7 Myths About Cycling That Need Debunking
Many UK car drivers get frustrated with the cyclists they encounter on the road. It’s time to debunk some of the myths around what cyclists can and can’t do.
Cycling is a health-improving, money-saving and traffic-relieving form of transport, yet almost all of our urban road networks were designed with only cars in mind. In places, cycle lanes have been squeezed in as an afterthought, but they are too few and often poorly-designed. Many of them are actually unusable due to potholes, poorly-maintained surfaces and broken glass or other road debris. And then there’s the drivers…
Short of providing fully-segregated cycling infrastructure like in Copenhagen or Amsterdam, the behaviour of car drivers probably influences the experience of cycling on our roads more than anything else. Many car drivers are consciencious. Happily, I think that awareness of cyclist safety amongst drivers is improving year by year, but there still remains a long way to go.
There are two main issues. Firstly, amongst car drivers there is a lack of understanding of the Highway Code, the law that governs use of all types of road in the UK for all of its users. This lack of understanding unfortunately extends even to many police officers (see below for examples). Secondly, with 69% of over-18s claiming to never cycle, many car drivers don’t understand how it feels to be on the road without the protection of two tonnes of metal, glass and plastic. Compare this with Myth 4 below.
The following is an attempt to improve understanding amongst car drivers by debunking some of the most common cycling myths.
Myth 1. Cars always have priority on the road
Being behind the wheel of a car might make you feel like you own the road, but bicycles have just as much right to be there as cars. Bicycles have been treated as “carriages” under the law since 1878, meaning they have the unquestionable right to use any road (except where explicitly prohibited such as on Motorways). That means uninformed coppers don’t have the right to stop you for “riding on an A-road” as famous cyclist Super Steve once suffered!
It’s a little-known fact that it was cyclists, not car drivers, who first pushed for a national network of smooth and well-maintained roads. Cyclists were only just beginning to enjoy the new roads when bad urban planning begun to force them off to the benefit of car users.
Myth 2. Cyclists are breaking the law when they “take the lane”
There is nothing in the Highway Code that prevents a cyclist from riding in what is known as the “primary position”, which means in the middle of the lane.
Riding in the primary position is the safest place to be when passing parked cars where car doors could fly open:
On narrow sections or corners, taking the lane also helps stop that powerful urge to OVERTAKE THAT CYCLIST that we all feel when behind the wheel of a car. Sometimes cyclists also move out into the middle of the lane where the road condition closer to the kerb is so poor as to be unridable — certainly in my area (Surrey, UK), local council budget cuts mean this is a growing problem.
However, cyclists shouldn’t hold the primary position unnecessarily as Rule 169 advises all road users to try to let faster-moving vehicles past where safe to do so.
Most drivers aren’t aware that cyclists are allowed to take the lane. Sadly, there are some very patronising police officers out there whose knowledge is equally lacking:
Myth 3. Cars should overtake cyclists as soon as they can squeeze past
Rule 163 of the Highway Code advises road users when overtaking cyclists to give “at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car”. Don’t try to squeeze past; wait until you can pass allowing for at least 1.5m separation between your vehicle and the cyclist. One reason for giving space is in Rule 213: cyclists may need to swerve to avoid uneven road surfaces or obstacles in the road.
Surrey Police helpfully made a video to encourage drivers to give cyclists more space when passing:
Next time you see a cyclist ahead, remember this is what it feels like when someone squeezes past you:
Myth 4. Cyclists don’t understand the rules of the road
I am a car owner. I also ride bicycles. This is normal. In fact, the Department for Transport estimates that 80% of cyclists hold a driving licence. There are many cyclists in London where car ownership is low, and many students cycle to and from uni. Otherwise, pretty much all cyclists are also drivers. They know the rules of the road as well as any car driver, probably better.
Myth 5. Cyclists should ride single file
There is nothing in the Highway Code that prohibits cyclists from riding side-by-side. Rule 66 recommends that cyclists should not ride more than two abreast. However, Rule 66 is only advisory so in theory cyclists could ride even three or four abreast and would not be breaking the law! Common sense tells you that more than two abreast (except when overtaking each other) is almost always unnecessary.
In fact, cycling side by side when in a large group actually makes it easier to overtake:
Again, this is part of the Highway Code that most car drivers aren’t aware of. Sometimes even police officers seem confused about the law:
This copper looks like he could do with a good slice of humble pie.
Myth 6. Cyclists cause a hazard on the road
There’s been a lot of discussion in certain newspapers recently about how “dangerous” cyclists are to pedestrians. This is nonsense. Whilst there are crazy cyclists, just as there are crazy drivers and pedestrians who don’t look where they’re going (smartphone addiction anyone?), cyclists are not a risk to pedestrians in general:
Motor vehicles were involved in 99.4% of collisions in which a pedestrian died.
It’s motor vehicles we should be worried about. In the end it comes down to basic physics: cars are many times heavier and are travelling much faster than cyclists, therefore the energy when they impact a child, commuter or pensioner is more than ten times as much as from a cyclist and their bike.
Not only that, cyclists, along with pedestrians and motorcyclists are vulnerable road users. For every mile driven they are much more likely to be killed on the road than car drivers, who are protected with high-tech safety equipment and two tonnes of metal.
Myth 7. Cyclists don’t pay “road tax” so don’t deserve to be on the road
As cyclists don’t pay “road tax”, many drivers feel cyclists are getting something for nothing when they use the roads. In fact, road tax has not existed since the 1930s. Instead, drivers pay Vehicle Excise Duty, which is a tax based on the amount of pollution a vehicle produces. As bikes don’t produce any pollution, there’s no tax to pay. Start cycling and save yourself some tax!
Have some sympathy
When we talk about bicycles we almost always say “cyclists on the road”. When we talk about drivers and their vehicles we talk about “cars on the road”; inside our cars, we feel anonymous. Of course, this is an illusion (I can still see you picking your nose at the traffic lights!). Along with a better understanding of the rules of the road, if we can start to see all road users for what they are — human beings just trying to get somewhere — hopefully we can make the roads safer for all.
© David Watson 2018
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
