How many seconds is someone else’s life worth to you? The problem with cycling on British roads.
It was mid-morning as we rode north on the Isle of Skye. The weather was changeable – a stiff side-wind meant we were already on full alert and we were expecting heavy rain. We’d made it onto the island the evening before, and now our goal for the day was to make it Shulista at its most northerly point, where we’d be spending a few days celebrating Lou’s birthday. Skye is pretty limited when it comes to route options – we were taking the main road (in reality, the only road) north towards the island’s capital, Portree. Trust me, if there had been an alternative route, we’d have taken it – we always did. Around five miles along it began to get busier, but most drivers were patient and considerate, with plenty of passing opportunities on the long, straight single carriageway A-road. Lou was riding behind me as a campervan approached from the rear, and there was a car coming towards us on the opposite side of the road too. There wasn’t room to overtake us, but I figured he’d just wait a few seconds then overtake, as it was easy to see there was nothing behind the car ahead. He didn’t though – he just kept on coming, not slowing in the slightest. He started to overtake Lou with only about 6 inches to spare; I could see the shock on the face of the driver coming the other way, mouth wide open as she moved into the small hard shoulder to make it through. Luckily, she squeezed past, but I could feel how close he was – the shadow of the giant hunk of metal quickly enveloping us both. Instinctively, I tried to push him out wider, waving my hand and moving out carefully to force him to move over, especially as the road in the other direction was now clear. He maintained his path, nearly brushing the bags on my bike as he went by, and even better than that, gesticulating wildly at me as he did so and then disappearing off into the distance. I was furious – how could someone have so little respect for another life? How could those few seconds be so important, so vital that he was willing to risk the lives of two other human beings in order not to have even push the brake pedal? Another van drove past – this time a white van with a couple of workmen in. As they went by (giving plenty of space), they slowed, window down, to inform me that they’d be reporting the incident and the driver to the police. In that moment, all of our experiences on the ride were boiled down to the two vehicles that had just passed us – one who had patience and consideration; the other who was literally willing to risk killing us to gain a few precious seconds. Whilst that was closest we came to danger, almost every day people would pass us way too closely, overtake us on blind bends, race past us only to pull off onto a slip road moments later, drive within inches of our back wheel looking to overtake, never even consider braking as they approached us at speed, or my absolute favourite – slow down but then proceed to drive past ridiculously close, thinking it was fine because they’d pressed the brake. It is a very big problem indeed. What’s going on? Now of course, there’s plenty that could be done in terms of road design to fix this – high quality cycle paths running parallel to the road, regularly cleaned and resurfaced; plus changes to the Highway Code and legal framework. But there’s a much bigger, far more important underlying change that needs to take place – and that is in the attitude of drivers – of human beings towards other human beings. Many people need to start valuing the lives of others – to not do so whilst in charge of a huge hunk of fast-moving metal makes them, in my eyes, guilty of intent should anything go wrong. Why are so many drivers so casual about the risks they take with others lives? I think there are a number of reasons. Firstly, the pace of the modern world and the stresses of daily life are often translated into how people act behind the wheel. Everything is done in a rush, there’s always so much going on, and cyclists on the road might just be stopping you getting where you need to be. I guess the question is, how many seconds is another person’s life worth? What do you think – 10, 20, 30, a whole minute, or would you give it at least 90 seconds before you thought it was worth risking killing someone? You can of course get annoyed with my tone at this point. You can say that cyclists shouldn’t be allowed on the roads, but the law is very clear that they are, and that will not change. In fact, let’s face it, the bicycle is the future – it makes people healthier, it saves them money and most importantly, it saves our planet. The car, diesel, petrol, or even electric can’t do that. You can also get angry about ‘cyclists’ and the way they ride, but that is just illogical. If you’re one of those people that groups all cyclists together as wildly out of control lunatics on two wheels, then to me you’re guilty of the same pattern of behaviour that we see in any of the ‘isms’ – you’re judging millions of people based on the behaviours of an individual. You’re a ‘cyclistist’. Even if you have encountered poor cycling on the road from one, two or more cyclists, if you think that makes it ok to drive dangerously around any or all of them, then you are very much the problem. Alongside the impatience and the demonising of those on two wheels, I think a large part comes
