Stupidity of the few (From The Oxford Times)

Stupidity of the few

8:10am Thursday 19th April 2012 in Letters

Sir – It appears to be fashionable to highlight every misdemeanour of cyclists, with the implication that car drivers are all angels. May I attempt to redress the balance?

One evening last week at about 10.15pm, I cycled from Woodstock Road to Botley.

At the junction with St Giles, a car turned — without warning — into the southbound lane of Woodstock Road.

Had a car been behind me it would have been a head-on collision.

At the end of Beaumont Street, having waited behind four cars the one behind me attempted to overtake — on a junction, on a blind bend and clearly with no space in front of me for him to get into.

And then at the end of Hythe Bridge Street another car went straight on when only the left filter was green.

I saw around a dozen cars and three behaved badly or illegally.

Do I accuse all drivers of bad behaviour? No — and nor should anyone blame all cyclists for the stupidity of the few.

Colin Hersom, Botley