I came across this today, and given the level of argument in the UK about cyclists thought it was worth publishing.

My personal view is that motorists hate being delayed, they are in a hurry to perhaps do ...well nothing. They do not like people overtaking them especially on a cheap bike (often not realising the bike is worth more than the car). They do not realise most cyclists also own cars, pay tax and are simply enjoying some exercise. Anyway read on and make your own mind up....

All cyclists jump red lights and menace pedestrians

Posted on November 22, 2011 by John Sutton

Rants against cyclist in the popular press take an all to depressingly familiar tone. Even if, as this Guardian “Bike Blog” piece, facts are presented to try and make a fair case, it only takes a quick scan down to the comments section before the familiar trolls take over. The common complaints seem to be:

Red light jumping (a fair enough complaint, but see below);
Non payment of “road tax”;
Danger to pedestrians;
Lack of accountability and partial treatment in the courts.
General lawless, arrogant and aggressive attitude.

In general, I consider myself to be a reasonably considerate cyclist and I never jump a red light. I will however, park myself in front of a car if it has edged into the “advanced stop box” which is there to provide me with a safe piece of road and protect me from left turning vehicles (the commonest cause of fatalities to cyclists in London). I have been knocked off my bike twice, mercifully without serious harm to me, and on both occasions the car driver was completely at fault: they failed to see me coming as they turned out from or across a junction. I don’t generally rant at motorists, but do gesture my displeasure if a driver passes too close for comfort.
Looking at the issues outlined above, some are very simple to deal with. Road Tax, for example, was abolished in the 1930s and replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). This is a licence to pollute and nothing to do with payment for upkeep of the roads. The lowest polluting vehicles such as electric cars pay £0 VED, and therefore, if cycles were subject to VED, then they would be zero rated, too. Moreover, the road building and maintenance budget comes from general taxation and the cost far exceeds the amount collected through VED. The cost of setting up a computer system to collect a tax from cyclists on similar lines to VED would be so expensive as to be not worth it. Would we really go down the road of taxing children’s bikes?
The rest of the issues are generally a mixed up bag of motorists’ frustration with traffic congestion, most of which don’t bear any scrutiny. Let’s take the red light jumpers issue, and danger to pedestrians, as an example. Transport for London have statistics on this very issue. In a study of the figures from 1998 to 2007, precisely 0 deaths of pedestrians were caused by cyclists jumping red lights. In the shorter period of 2001 to 2005, 7 deaths of pedestrians were caused by car drivers jumping red lights. Overall, looking at deaths and injuries caused by red light jumping, Transport for London found that only 5% of all injuries to pedestrians were caused by bicycles and 78% by motor vehicles (the remainder by taxis and motorcycles). The obvious reason for red light jumping is to avoid delay, yet there are quite a number of cyclists who jump red lights because they consider it safer then waiting at the junction. In fact, there are rumours of an unpublished Transport for London report that shows it is riskier to cyclists to wait alongside traffic at a junction than it is to break the law and jump through the red light. This is due to large vehicles and buses turning left and crushing cyclists on their inside. The obvious retort is to not cycle up the inside of large vehicles, even if there is a cycle lane. Nevertheless, considerable numbers of cyclists obviously feel safer being way in front of the stop line than they do mingling with the traffic.
As for the rest of the arguments, I have no sympathy whatsoever. Aggressive behaviour on the part of cyclists, I would suggest, is a direct result of being on the end of aggressive actions by drivers – overtaking on blind bends; passing too close; overtaking then braking hard to turn left; moving into the advanced stop box; revving engine when following etc etc. It’s a depressing litany of behaviour that even the most polite of cyclists experience all too often. It’s only a tiny minority of motorists that display this sort of behaviour, yet its enough to put lots of people off taking to their bikes.
The only way forward is to constantly educate people on the real facts: cyclists are far less likely to injure or kill other road users than motorists (even when allowing for the much greater journey miles undertaken by cars). This CTC (Cyclists’s Touring Club) report citing Transport for London’s figures makes very interesting reading and shatters a few myths at the same time:
http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/Campaigns/1110_Cyclists-behaviour-and-law__4M__brf_rev_.pdf

2 thoughts on “All cyclists jump red lights and menace pedestrians”

Paul Harrington on November 22, 2011 at 10:17 pm said:

I must say that viewed from here in the Netherlands the comments of motorists in the UK appears to be extremely odd. We of course have dedicated cycle ways, I must admit that Dutch cyclists do not at all follow the rules of the road and quite often you will see red lights jumped. However car drivers are extremely observant and polite to cyclists in the main. A small example from this very morning when a people carrier was pulling out into the line of traffic however the queue at the traffic lights meant that they were left straddling the junction. I was the only cyclist coming up on the road ( there was no dedicated cycle lane at this point. Seeing me approaching the driver reversed back into the side road to let me pass…. this would never happen in the UK I feel. Drivers will also wait patiently as cyclists pass before turning into filling stations or side roads – again unheard of in the UK. Being here has certainly opened my eyes as a previously regular car driver. It is great to actually feel so safe on the roads that my cycle helmet which came with me has not been used in the 10 months I have been here.
John Sutton on November 23, 2011 at 9:34 am said:

It’s interesting that even in busy, highly developed countries like Holland and Belgium there is far greater respect for cyclists. It helps that cycling is more entrenched in the culture of these countries, they have a long and proud cycle racing tradition that runs much deeper in the national psyche than it does here in Britain where it was reduced to little more than local time trialling in village halls for very many years. There’s more to it than that, though. Planners in Holland consider cycling as a priority and there is a fully developed network of cycle routes, often segregated from traffic. Here, most cycle routes are considered to be little more than a bad joke at worst, or an afterthought at best. Most important of all, though is the legal notion of “Strict liability” in which the car driver is automatically held responsible for any collision between car and bicycle unless they can prove otherwise.
I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying riding in Holland. It’s interesting that you don’t feel the need to wear a helmet. I came across the Copenhagen Cycle Chic website a couple of years ago http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/ that promotes urban cycling and there’s not a shred of lycra to be seen anywhere, let alone a helmet.