I'll readily admit I'm not a particularly careful cyclist - I run the occasional red light at the junction of Woodhouse Lane and Clarendon Road because I'd rather run the light via the bus lane than get caught once more in the bustle of motorists; I grumble at motorists who, I feel, are out to kill me but who, I suspect, feel that I am a nuisance in their commute, and I pass motorists stuck at the red light to get to the advanced stop box which is usually half taken up by a motorists thus causing me to have to go even further into the junction than I should be and am comfortable with.
In general, however, I try to be responsibly careless - ignoring some road rules because it's safer to be outside of groups of bundles of steel weighing several metric tonnes than stuck within.
I'll also readily admit that I should be more aware that British motorists, on the whole, are far less familiar with cyclists than Dutch motorists are, meaning that what I perceive to be murderous behaviour may just actually be ignorance on their part; they may not actually understand that what they do is at best a nuisance and at worst quite dangerous. Simultaneously, their lack of experience also causes me to be terrifying to them as I am an unknown factor. In short, I should be more patient and vigilant when dealing with British motorists than I usually am.
Ah, but who am I kidding here - I'm being self-righteous.
No, truth be told, I am, sometimes, a fairly careless cyclist, and I don't always observe the road rules to the extent that I should. Whether or not I have excuses for this is irrelevant.
And I was in a fairly foul mood this morning and it was raining, so I am likely to have been more careless than usual.
But berating me for something that was actually a taxi driver's fault (taxi drivers are not motorists. Taxi drivers are active murderers.) is going a bit far still.
Every morning while cycling to uni, I get to coast downhill from my house to the lights at the junction of North Lane and the Otley Road. Except for Headingley Mount - which is at the top of the hill so it doesn't really matter there, anyway - I have right of way pretty much everywhere on this bit, like motorists would have. Not that I'm always given right of way, mind - motorists don't seem to grasp here that cyclists have the same right of way as they have. I do, however, have to yield once, when going onto North Lane - but I don't usually have to, as by then I'll have come to a reasonably slow pace to simply and fairly safely wind into traffic.
However, at this junction of North Lane and Ash Road, there is another street, too - Cross Chapel Street. Technically speaking, traffic from Cross Chapel Street has to yield for Ash Road traffic and then for North Lane traffic (it's a rather awkward construction). Traffic usually doesn't yield at Cross Chapel Street, however, but immediately goes on to the junction, as it's only a few yards.
Awkward constructions like this are ubiquitous in Britain - they work fine for motorists, who are easily spotted by others and considered equal, but are hellish for cyclists.
All along the Otley Road and Headingley Lane, there are awkward, unclear side streets - traffic coming from these side streets usually has somewhat impaired vision due to walls. The Netherlands have solved this problem by simply placing mirrors at these junction, but it doesn't seem Britain has come to this genius insight yet. Due to this, traffic from these side streets often decides to pull into the bicycle lane along Headingley Lane, forcing cyclists to decide to swerve into busy traffic or scrape these cars.
I have no patience for these people and they have no patience for me. Both parties accept so and both parties go their merry way grumbling at one another.
This morning, however, presented a particularly vicious episode. Out of Cross Chapel Street came a taxi, whilst I coasted along Ash Road. He appeared to yield in his proper spot (a miracle!) and I prepared to flit by to wind into North Lane traffic. I, however, apparently miscalculated, as the taxi went on to try and yield in Ash Road, causing me to swerve - indeed right into North Lane traffic, right in front of, what else, a policeman's car.
Rather than berate the taxi driver for not yielding where he should've - in Cross Chapel Street, not Ash Road - the policeman decided to berate me for a) flipping off the taxi driver, b) not wearing a helmet, and c) swerving into North Lane traffic.
A. I do not flip off other road users. I grumble at them, yes, but flipping them off is a whole other order of magnitude. I did stick up my hand to the taxi driver, mainly because he startled me and that's my reflex - it's almost like shielding one's face from impact. So, cheers, Mr Policeman, for berating me for something I didn't actually do.
B. I don't wear a helmet, no. Traffic law doesn't say I must have one - the Highway Code does advise one to wear one and I respect the statistics, but no, I don't. I realise that in accidents involving cyclists, those who wear helmets are far less seriously injured than those who don't. I would indeed thoroughly advise all beginner cyclists in Britain to wear helmets because whether it's through ignorance or through malicious intent, British motorists are murderous and the streets are filled with potholes and unclear junctions.
However, my personal, empirical experience advises against wearing helmets. I have 20+ years of experience cycling (which is an incongruous thing in the mind of the British motorist - a 23 year old with 20+ years of experience? 'Tis, my British fellow road users, a possibility, for those who spent their youths in a country where cycling is the next step after learning to walk) and I have had the displeasure of wearing a helmet for some years. Over my two decades of cycling, I have had several close calls - all in Britain - and only one serious accident - in the Netherlands. This serious accident happened while I was wearing my helmet.
Motorists are more careful around female cyclists, young cyclists, and unprotected cyclists - some studies have pointed this out, I could look up the statistics if I were so inclined. This matches my experience - motorists are far less likely to do stupid things in my vicinity when I'm not wearing a helmet than when I am. Sure, I'll be less likely to be seriously injured if I'd wear a helmet, but I'd rather just not get into an accident in the first place.
So no, Mr Policeman, I don't wear a helmet and I'm not going to because contrary to your common sense, I am actually better off not wearing one. Thanks for the advice, though - but might I suggest you actually look up the Highway Code before you tell me I must wear a helmet?
C. Yes, I did swerve into North Lane traffic and yes, I'd rather avoided this too. It may be surprising, but I didn't actually want to run the risk of becoming asphalt marmalade. However, when the choice is between going into active traffic with the chance that the motorists can still avoid me and with absolute certainty crashing into a taxi ignoring its instruction to yield, I'd rather take the active traffic, thanks. So cheers, Mr Policeman, for berating me for something I did indeed do but for which you should have berated the taxi driver instead. Thanks, Mr Policeman, for berating the wrong party.
I do understand that this police officer was probably a bit shocked and startled, like I was, and only had his own perspective of me swerving into traffic rather than my whole conundrum of crashing into a taxi versus swerving into traffic, and probably thought he was doing me a service by telling me off, and probably felt that he had to deal with it somehow or other - the taxi had gone by then, of course - but I still do think it's thoroughly unfair to ruin someone's day by berating them for something they're not actually guilty of.
I am not a careful cyclists, far from it, but I hate getting told off for things that aren't my fault.
Having said that, if you're in Leeds, don't be discouraged from cycling here. Leeds is a lovely place to cycle in, and the country around is gorgeous of course. Just be mindful that the roads do have potholes (fewer than in other cities, but they're still there), some junctions are unclear and some motorists have no idea of the risks they pose to cyclists. Let's just keep cycling, because otherwise motorists will never learn proper road etiquette.
As for the taxi driver, well...
