Wednesday 15 February 2012

Drivers and Cyclists Need to find Mutual Respect

After reading an article on Chester Cycling (Here) today it really got me thinking about why cycling accidents happen.

Do they happen because of bad drivers, is it bad cyclists, or is it people deliberately wanting to go out of their way to cause problems for cyclists?

The truth of the matter is that its probably a combination of all the above and more, but increasingly I'm seeing stories where aggressive people driving cars cause problems for cyclists for no real reason.

The big problem I see with this, is that as more drivers do this, the more cyclists hate drivers and in return the more drivers hate cyclists and the battle of Cyclists VS Drivers is fueled for another day.

In my opinion this is a terrible thing, because its not helping with the safety of anyone on the roads, its just getting people's backs up.

Its definitely a minority or morons that want to go out of their way to cause problems or cyclists but this is having massive repercussions in the cycling world because we're using it to hate drivers in general when not all of them are to blame. 

More needs to be done in this country to help cyclists and keep them safe, that I accept,  but in my opinion we should try are best to find mutual respect instead of trying to decided who's the victim and who's the perpetrator shouldn't we?

Are you a cyclists or driver that has a view on this? I'd love to hear your thoughts so please leave a comment below to see what we can do to solve this unfathomable problem.

2 comments:

  1. In the years I've been cycling I've had three crashes caused by negligent motorists, four deliberate attempts to assault or seriously intimidate me and countless minor altercations caused by negligent, selfish or stupid behaviour from motorists. Despite this, I still don't hate motorists. I might hate the individuals who have wronged me, but I (like most cyclists) do not hate all motorists as a result.

    The reason for this is that most of my friends and many of my family are also motorists. It is hard to tar all in a group with the same brush if it contains members you can empathise with due to the relationships you have with them. The result is that I do not know a single cyclist who has the same level of abject hatred for motorists that a minority of motorists have for cyclists. The reason for this is that the reverse is true for the relationship of many motorists for cyclists; most motorists are not also cyclists, and many motorists do not have even a single person in their lives who cycles regularly. the result is that they see cyclists as an entirely different species, and a new level of bigotry against them can be reached.

    The solution to this is to make cycling appeal to more people, using the measures with a proven track record from <a href="www.cycling-embassy.org.uk>The Netherlands</a>. The resulting cycling rates would mean that even someone who never cycles would at least have a friend, father or sister who does. It is hard to feel the same level of hatred for someone on the road who could just as easily be your own father or friend.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! It will be interesting to see if the relationships between motorists and cyclists change as more people take to two wheels.

      With regards to the Netherlands I think its an excellent role model for cycling, however they do have the massive advantage of very flat land which makes it more appealing. The safety then had to be beefed up to cope with the sheer numbers of cyclists! Hopefully we can learn a lot from them though and make cycling safe for everyone as its popularity increases, not afterwards.

      Nice to hear another opinion though thanks!

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