Jason Kenny says van driver drove at him and infant son as they cycled then told him "it was my fault we nearly died"

I'm considering a water bottle of paint stripper...

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 4x4 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.

"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.

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? 

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. 

'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.  

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.

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

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Unbelievable aggression towards JK. On the MEN facebook page someone even accusing him of "child abuse" for taking his son out on the bike...

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.

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.