I know, from experience, that any little criticism of cyclists can bring down something considerably worse than the wrath of Khan.
And indeed (this bit is compulsory if you’re writing about cyclists) I am genuinely in favour of more cycling lanes, wider cycling lanes and segregated cycling lanes.
As it happens, I am also in favour of cyclists obeying red lights, not cycling of footpaths, not cycling on pedestrianised streets, not cycling the wrong way up one-way streets and not cycling three abreast on country roads.
I was in Rathmines the other day and I passed through the (green) traffic lights just near the Stella Cinema.
And then I glanced in my mirror.
I was just in time to see a cyclist, a guy in his twenties I’d say, ignore the lights which had by now turned red against him.
A family had stepped onto the road – the green pedestrian light was in their favour – and this eejit clattered into a little bike being wheeled by a lad of about five or six.
The little boy fell but wasn’t hurt.
And the eejit fell off his bike too. I don’t know whether I’m glad or not that he appeared not to have hurt himself at all. Hopefully he has a small bruise, and no more, to remind himself of his selfish stupidity.
But he got back on his bike immediately and sped off. A decent man would have waited around to make sure the kid was ok and a really decent man would have bought the child an ice cream.
But no. I suspect that the man on the bike who sped through the red light was one of that new breed we see too often on our streets and roads: a cycopath.
These are the people who think the world was created for cyclists. Pedestrians have some nerve to cross on green lights and cyclists, or cycopaths, are perfectly entitled to break the lights because they’re saving the planet, aren’t they?
Indeed, a cycling blogger in the UK wrote this: “Transport for London did a study to see how prevalent red light jumping was and found only 15% of cyclists break the law, yet our media lead us to believe it’s normal for every cyclist. This nonsense has to stop.”
Only 15%? Only 420,000 cyclists in Britain break red lights? And that’s ok? The writer is a cycopath.
Cycopaths don’t get the “foot” part of footpaths and seem to believe such facilities are for them and pedestrians are just a nuisance in the way.
Cycopaths don’t just break rules that don’t suit them, they sometimes get into positions of power that allow them to make rules.
Soon, you’ll find them cycling through your local supermarket – I actually did see a cyclist pedalling through Penney’s in town one day.
It will be illegal to drive a car. It might even be illegal to get a bus!
Cycopaths.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Paddy's World 