continued from the previous page

.have you lost count of the number of incidents you've been involved in personally? what was the most serious?

I guess I have lost count. The most dangerous are those where drivers have deliberately driven at my child or wife.

I've been hit and had the bike damaged several times. Luckily I've escaped serious injury. I think one of the classic incidents was when a 50+ year old woman in a beaten up old Ford overtook me approaching a junction and then cut in knocking me off my bike at 25mph. As I picked myself up she got out and started screaming abuse at me, saying that the reason I rode a bike was that I was poor, therefore I shouldn't be on the road. I threw my bike at her car.

.how have the police reacted to your incidents?

I think I get most annoyed by the lack of action by the police. Only twice in 20 years has an incident been taken seriously. Once when a cabbie got out his cab grabbed me from behind and assaulted me, and secondly when I was run into by 2 clearly drunken girls at 9.30am in an uninsured, unregistered car, in a cycle lane. The worst case I came across was when a policeman deliberately tampered with evidence, changed witness statements and lost the original complaint. To this day I am convinced he knew the driver involved.

.what would you say is the most common complaint from cyclists about motorists?

80% of motorists either don't think cyclists should be on the road or they just don't see them.

.in the time since you set-up raging bike, have you seen any marked improvement or changes in drivers' attitudes or cycling provision?

Cycling provision has certainly improved throughout the UK. There are more cycle lanes although these bring mixed blessings. Many are poorly designed and badly policed and/or are shared with buses, taxis and speeding police cars. I think many drivers have become more aggressive and less patient with cyclists... but I think many drivers are more aggressive with each other as well, so maybe we shouldn't feel picked on here.