Jason Kenny says that a van driver who drove at him while he was out for a bike ride with his 18-month-old son told him “it was my fault we nearly died.”
The six-time Olympic champion, who lives in Cheshire, posted a pair of tweets about the incident on Twitter yesterday.
He said: “On a nice Sunday afternoon I go for a ride with our 18 months old son only to be almost run over by a van driver who drove at us, then proceeded to inform me that it was my fault we nearly died.
The 30-year-old continued: “In his dense skull he believes he has right of way so is willing to kill someone? What’s wrong with people?!
“Seriously, do we think that little of cyclists in this country?
“I’m ashamed to breath the same air as this man,” he added.
A number of people replying to his tweets recounted their own experiences of aggressive driving, including some who highlighted being subjected to close passes while out cycling with their own children.
Kenny married four-time Olympic gold medallist Laura Trott in September 2016 and their son Albert was born the following August.
The couple have both been named in the Great Britain Cycling Team for the UCI Track World Championships, which begin in Pruszków, Poland a week on Wednesday.
24 thoughts on “Jason Kenny says van driver drove at him and infant son as they cycled then told him “it was my fault we nearly died””
That is unsurprisingly
That is unsurprisingly shocking. A toddler too!
I hear it all the time from my ‘So’ called non cycling friends. Comments like ‘they slow you down’, ‘get in the way’, ‘overtake you in queues’. ‘But I always give them space when I overtake’- Bullshit
I dont have much to do with them anymore, cant abide their two faced comments.
Having a kid’s bike seat on
Having a kid’s bike seat on the back seems to makes little difference to over take room in these days of hatred. I have once got cut up, caught up, complained, the motorist took back initial apology when they saw the the kids seat was empty.
Eye watering rear red lights in non flashing mode making you look more like a motorcycle seem to work better, as mopeds/ motorcycles can right-off a car’s front end . Plus not driven by cyclists.
Trailers however seem to confuse drivers and improve overtake room but are a pain on shared used paths as peds immediately step back the middle of path back behind the bike and can get clipped by trailers wheels. Also fun when you are the second cyclist as peds NEVER expect a second cyclist.
I still think the only
I still think the only solution is to have cycling registered as a religion, to stop all the anti cycling rhetoric you get in certain lines of press and online. Currently it seems ok to drive at someone on a bike because it is deemed socially acceptable to many fed on anti cycling articles from click bate journalism.
I wonder how much of the MSM
I wonder how much of the MSM will pick up on this story and make a big deal of it? I’m guessing a big fat zero.
Unbelievable abuse towards JK
Unbelievable aggression towards JK. On the MEN facebook page someone even accusing him of “child abuse” for taking his son out on the bike…
JohnnyRemo wrote:
It is scary some of the comments on social media. The Kent Traffic and Travel page on Facebook is continually full of anti cycling mimes and videos. Yesterday it was one of a cyclist (Who wasn’t doing himself any favours) refusing to move onto a verge to let a lorry past. You then get a stream of often violent suggestions for all cyclists.
teakay wrote:
Unbelievable aggression towards JK. On the MEN facebook page someone even accusing him of “child abuse” for taking his son out on the bike…
— teakay It is scary some of the comments on social media. The Kent Traffic and Travel page on Facebook is continually full of anti cycling mimes and videos. Yesterday it was one of a cyclist (Who wasn’t doing himself any favours) refusing to move onto a verge to let a lorry past. You then get a stream of often violent suggestions for all cyclists.— JohnnyRemo silent but deadly!
As we’ve all seen over the
As we’ve all seen over the past twenty or so years at least, there is a growing view from many drivers that the road is theirs, and others use it only with their permission and approval. That is why Churchill abolished Road Tax in 1936, because drivers thought they owned the roads, but that opinion is prevalent and growing today.
We desperately need a thorough review of road law, so that the rights of cyclists and pedestrians are made absolutely clear to drivers; just like the one that was promised in 2014.
This is crazy. Surely the law
This is crazy. Surely the law, driving tests, and national campaigns need to really hammer home the need to have respect for other road users and pedestrians. It’s getting a bit bonkers. More respect for life needed.
Not until one of the minister
Not until one of the minister for transports family is run over and killed will anything be done about this……………. even then I doubt it
Too many people are completely numb or indifferent to killing someone
With the move to abolish jail terms of 6 months or less, there’s even less chance of getting sent down, so who’s going to be worried about knocking someone off, even if it kills thrm
I’m not surprised TBH. I
I’m not surprised TBH. I just got home from a trip away, having been up for 36hrs travelling I get into the taxi, the same taxi driver I use for every trip when I can and I get the selfish cyclist diatribe. All because two cyclists had the terminity to cycle when it was winter, probably slowing him down a little…
I got the bit about what if they fall off and I run over them. So I just pointed out, pull back give them more space, if you overtake use the whole other side of the road. Also pointed it out that not everyone can drive or indeed need to own a car. What if they couldn’t afford a car.
Fair to say he’d no comeback to those points. And I can guarantee I won’t be using him again, that was the 2nd trip where he started harking on about cyclists using the roads. Shocker eh! He wants cyclists on pavements as he did it when he was a kid.
I tire of the rubbish attitudes to cycling, I’m lucky I don’t commute by bike, it’s for fun and fitness for me. But if it was a neccesary form of transport I’d be worried for my health.
mikecassie wrote:
Too many people, though, will go on about how they don’t want cyclists on the road and why can’t they ride on the footway, while at the very same time going on about how those bl00dy cyclists on the footway are dangerous and Something Needs to Be Done. I think its a form of Doublethink…
‘do we think that little of
‘do we think that little of cyclists in this country?‘
Yes.
Decades of right-wing propaganda along with the natural arrogance of the British, mean that most car drivers think cyclists should just die. Just fucking die already.
And in many ways, we’re our own worst enemies.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
By “natural arrogance of the British” I think you mean the British class system. Meaning: those beneath me deserve nothing but my contempt. In this case it’s contempt for cyclists by drivers because, well, we’re much smaller and (most of the time) slower.
It’s a thread running through the sometims vitriolic MSM, and has become so widely accepted that this mindset even dominates the thinking and writing of those who don’t necessarily have an axe to grind. It’s part of the formula for Clarkson’s world view through the fantasy-fiction of Top Gear on TV as well as his columns and books.
And yes @CXR94Di2 – those people are not ‘friends’ in any sense of the word. They’re just ignorant.
@mikecassie – I’d make a calmly worded complaint against the taxi driver. It probably won’t change anything but it can’t hurt to try. Nothing will change otherwise.
But let’s not forget that not all drivers are like this, that it’s a (hopefully) small subset of aggressive people, mostly insecure, angry men. And what people say in newspaper article comments should be taken with a piunch of salt. But yes, it can be genuinely frightening.
Quote:
No point, having known him for 12 years as this is how long I’ve been using him to taxi me to and from the airport, it’d only increase his dislike of cyclists. It’s been the same for other road users, farmers etc. And as my family have worked on farms for generations that also causes me to bite my tongue.
Absolutely shocking, though
Absolutely shocking, though from what I’ve witnessed and experienced on my cycle commutes it’s not a surprise. The problem is the Government/Police inaction in stamping out the hatred. It’s a bit like the gun laws in America … everyone knows there is a problem and something needs to be done about it, but nobody is brave enough to get the ball rolling and do anything about it. Sadly it’ll never change – there are just too many car drivers in the UK and any policy aimed at changing that in favour of pedestrians/cyclists will be seen as a vote loser and therefore shelved. I presume that’s what happened to the suggested rethink mentioned in 2014 that has thus far failed to materialise.
Every ride I get some idiot,
Every ride I get some idiot, usually in a van, shout, threaten or try to kill me. I know I’m not alone in this matter.
My mate was recently knocked off his bike by a bus driver, who clearly did it on purpose. There were two witnesses prepared to confirm this in cars behind. When the police came they were not interested in making an arrest for what we believe is attempted murder! How are we supposed to do anything when we’re treated as expendable life by those charged with protecting us?
Every ride I get some idiot,
[quote=GeneralEquilibrium]
Every ride I get some idiot, usually in a van, shout, threaten or try to kill me. I know I’m not alone in this matter.
My mate was recently knocked off his bike by a bus driver, who clearly did it on purpose. There were two witnesses prepared to confirm this in cars behind. When the police came they were not interested in making an arrest for what we believe is attempted murder! How are we supposed to do anything when we’re treated as expendable life by those charged with protecting us?
Dreadful. Make a complaint against police. Sue the bus driver. Report him and the bus company to the licensing authority.
Nemesis]
In other news, man urinates in the direction of the wind.
“Seriously, do we think that
“Seriously, do we think that little of cyclists in this country?”
Yes. A large minority do. And the politicians listen to them, which can only be due to focus group feedback, which makes you wonder what gets said in the focus groups.
I got run off the road on a
I got run off the road on a narrow country lane with my (then) 8yo son on the back riding a tagalong.
Gammony bloke in a 4×4 literally incadescent with rage because “I was in the middle of the road” – this is a road where if you were walking you’d have to stand in the hedge to let a car past, it’s got passing places for vehicles.
Drove past, clipped me and then brake tested me when I shouted at him. Oh and then claimed I’d scratched his precious motor because unsurprisingly 120kg of bloke plus 20kg of bikes plus whatever an 8yo weighs doesn’t stop as quick as a Jeep Cherokee.
The only reason he’s still here is because my son was so distressed I had to attend to him first. If I ever see his vehicle again I’ll torch it, preferably with him in it. It was utterly deliberate – there was no advantage in him overtaking there as the road widens out into a long straight section a couple of hundred yards further on, and then runs down to a T-junction where you are absolutely guaranteed to have to stop due to the volume of traffic. He’d been behind me for all of 30 seconds revving his engine – if I’d had somewhere safe to pull in I would have done.
OK, maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t have been that bad if it was just me out for a ride, but endangering a clearly visible 9yo? I got the same bad parent bollocks as Kenny has got. As a result my son won’t ride on the road and he’s even scared of drivers when he’s in the car.
I’m considering a water
I’m considering a water bottle of paint stripper…
alansmurphy wrote:
I’m told by some old cycling friends that neat Ribena on a windscreen is a bitch to clean off…
LastBoyScout wrote:
And far easier to explain why you were carrying it…