse over tit at a road crossing by a cyclist than by a car. What has happened?

When I cycled every day there were hardly any cycle lanes, and when they appeared they were a joke. There would be a 100yd stretch of cycle path, ending in a dismount sign, followed a short distance on by another useless, pointless stretch of cycle path. This still happens, but the situation is much better, with many more, joined-up and long distance paths that should make it all much better. However, many of these schemes seem to be created without any kind of joined-up thinking – let’s put a mile long path here, a 300yd stretch of path there. Cyclists are still expected to get off their bikes and push for stretches, before remounting and continuing. Can you imagine if they did this with cars? A sign indicating that a motorist had to get out and push for the next 50yds would not go down very well, and that is because it makes no sense! Why can’t town-planners see that this is the same for cyclists?

I am not trying to justify the behaviour of the modern Brighton cyclist, quite the opposite. But what I am trying to say is that as long as cycle facilities are treated with contempt, like some sort of toy, playroad facility, as long as cycle lanes are clogged with parked cars that make them unusable and dangerous, and no enforcement seems to be in place to prevent this, then cyclists will feel aggrieved.

As long as cyclists feel like they are second class citizens and motorists treat them with contempt, this is a self propagating problem. Cyclists and cycle facilities must be taken seriously and must be designed with usability and fitness for purpose in mind. Cyclists must stop acting like selfish, stupid, arses who put lives at risk and increase animosity towards them from other road users. I have always hated motorists who accelerate madly at red lights to avoid stopping for a few seconds – I have always dreamed of having a device which could be used to disable that driver’s engine. However, these days I feel like carrying a broom handle to shove in the spokes of the idiot cyclist who has just ignored a red light and nearly taken the tip of my nose off.

More common sense on both sides is needed to sort this one – so it could go on forever!