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

In particular they are all scrupulous about obeying the speed limit (except the 76% who don't).

No argument with you about the behaviour of many motorists. Some of them deserve to be locked up and the keys thrown away.

My point is that motorists are targetted by the boys in blue and when they get caught they are dealt with by the law. (I've had my share of penalty points in my time )

But when do you ever hear of a cyclist being "punished" for going through a red light or over a pedestrian crossing with people on it or riding at night with no lights - it just doesn't happen because there is no way of identifying the offender. If bicycles had to carry some form of registration plate like other vehicles then perhaps these would be more wary of committing such offences.

Consider the case of a woman who hit and killed a cyclist while driving her children to school. She already had twelve points on her license (under the old 12-point scheme, not the 20-point scheme). Therefore she had repeatedly demonstrated that she was a dangerous and irresponsible driver.

The judge took the view that the automatic ban which would result from a single extra point would cause her unnecessary hardship, as she would have to walk her children to school - a distance of around one mile.

The punishment for riding at night without lights is death, summarily handed out by a passing motorist. Anybody who rides at night without lights has brought this penalty upon themselves. These are not cyclists: they are idiots who happen to own bikes. I have lights fitted even to bikes I never ride at night.

I do know why cyclists may, under some circumstances, cross a red light - it gets them out of the way of the inevitable race which ensues when the light goes green. Doesn't make it right, but I know why it happens. I do it myself at one particular junction, where waiting for green led to three near misses in a week as people overtook, then cut in to avoid smashing into the front of the cars waiting to come in the opposite direction. In one case a car initiated an overtaking manoeuvre when I was signalling right and already up to the centre line, travelling at nearly 20mph. The only thing which saved me was the fact that he finally noticed that there was also a car coming the other way. Now I cross one road at red (not riding) and get round my right turn before the lights go green.

Oh, and I've been driving fr 17 years and never attracted a penalty point, even though I used to drive 135 miles round trip to the office and regularly drove to Harrogate, did a day's work and drove back - 518 miles round trip in a day.

The basic premise is false. There are loads of responsible cyclists around, and the fact that you can't see them is sadly revealing.

All the available stats say that, in any collision between car and (adult) cyclist, the motorist is several times more likely than the cyclist to be at fault. Since even I frankly don't believe that all cyclists are angels, I have to wonder whether well-behaved cyclists are somehow invisible to motorists, and therefore get hit more often. Your letter supports their invisibility.

So does common experience. Signal a left turn, and you sometimes get a motorist turning in with you, cutting you up as he/she moves into the kerb (because all vehicles cut the apex of any corner). Ride in a straight line and certain drivers pass close and fast. Wobble a bit and they slow down and pass like the diagram in the Highway Code says they should.

This is no argument for breaking the Highway Code - cyclists need it more than motorists, because they don't have metal boxes full of safety features to protect them from errors. It might be an argument for wearing something really outlandish - anything that makes drivers do a double-take will do. It doesn't really need to be bright, it just needs to be unusual - visibility is a funny thing.

As for the other complaints, cyclist shouldn't jump red lights, but drivers do. I remember the Amber Gambler campaigns, but when do you hear a motorist complaining about others going through on amber? Now, the last few cars jump the lights. I've even seen a car driving on pavements - it's lampposts, not rules, that stops that happening more.

As for racing cyclists, of course they don't go round sticking up signs without permission. How do you know they haven't followed the procedures? The reason they can race on roads and motorists can't is that motor racing kills bystanders even on closed circuits.