Last night I joined the HSW (Huddersfield Star Wheelers) "Steady Eddies" once again for an evening of cycling fun. It was an excellent night for it with the late British summer blessing us once again with some mild, warm evening air making the ride out with 14 other faithful companions a pleasant affair. Sadly it was towards the latter end of our ride when both red flashing tail lights and bright front LEDs were required and lit by all, that the pure ignorance and stupidity of another more protected road user became very apparent. As we approached the junction at Bradley Road near Cooper Bridge, where the road expands from a single lane into four, a middle aged "imbecile" (sorry man) decided to explain to our group how we were taking our lives into our own hands and how dangerous it was to be riding “like we were” at that time of night. Upon enquiring as to what rational he had used to ascertain this statement he proceeded to exclaim that we were a bunch of disorientated idiots riding two abreast on a busy road at night. During further consultation we endeavoured to explain to him that riding two abreast is the legal standard as written in the Highway Code and the recommended safety standard issued by the CTC (National Cycling Charity) and BC (British Cycling) when riding on public highways. Furthermore a right arm signal, as issued by all 14 riders of our intention to turn right out of the single carriageway into the inside lane of the two right hand turning lanes whilst approaching the junction, was also in accordance with Highway Code. The highlighting of these two very simple rules quite clearly did not register very well with said "imbecile" (sorry person) and he inferred that the hand signals of ALL 14 cyclists were not to be seen at that time of night, however his attention to detail pertaining to our, in his opinion, erratic riding was very much in the forefront of his mind. Upon hearing this he was asked about his own safety judgement call of attempting to overtake on a single carriageway whilst approaching a red light at a junction which splits into four lanes especially when he himself had every intention of turning right and to do this despite knowing, in his mind, that the group of cyclist before him were erratic and out on a death wish. Not being in a position to be able to answer the question he closed his nearside window whilst emitting a volley of verbal abuse to 14 placid cyclists and then raced away from the lights heading off into the night. This was just another typical example of the ever growing aggression towards cyclists by other road users here in Great Britain and a sad case of our everyday life on the road on two skinny wheels.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 08:04:20 +0000