h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am always asked if cycling is dangerous. I usually reply that I have no problems with traffic, but I have terrible problems with pedestrians. I am fed up with pedestrians who take one look at a cyclist approaching them and then completely ignore bike and rider, stepping into the road and feigning surprise when the cyclist rings bell/ gives them a dirty look/ swears at them as they have to swerve around them.

And I am fed up with cyclist using the pavement & expecting me to move aside from them. I was recently walking my dog and was challenged very abrasively as I was 'taking up the whole pavement'. Before anyones starts this was along a fairly quiet road which was empty at the time....

I currently cycle around 4 miles a day Mon-Fri to get to the local train station. I am constantly finding pedestrians don't 'see' me and just blindly walk out right in front of me. I have lost count of the number of times I have been forced to brake or swerve to miss someone who seems to think that I have little to no importance. That's fine, but if any of these pedestrians were hit while ON THE ROAD by me because they had just walked out in front of me then I would be considered the one at fault and yet again an 'inconsiderate cyclist' would be a danger to 'innocent pedestrians' on the roads.

Not all cyclists are incompetant or inconsiderate, but pedestrians and motorists alike appear to have lost all consideration towards cyclists...walking out in front of them, pulling out in front of them, and (for me the worst one) revving the engine while behind them because there is no room to overtake. There is a narrow one-way street on my route home and al,ost every evening a car will get frustrated as I cycle along the road (following the highway code) becuase he can't overtake me to get to a junction where he will have to stop anyway!

I think that cyclists, motorists and pedestrians all have lessons to learn. My mother is the perfect example of a motorist who hates cyclists...she blames them for every hold up on the roads, gets frustrated and swears when she is stuck behind a bike and is constantly yelling "they don't pay road tax so shouldn't be on the road". I hadn't realised that only road tax went towards maintaining roads...thought that also came out of council tax and taxes in general, that being the case I have just as much right as a motorist, and should be treated with the same kind of respect and tolerance as any other motorist, shouldn't I?