Cyclists are not second-class citizens

12:35pm Tuesday 31st July 2012 in Letters

REGARDING the letters criticising some of the riding on the Liverpool-Chester-Liverpool bike ride.

I myself was a participant in the event. By their nature, charity rides attract a wide range of participants.

Many of the 3-000-plus riders were inexperienced in riding long distances on the road and I can well imagine that there was some erratic riding, equal perhaps to some of the incredibly impatient and aggressive drivers that I witnessed (the vast majority were courteous and considerate).

The problem is that these letters only serve to reinforce the idea that cyclists are second-class road users to be tolerated or intimidated by car drivers.

The number of car drivers injured by cyclists is negligible, but 19,000 cyclists are killled and injured each year, mostly by motorists.

Whoever is at fault, cyclists are the vulnerable ones, not drivers. 

 

It's just for some reason we tend not to complain quite as readily to local newspapers.  

Paul Mitchin,
New Brighton.

 

Comments(2)

Grab a Granny says...
9:55pm Tue 31 Jul 12

You are right Paul, as a cyclist and driver I have a lot of experience of the sort of ignorant and arrogant behaviour both sets of road uses are capable of. But those who sit cosy in their vehicles moaning about cyclists need to forget how much cash they have spent on their precious cars and how this gives them the right to call the shots and think about getting on their own bike and experiencing the freedom and exhilaration cycling brings. I think car drivers are rightly jealous of cyclists, they instinctively know it's just a great thing to do, good for your health, good for your bank account and good for the planet. Happy fuming in your sad steel cage.

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neilwg says...
12:07am Wed 1 Aug 12

I agree with the sentiments of the above posts but need to correct the figure to 1900 road deaths (not 19,000 and not just cyclists) on our roads last year. But this is still 5 people each and every day!! Bikes kill perhaps 5 a decade, pedestrians perhaps the same, so effectively all fatalities will be caused by motor vehicles and as most won't be the victims fault, it must be down to motorists...

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