“No wonder we’re so quickly hated”: Cyclist says he’s “embarrassed” after witnessing fellow riders not stopping at pedestrian crossing; Dylan Groenewegen injured after collision with motorcyclist; New LTD edition Spesh collection + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Embarrassed to be a cyclist"
Sometimes it seems infrastructure can only go so far. In a push for safer, protected infrastructure that separates drivers from cyclists, is it deconditioning cyclists to stop and be aware of their surroundings in the same way?
The hottest recent post on the r/londoncycling thread on Reddit seems to think so…
“Bike after bike after bike cycling over a zebra crossing where a group of pedestrians were waiting to cross. It made me livid.” BigMetalGuy writes.
“I stopped then shouted to any bike that could hear me to “fucking stop for pedestrians”. The pedestrians finally crossed, I said “I’m sorry for those twats”, a couple in their 70s thanked me.
“Never felt more embarrassed to be a cyclist. No wonder we’re so quickly hated.
“For anyone that keeps harping on about infrastructure being to blame. The crossing was for cyclists only, so no cars. And it was built on a giant speed ramp, so approaching it, you HAD to slow down / adjust your position. Therefore, every cyclist could not only see the crossing coming, but the pedestrians waiting to cross it”
These cycle lane pedestrian crossings are becoming a more common sight, particularly in London. They’re most often seen around ‘floating bus stops’, connecting the kerbed island to the rest of the pavement. They’ve also been strongly opposed by the National Federation for the Blind.
#CatchTheBusMonth not with floating bus stops in the way… pic.twitter.com/KXmQUyoQsK
— NFBUK (@NFBUK) September 2, 2026
It should be noted that though the video above was tweeted last week, it was actually first shared by the charity in May. It’s far from the first time either that the NFBUK have shared older footage of bike lanes, sometimes when they’ve not been open long. It creates a slightly misleading impression of the scale of the problem of cycle lane pedestrian crossings.
But based on BigMetalGuy’s post, it hardly seems like a problem that’s gone away. As you might expect, his thoughts have gathered a lot of reaction:
“People [saying] we should never take responsibility collectively, [and] be embarrassed about others behaviour sounds all well and good – except cyclists are broadly judged by all other road users as a collective not for our individual decisions and ability as cyclists.
“There’s also nothing wrong with calling out others behaviour like this in the hopes it will improve cycling standards! I don’t understand how these types of posts manage to offend so many people.”
“I shouted at a Lime cyclist who didn’t wait for me to cross when I was walking as a pedestrian. He stopped and earnestly said to me… What did I do wrong? While there are some who know the rules and break them intentionally, some have no idea.
“So we need London to do better to promote highway code / cycle safety so every cyclist on the road absolutely knows the highway code. As part of that we need Police to do better at enforcement. If funding is a problem, strongarm Lime into paying for it. They’ve got deep pockets, they’re on track to generate $1bn revenue this year. We should hold our politicians and councils to account to be hard on [Lime], they can afford it.”
There was also some constructive criticism, pointing to wider infrastructure and road responsibilities…
“Whilst not condoning the behaviour, are you suggesting that people who use bicycles bear some collective responsibility? When you swing your leg over the top tube are you auto enrolled into some worldwide brotherhood? I’m not responsible for the behaviour of every cyclists in the world nor they me.”
“Whilst I don’t disagree with you at all and I loathe all the cyclists that jump lights while pedestrians are there waiting to cross I’m still yearning for a post from someone saying: “Embarrassed to be a driver.””
“Speak for yourself. You won’t find drivers taking the blame for someone else’s actions. This is the sort of thinking that perpetuates tribalism and the “them and us” nonsense we see on the roads.”
“I once had a private hire driver punch me in the face for asking him to get his car out of a mandatory bike lane. I once had a driver try to run me off the road because I wasn’t cycling in on a shared path, but was instead on the road.
“I’ve seen drivers on their phones. I’ve seen drivers speed. None of these instances made [me] “embarrassed to be a driver” (I do also drive as well as cycle).
“Running a zebra crossing on a bike is a bad thing, but this collective responsibility thing can get in the bin. The expectation is that all cyclists need to be absolutely without fault or else car brained idiots will take cycling infrastructure away. Sorry I have no interest in acknowledging that view at all.
“I’m aware that’s not your intention but … no collective guilt is just not something I will entertain.”
Indeed collective guilt/responsibility is the phrase that kept cropping up, although when the cyclists who use a cycle lane are about as disparate as any group of drivers on a motorway, it’s hard to argue that cyclists deserve scrutiny and shared labelling more than the drivers who cause the most frequent and dangerous collisions. Not that that will stop certain sections of the media.
Food for thought.
Specialized unveils Built For Legends limited-edition race bikes
Received a windfall recently? Specialized new ‘Built For Legends’ collection might just be the extravagant thing for you. It’s essentially a bunch of its top-tier S-Works race bikes covering road and gravel, as well as cross-country and downhill mountain biking, but individually numbered and in limited-edition finishes with details like red brake callipers and blacked-out components.
Specialized has launched new S-Works bikes in all of its top-tier race categories in 2026, and there’s a Built for Legends version of each of them: S-Works Tarmac SL9 road bike (£12,999), S-Works Crux 5 gravel bike (£12,999), along with the S-Works Epic 9 XC mountain bike (£13,499), and S-Works Demo 11 downhill bike (£11,499).
All of them come in a special finish that varies from bike to bike, so no two are identical. Specialized describes it like this: “This LTD finish layers a red tint over silver dust, shifting from deep crimson in low light to bright metallic fire in the sun. A hand-applied black ink wash flows across each product like watercolour, while dark edge fades create depth and dimension.”
Specialized has also introduced a Built for Legends S-Works Evade 4 helmet (£279) and Ares 2 shoes (£399).
specialized.com
Being paid for cycling
Let’s end today with a nice story from Hull. Hull City Council are to launch a scheme rewarding residents for walking, cycling or using public transport.
An app has been created whereby residents upload their journeys made without a private vehicle and earn points that can be redeemed in the form of charity donations, shopping vouchers for local businesses, or even holidays, Hull’s Local Democracy Reporter… reports.
The scheme is run by BetterPoints and expands upon a similar scheme announced in east Yorkshire earlier this year. The initiative is budgeted at £38,000 and will be funded via Active Travel England.
Fingers crossed it makes a difference in encouraging people to make the switch to two wheels!
Brennan wins!
Soudal Quick-Step came up on the right-hand side of the road with 10km remaining and did not budge, their whole team committing for Alberto Dainese, including Mikel Landa!
Only with 2km remaining did Uno-X come to the front and start jockeying Soudal for position. Valentin Paret-Peintre, the skinny French climber then comes to the front to launch an extraordinary lead-out under the flamme rouge. But then comes Wout van Aert, skirting past Paret-Peintre and Magnus Cort to expertly lead-out Matty Brennan. By the time the Brit launches his acceleration he’s only got less than 150m to go, expertly holding off Bryan Coquard, Jordi Meeus and Vito Braet. He makes it look so easy.
A forth stage win at this race for the 21-year-old!
ET DE QUATRE POUR MATTHEW BRENNAN ! Le Britannique remporte la 16e étape de la Vuelta, la quatrième sur cette édition 😱
Le Tour d’Espagne est à suivre en exclusivité sur HBO Max pic.twitter.com/k35euD9f1E
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) September 8, 2026
Data visualisation of the day...
With over 870 school streets in London, 66% of kids are now getting to school by active travel.
Every day there are 73,915 fewer cars doing the school run than when we started in 2016 – that’s the equivalent of a traffic jam from London to Newcastle.
— Will Norman (@willnorman.co.uk) 8 September 2026 at 14:26
All together now
In no man’s land for a long while, the quintet up front are finally caught. After a small crash at the back of the peloton due to a pinch point in town, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have come to the front of the peloton and are drilling it. They’re on exposed roads, are they trying to force some echelons? Movistar, Decathlon and Netcompany-Ineos are alert to the move though and have Mas, Gall and Onley well-positioned near the front of the peloton.
20km to go, with both the stage and GC favourites together in the peloton.
Could time trials make a comeback?
Yes, I know they haven’t properly gone away, with the exception of last year’s Tour de France Femmes, but the time trial has become an increasingly neutered thing in grand tour racing. The prologue seems consigned to history, the team time trial format modified to become far more of an individual metric than previously. Even the individual has gone from being upwards of 50km to efforts of 20-40km in length. But that could change.
Luca Guercilena, the former boss of Lidl-Trek and the new Head of Cycling at RCS, the owners of the Giro d’Italia has said he wants to bring the discipline “back into the spotlight”.
“I’d like to strike a better balance between time trials and climbs, so as to broaden the range of potential winners.”
Speculation surrounding this year’s Giro d’Italia was rife with the thought that Remco Evenepoel might be tempted to ride the Grand Tour due to the 42km pan-flat time trial in the second week, though it wasn’t enough to tempt the three-time TT world champion.
Guercilena has also warned the Giro won’t try and court individual riders going forward, stressing, “We can’t go and look for big names; we need to organise a race that attracts them.”
That said, the Italian describes his three ambitions for the Giro d’Italia as, “looking to strengthen the Giro start list, to plan race routes further in advance, and we want to increase the economic attractiveness for sponsors and television broadcasters.”
No easy feat…
All to script...
Inside the final 60km and a 5-rider break, including Kevin Vermaerke and Valentin Madouas have an advantage down below a minute. Visma Lease-a-Bike have been doing most of the work, pretty impressive considering they’re down to six riders, though Cofidis have just contributed a man to help with the chase.
There was talk of some wind earlier in the day but it looks like that won’t arrive in time to cause any echelons today.
55km, 40 seconds the gap.
Cool kits!
There are many, many things to criticise the UCI, cycling’s governing body for. One thing for which they do deserve immense credit though, is their of cyclists from developing countries, through both the World Cycling Centre, and their support to smaller cycling federations.
What that does all mean, is that the UCI, in partnership with Santini, is providing the jerseys for 41 countries for the upcoming world championships.
It’s also an excuse, for this live blog, to share some of my favourite designs, to get you in the mood for the off-season kit talk that is no longer very far away…
Danish two-wheeled decline
With Ryan returning from his holliers tomorrow, normal news coverage will resume in due course. In the meantime, here are a couple of things to pique your interest…
> Chinese carbon wheels transformed my cheap bike… but are they really worth it?
My reading of Liam’s conclusions, for what it’s worth, is yes, sometimes… if your choice of cheap bike wasn’t determined by price.
And, our other Liam has been busy photographing his favourite tools. Insert your own joke here…
> Home workshop tools I simply cannot live without, including some you may not have thought of
Vuelta stage 16: more down than up!
Despite having some of the best cycle infrastructure in the world, the proportion of people cycling in Denmark is declining. A review of data gathered last year finds that the proportion of the population reported cycling to work or education at least three days a week has fallen by 7.2%, from 27.6% in 2020 to 25.6%.
However, academics are concerned the decline might be higher due to disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Jasper Schipperijn, a professor of active living environments, writes for The Conversation that whilst access to a bicycle (as you might expect) remains the biggest obstacle, perceived time pressures, concerns over appearance and road safety are the biggest obstacles given as reasons not to cycle.
That all sounds rather ominous, considering you might be inclined to think that if people are unwilling to cycle when the provisions and support are that good, what does it say about infrastructure and motivation in countries playing catch-up?
But Schipperijn also thinks that more recent public policy decisions are impacting the trend, with the Danish Government increasing investment in roads and motorways, whilst car ownership has also increased 7.2 percent since 2015. Cycle-specific infrastructure spending remains less than 5 percent of that invested on motorways, although that figure is pretty comparable with the rest of the world.
None of this is particularly good news, and suggests that maybe the Field of Dreams “build it and they will come” approach to encouraging cycling might not be enough in the future.
Incidentally, later this week we’ll be publishing my interview with Ed Clancy where he had some thoughts on this very matter. Active travel that is, not Danish government spending…
Dylan Groenewegen hit by a motorcyclist
Stage 16! Can you believe it? Six days of racing are all we have left of any Grand Tour, men’s or women’s. Thankfully, the UCI announced last week that the women’s Vuelta will be moving in the calendar from May to October, reducing the calendar clashes and giving the women’s peloton more opportunities after the Tour de France Femmes. But for now we have to savour what we’ve got.
What we’ve got today is a lot of downhill. Not even a single categorised climb. Coupled with tomorrow’s time trial, some in the peloton might be hoping they can effectively have three rest days in a row.
Not Visma-Lease a Bike though, they’ll surely be working for a sixth stage win of the race, either with Matty Brennan or Wout van Aert. The likes of Bryan Coquard, Jordi Meeus and the retiring Magnus Cort might be on a mission to stop them. The neutralised roll-out has just begun, with live coverage beginning in a little under two hours.
📍𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐀
💪 Stage 1️⃣6️⃣ neutral start!
🙌 ¡Salida neutralizada de la etapa 1️⃣6️⃣! #LaVuelta26 pic.twitter.com/RsPpAFm2IJ
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 8, 2026
Dangerous driving of the day
The number of pros who are being hit by drivers continues to amaze, and shows the roads are dangerous for everyone. Primoz Roglic was hit by a driver whilst training for the Vuelta in Italy, whilst closer to home, Lukas Nerurkar suffered a broken collarbone that was also dislocated, a fractured sternum, a fractured vertebra, a broken rib, and a punctured lung when he was hit by a driver near Brighton in July.
The latest rider to be injured while training is Dylan Groenewegen, the six-time stage winner now riding for the Unibet Rose Rockets. He shared photos of his damaged bike and his subsequent trip to hospital trip on Instagram…
View this post on Instagram
“Unfortunately, my training ride ended with an accident.
“I was involved in a collision with a motorcyclist and suffered a muscle tear around my ribs. Luckily, I escaped without any more serious injuries and feel fortunate that the consequences weren’t worse. 🍀
“🤞 I’m still able to ride my @rose_bikes, although the pain around my ribs makes it difficult to say what the injury will mean for my upcoming races. We’ll monitor how it develops and assess the situation accordingly.
“It could have been much worse, so I’m grateful to have come away from the accident with relatively minor injuries. Again a reminder to please always wear your helmet! (🫶 @kask_sport)
“🙏 Thanks everyone for the messages and support.”
Our best wishes to Dylan for his recovery.
A thing of beauty
Contains some rather industrial language in a warm Edinburgh burr…
Cycling at rush hour, it always feels like some folk’d be willing to kill you to get back for their tea 5 minutes earlier. Yesterdays example involves some Anglo-Saxon, sorry.
— buachaille.bsky.social (@buachaille.bsky.social) 8 September 2026 at 09:35
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
25 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
@bikeclips Last week, I was almost thrown out of a meeting because I was swearing under my breath while I read the 'Lydney Cycle Improvements' document, which includes such gems as: "The Lydney Cycleway improvement scheme was completed in spring 2020 and has improved access and increased connectivity by creating a pleasant, safe and accessible network of pathways around Lydney....." The 'improvements' are almost entirely narrow, on-road bike lanes on narrow roads, where two cars cannot pass without going into the bike lanes. They don't increase connectivity, they aren't pleasant, or safe or particularly accessible, but hey, why quibble over irrelevant details? "The scheme was developed with the aim of promoting cycle usage and reducing car journeys within Lydney." Since 2020, car journeys have increased but cycle journeys haven't. Have a guess how much it cost. Go on, have a guess. £1,000,000. Entirely wasted.
@bikeclips When you see how narrow that cycle 'lane' is to begin with its ridiculous councils think they are satisfactory. But as the clip moves along, how many puddles, patches of debris etc has narrowed that path? And when you have a large vehicle inches away from you, where are you supposed to go? It also , in both clips, shows how other drivers can get by safely if you just have some patience. The driver of the Fiat at the start was waiting to pass for a while but they were safe and probably only held up for around a minute. Why do people feel so ready to take risky overtakes just to save literally minutes?
Advice letters are worthless junk designed to appease the gullible, as the offenders are fully aware that the police don't possess the the wit or the willingness to find out whether the driver has received a joke advice letter for the same offence in the past- and that's even within the same force. Imagine the vanishingly low probability that they would trouble to find out about offences in the jurisdiction of a different cyclist-hostile force, and refusing to look at the video unless the cyclist has been KSI'd is pretty hostile- wait till they catch onto the Lancashire technique of just binning everything that comes into OpSnap from cyclists! Kent has clearly been on the Lancashire Stagecoach course: ttps://upride.cc/incident/sk19evu_stagecoach42_closepass/ ttps://upride.cc/incident/px12dmy_stagecoach40_closepass/ ttps://upride.cc/incident/pk05opm_freelander_closepass/ The last one is the latest ignored routine Lancashire driver attack. These are minimum field of view videos- they would look even closer if I used wide angle like the OP
Am I the only one who is concerned that it looks like the pedal & shoe brands are making systems that tie you into buying a whole load of things that only work together and remove your ability to shop around or experiment with alternatives? This shoe / cleat system and also the new Shimano SPD-SLR look like you need to buy not only the pedals but only their products (so far) to work with them? And even if they get more third party support, I cant just swap one system out and try another like I can with SPD-SL , Look Keo and even Wahoo/Speedplay.
@bikeclips A slight correction, in the driver's imagination it relieves them of any obligation, under the Highway Code guidance that only applies to a completely segregated lane, the same instruction to leave 1.5 m applies whether the paint is there or not.
Fabulous race, really gripping once the necessary rather boring softening up 100 km or so was completed. A lot of the riders in the final chase group will look back, if they end their careers without a rainbow jersey, and think you know what, I really didn't play that right; no diminution of McNulty's achievement implied by saying that they could've caught him easily without the multiple sit ups. I don't understand why they couldn't have agreed to work together in equal turns until they caught him 10 km out, as they so easily could have done, and then played cat and mouse from there. Huge kudos to MVDP for achieving a bronze on a course which, as he said, was absolutely on the limit of what was possible for him. As they noted in commentary, no other race this week on that course was won by a rider weighing more than 70 kg so for a rider his size to be able to hang on over the climbs and still be able to contest the sprint was amazing.
@bikeclips Famously, these painted lanes have been shown to be more dangerous than no lane at all. If it doesn’t have bollards, it isn’t infrastructure
> If you’re ever at a bike show and Darimo are in attendance .... The German lightweight specialists are always coming up with something fun Darimo is a Spanish company. Just saying.
Another great example of how dangerous these token 'bike lanes' are. The magic white paint relieves the driver of any obligation to leave a safe distance.
You did well to get any result from Kent Police. I gave up after reporting a couple of incidents and not even getting a request to submit video evidence. They don't seem to care about roads policing. Well done for getting these 2 actioned.
25 thoughts on ““No wonder we’re so quickly hated”: Cyclist says he’s “embarrassed” after witnessing fellow riders not stopping at pedestrian crossing; Dylan Groenewegen injured after collision with motorcyclist; New LTD edition Spesh collection + more on the live blog”
“No wonder we are so quickly hated”, well yes, I can see how if somebody is determined to spend their life hating people that sort of behaviour (which I abhor, don’t do myself and regularly call out) could set them off. The mystery is why none of those people hating what amounts to selfishness and bad manners don’t also hate the group that kills 1700+ people and seriously injures 25,000 more every year. Odd.
This morning I was walking the dog. Waiting at a T junction to cross, the car turning in to the road stopped to let me go. I’m half way across the lane and a car looking to exit the junction completely ignored me and stopped in front of me. As a driver should I be embarrassed?
precisely this – dislike the behaviour, not the arbitrary group that the offender belongs to.
Unfortunately, for some people, they don’t get this – nor is the group arbitrary.
@Rendel Harris Precisely. Its such bollocks and I particularly hate it when cyclists spout this utter horse shit. Which other groups are hated because of the actions of some of their members and so publicly, openly and so widespread.
I can count on one hand the number of times a cyclist has put my safety or life in danger at all. I can count on one hand the number of times a driver rolls that dice every fucking time I go out on a ride of more than 20km. Fucking cyclists though eh….
I could sit at the side of the road near me for 20 minutes at rush hour and probably catch 40% of people speeding, 20% of people cutting corners, 95% not giving way to pedestrians at junctions and then some token close passes on cyclists for bonus points. Oh and lets not get started on pavement parking blocking the pavements for disabled people and prams. But yeah, fucking cyclists.
MPs? Journalists? Lawyers? Bankers? …
@mdavidford Pay me the same money for cycling as an MP, lawyer or banker and I’ll take the hatred…
Don’t look at me, but I hear a certain Mr Pogačar can put you in touch with a decent agent.
That’s enough fines in a day to pay the wages of at least a couple of full time traffic police. I say go at it!
The cyclists obviously don’t know that they have to stop if pedestrians are waiting to cross or are crossing the road at the crossing.
@kingleo Not to condone not stopping, as I always stop, but no vehicle driver/rider actually has to stop if pedestrians are waiting to cross, it’s a “should” not a “must” in the Highway Code and not stopping is not an offence. If pedestrians are on the crossing then it becomes a “must” and it is an offence not to do so. It’s a confusing distinction and in my opinion could well be done away with to make it compulsory to stop in both instances, but at the moment it’s not. (HC Rule 19, zebra crossings: “Drivers and riders should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross and MUST give way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing.”)
@Rendel Harris, if a pedestrian puts a foot on the crossing, the cyclists have to stop. Is that correct?
@kingleo That’s what I was taught as driver, fifty years ago. You don’t have to stop unless they put a toe on the crossing. It’s not changed.
@ChrisA and you should approach believing they might step out, so be ready to stop.
@Bompton rider (I think we have run out of levels for a reply!)
Indeed, crossing or no crossing, one should be mindful of pedestrians (& others) and expect the unexpected. Or in your case the expected.
What has changed is the suggestion (in the HC) that you “should” stop if you believe they might wish to step out. That was, I think, understood in years gone by, with out being specifically highlighted.
@kingleo Yes it is, because that counts as being in the act of crossing, but not if they are just waiting.
“Bike after bike after bike cycling over a zebra crossing where a group of pedestrians were waiting to cross. It made me livid.” BigMetalGuy writes.”
…
“I stopped then shouted to any bike that could hear me to “fucking stop for pedestrians”.
So, not just cars, but bikes are now self-driving (self-riding?) and have ears now?
And 100% agree on cyclists not having collective responsibility/shame.
My only suggestion is that all crossings, ie zebra on roads and these at floating bus stops, have the words “GIVE WAY” painted on them.
So everyone (driver/cyclist etc) can’t say they aren’t aware.
@mitsky My only suggestion is that all crossings, ie zebra on roads and these at floating bus stops, have the words “GIVE WAY” painted on them. So everyone (driver/cyclist etc) can’t say they aren’t aware
Seems like a very expensive idea, which would provide a welcome ready-made excuse for doing nothing, especially when everybody already knows the rules. The real problem would be the selective enforcement at which the police are so skilled when they’re working for a suitable audience. I think it very likely that the police would mount a Mail&Torygraph-pleasing operation against the cyclists, while bestowing a magnanimous, also M&T-pleasing, forgiveness for the respectable drivers doing the same thing on a nearby crossing on the grounds that ‘everybody does it and we’re terribly busy’. I won’t inflict them on you again, but you have all seen the videos which illustrate the Lancashire Constabulary attitude to driver RLJs at the only fixed traffic lights around here – they ignore them. I can’t show an example of a cyclist doing the same thing, because I’ve never seen one at these lights.
Clearly posted speed limits , double yellow lines, bike lanes etc don’t stop some folks from acting as if they aren’t aware, so good luck with your suggestion.
Increased police presence and enforcement is what we need.
@belugabob Shurely numbered tabards, speed limits, licencing and insurance?
I’ve got a couple of cloned tabards in the cupboard ready for the day they become law.
@Mr Blackbird Mine is registered to the mayor of London!
@chrisonabike yes, those would be suitable approaches for the hard of thinking…we need to know who those folks are 😉
I’m not defending the cyclists not giving way. However I do think a percentage is due to ignorance. The solution to that percentage is a public education exercise. But it won’t happen as it’s somehow seen as the nanny state.
Cycling in Paris this evening, many bikes and escooters don’t take any notice of the red lights. A number of bikes do stop, but not many.
NFB UK – beetlejuice! (IIRC someone did a look at their campaigns and while noting they actually did the work of looking at this, noting that the selection of the very worst-looking things into brief clips could be used to suggest that it’s terrible all the time, rather than say 1 or 2 close calls per day and a handful of people having to wait for say 10-20 sec. (Try that on a main road!)
What we have here is “cycling growing in a 3rd or 4th class environment”. So pedestrians and (some) cyclists expect cyclists to behave rather like drivers of motor vehicles.
Hence “cross only at marked crossings, don’t start to cross until all traffic has come to a stop”. And also probably cyclist ignorance / confusion about the rules on “new” infra.
(Plus it’s just bad engineering to require cyclists to stop completely too often. It’s the equivalent of requiring drivers not just to stop but turn the engine off and get out of the vehicle).
Having a large number of cyclists in one place may be because they’ve been channeled there by the infra – or rather the lack of it elsewhere. *
If the Dutch case is anything to go by “behaviour will adjust” as things improve for cycling and more people do so. The average speed of cyclists will come down with a wider demographic and people cycling getting out of the mentality of “gotta keep up with the motor vehicles” **.
People on foot and on cycles will learn to negotiate with each other – so those cycling slow a little, and those waiting to cross learn that it’s feasible and safe to cross when those cycling haven’t all come to a stop. (This is something which simply doesn’t work safely enough with motor traffic but is possible with the (bio)mechanics of cycling / cyclists).
* Problems of success – in some places in NL they do think there are too many cycling at certain times … so they don’t put up signalised crossings or “cyclists must stop” signs, they add alternative routes!
** This is assuming we do a bit more about keeping the numbers and speeds of “e-things” down…