by Dugald » Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:08 am
Continuing with my comments on your last posting Cyclo, let me say I agree with you when you say that if cyclists jump the lights then they should suffer the same consequences as motorists. A cyclist on a bicycle is on a vehicle and should be treated as such. Oh yes, if a person gets hit by a someone riding a bicycle then the person, and probably the cyclist, is likely to get hurt.
I agree with you again when you say cyclists and pedestrians in urban areas should have priority over motorized vehicles. Here in Canada cyclists and pedestrians have for a long time been treated as second-class citizens, and as far as I recall, that's how it always was in Glasgow. Indeed, I'd guess it is even worse in Glasgow than say Toronto for example, where I have been led to believe things are improving. In Glasgow, probably in Scotland too, people riding a bicycle were frequently treated as people who rode a bike because they couldn't afford a car... especially if one spoke with a Glaswegian accent.
I'm not too sure about these "fat lazy drivers" you speak of. Oh drivers have run me off the road countless times, yes, and broken my bones too, but I don't ever recall coming face-to-face with the culprit at the wheel, not that it would have mattered too much anyway... when measured against a yardstick, I just don't measure up to your lofty altitude.
Yes, on second thoughts, I do recall coming face-to-face with a culprit at the wheel: while riding along the shore of Loch Riddon a car pushed us off this second-class shore road, and sped off. We went into the wee shop down the road at the Colintraive Ferry and lo and behold, there was the driver. He was a very young fellow, probably driving his father's car, and when he saw us, his face went as red as a beet root. I don't think he'll have forgotten what I said to him.
The unfortunate thing about the "fat lazy drivers" receiving any kind of punishment, be it physical of verbal, is that the cyclist will never win. Oh the cyclist may well thump the driver into oblivion, but whatever form of road-rage that is exercised, will not bring an end to the motorist's road-rage. What we then have is a driver in a lethal vehicle who hates cyclists. Some early morning when Sam is out training on his own on a quiet road, this grudge-bearing motorist sees a cyclist in front of him and to him, this is the person who thumped him into oblivion and, well, a sideswipe and Sam goes you know which way and the motorist drives on his merry way with "let that be a lesson" look on his face.
You and I Cyclo, have our priorities right: "We need (A), less cars on the roads, (B) More people cycling". It may just be possible to attain these two 'priorities', well in urban areas anyway. There are cities in the world pondering means of discouraging motorists from using city cores and encouraging the use of bicycles... Ottawa in Canada, New York in America, Hamburg in Germany, to mention but a few. Bicycle-riding really is flourishing in North America. In Glasgow, the only thing I have noticed about bicycle-riding, is that it is diminishing and becoming more dangerous. Sad to say, I think Glasgow people now look upon a bicycle as a toy. Hey, who knows, maybe the city's new velodrome will change attitudes.