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news
road rage - via wikimedia commonsPetition calling for public awareness campaign to address driver aggression towards cyclists hits 10,000 signatures
A newly-launched petition calling for the Department for Transport to run a public information campaign aimed at driver aggression towards cyclists has now amassed 10,000 signatures, meaning that it will get a response from the Government. It comes shortly after another petition received a lot of media attention, but has so far failed to get quite so many signatures...
> road.cc readers open up on the stress of riding on Britain’s roads, with one giving it up for good
The petition, started by Helen-Louise Smith, says "the attitude that cyclists should not be on the roads needs to end", and that motorists should be educated about "dangerous, inappropriate and aggressive behaviours that can lead to the injury and even death of cyclists."
It continues: "In 2019, 16,884 cyclists were injured in reported road accidents, including 4,433 who were killed or seriously injured.
"These figures only include cyclists killed or injured in road accidents that were reported to the police. Many cyclist casualties are not reported to the police.
"Driver aggression towards cyclists feels to be increasing & we are calling on the Department of Transport to run a national public awareness campaign to educate motorists about dangerous behaviours."
This is so needed. Car drivers, bus drivers, private delivery & public services vehicle drivers each play their part in aggressive behaviour. So awareness raising in and out of the workplace is badly needed.
— David Porter (@davidfporter) June 17, 2021
The petition started to be widely shared on social media last week, and had just over 2,000 signatures before road.cc published the first version of this article. 48 hours later, there are over 10,700. The government will now respond, and if it gets 100,000 signatures before 16 December 2021, it will be considered for debate in parliament.
The petition can be viewed here.
Do you think a public information campaign could reduce aggression towards cyclists on the roads, and if so what would it look like? Let us know in the comments as always.
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
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88 comments
This kind of initiative is sorely needed.
A small minority of drivers feel that they are within their rights to use their vehicle as a weapon against cyclists for what in most cases amounts to the cyclist simply being on "their" road. In most cases their revenge is against a cyclist who in all likelihood has done nothing wrong and just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and is on the receiving end of aggression caused by someone else.
Could you imagine the outrcry if cyclists (remember all cyclists are bad
) decided to randomly smash a car windscreen with a D Lock at a set of traffic lights for no reason other than the cyclist was cut up/close passed by a completely different car a couple of weeks ago.
I asked that question of a friend who is notoriously anti-cycling and they were horrified. Then I turned the question round to ask him why they feel it is ok for a car driver to threaten the life of a completely random cyclist by doing a close pass or whatever because of the one time they saw a completely different cyclist run a red light.
They tried to tell me it was completely different, but couldn't say why
Whilst aggressive driving is a problem. The number of incompetent drivers greatly outweighs the number of aggressive drivers and they are no less dangerous.
It is astonishing the number of drivers who think blind bends are a safe place to overtake, because they cannot see the oncoming driver who they are endangering (or other road users, but as drivers are the most common...). Or will completely cut across a junction as they turn into a side road, before they are even in a position to be able to see if there is anyone approaching the junction. And then people (probably the same people) come here and complain about cyclists riding through red lights, when they can see that it is perfectly safe.
It's car culture that needs changing (and a change in law to assist that). We're so ingrained with the right to use a car, whereas it is a privilege.
On another note, I ride in weekends in Kent and hardly ever come across aggressive or dangerous drivers. I avoid busy / fast roads and stick to the code. Pretty much all drivers give me space and respect my place on the road. There's a lot of good, average and ok drivers out there.
Don't worry! The comprehensive review of road laws will solve all that; eventually; when they get around to doing it.
What have you changed the headline image? Genuine question Jack
It's because the article got updated and the other pic was older, just to make sure Google recognises that it's fresh content now I've revised it. Sorry, not a very exciting answer!
Seems a little tooooo convenient to me. they've got to you haven't they....
I was thinking the same - but it's still all over the internet, so unlikely for him to be troubling road.cc for a take-down.
One of the comments in that link links back to http://road.cc/content/news/152934-video-road-rage-meltdown-driver-who-t...
Maybe that bloke really was sh74...?
(I'll get my tinfoil hat).
I was hoping you'd all ignore the d1ckhead. Please count to 10 next time, and move on.
The biggest thing that would change drivers attitudes would be that the courts start giving out proper punishments that fit the crime for driving offences. The fact that a driver can drive uninsured and kill a cyclist but escape a prison sentence is ridiculous. Perhaps then the police would be able to give more resources to prosecuting drivers for driving dangerously around cyclists if they thought it would lead anywhere. Also, purposely driving into a cyclist needs to be removed from being classed as a road incident and be treated at GBH or attempted murder.
Need law changes
Need sentencing guidelines changes.
...which reflect attitudes in wider society.
Perhaps cyclists could learn and follow the highway code. Perhaps they could get insurance and registration so when THEY commit and offence they can be traced. Perhaps they could use cycle tracks when they are avilable instead of the roads and perhaps on the roads they could ride single-file instead of three abreast?
Perhaps they could get insurance and an MOT for their bikes like ALL other road users.
And perhaps they could not pass so close or weave in and out of the traffic or pass both sides and perhaps they could not ignore red lights or road junctions.
Perhaps they could not ride with two kids in a trailer and one on the seat or on a weird bike with a big carrier in front which is both dangerous to them, their kids and dog and other road users.
So, don't give me the 'all cyclists are saints' routine. They are not and usually deserve the treatment they think they get.
Oh, where to even begin to start with this?
Perhaps drivers could learn and follow the highway code (speeding, crossing solid whites, unsafe overtaking, etc. etc.)
How would insurance help with tracing? Insurance is to cover costs that you may be unable to pay if there's a claim against you; have a guess how many claims against cyclists went unpaid (or were even made). Go on, guess.
Registration has repeatedly been considered, and dismissed as unworkable and too expensive. Not to mention that a significant number of motor vehicles go untraced due to cloned, obscured, or illegally altered plates - so that's not a panacea anyway.
What would an MOT even cover? Brakes are pretty much the only part of a bike relevant to the test; again, any scheme would be prohibitively expensive. And that's ignoring the fact that not all motor vehicles require an MOT.
Filtering is perfectly legal, and taught in Bikeability training (run by the government in case you didn't know)
Red lights is your first good point. We are all agreed that cyclists should follow all of the rules & laws that actually apply to them.
Junctions - well, apart from giving way and stopping where required, without further information it's impossible to know what you're talking about. But I've personally seen (and been on the receiving end) of many more drivers ignoring priority - both as driver and cyclist - than I have from a cyclist.
And what do you have against cargo bikes? There is nothing inherently dangerous about them. It's idiot motorists that are responsible for most danger on the roads.
"We needed to do something about driver behaviour. In about 98% of cases [the collision] was down to driver action, it was nothing to do with the cyclist.”
nothing inherently dangerous about them??
Well apart from the issues of steering stability and braking ability and speed ability, there is the minor issue of having an accident with two exposed kids at road level...
Braking ability??
Have you any idea of the size of the rotors on their disc brakes? Have you even seen a photo of one let alone seen an actual one?
It's Schroedinger's cargo bike: too slow and too fast
A car can carry children in weird seats and a dog. I suspect those people should not be on the roads as if they are in danger from other road users.
I suspect a google image search flagged up that Mr SH74's image was used in an article header and so he decided to signup.
I think you could be right! He has a string of companies with odd names like STR 54 Ltd. and a new venture in Strawberry Hill (could that be the SH bit?!) is that you J W?
It certainly occurred to me that that is the case
exposed to dangerous motor vehicles? If they bring so much danger to the urban enivornment perhaps they should be banned.
Insurance has nothing to do with traceability, registration does and some countries have it as well as insurance and a technical test to see if the bike is fit and the rider is also fit.
This seems to be common sense to most people but not the lycra brigade - wonder why not..
So, stick to the issues I raised. I agree with many of the points made about motorists but this is not the subject of this string.
Another issue of course is a simple law of dynamics which seems to escape cyclists - bikes stop more quickly than cars so if you weave in front of a car and slow, don't be surprised if they honk or worse.
I must admit I am surprised by the level of vitriol in the replies from people who would have us think they are our moral superiors
Which countries have "registration, insurance and tests" then?
To see if the rider is fit - do they also have fitness tests for pedestrians in this strange country?
Oooh Sir, Sir I know!
Is it North Korea?
No you aren't surprised, it's exactly what you expected and wanted, and there really isn't any doubt about who is morally superior either.
Is your real name Clarkson by any chance?
Exactly. So why imply that it does? "Perhaps they could get insurance and registration so when THEY commit and offence they can be traced"
Perhaps you meant "they could get registration so they can be traced, and insurance so they can cover the cost of any claim".
On the first point, it's been shown as unworkable on many occasions (most recently in the government's study published in 2018); any benefit would far outweigh any cost.
On the second point, do you know how many claims are unpaid by cyclists? Have a guess. Then ask why even insurance companies, who would stand to gain from compulsory insurance, don't want it.
Besides, most cyclists are actually insured; home insurance, *free* liability insurance given away because it's so rarely required, etc.
You've clearly never ridden a bike above 5mph, have you? Especially on less-than-perfectly-smooth-and-dry surfaces. What seems to have escaped you is consideration of contact patch size, 4-wheel v 2-wheel stability, ABS, CoG, and other factors. Please come back when you have an actual clue about the "simple law of dynamics".
Red lights isn't really a very good argument - yes its visible but ultimately, you can't take one isolated type of offence on its own when motorists are 13 times more likely to break road traffic laws:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/05/10/cyclists-break-far-f...
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