Through your letters page I hope to reach the motorist I had the misfortune to "bump into" on Sunday morning (23/04/06) by the Beggars Bush, Chester Road. He introduced himself afer driving his car in a dangerous manner and directly at me whilst I was cycling. After stopping, he had the nerve to excuse his anti-social and dangerous behavior by saying that he sounded his horn to let me know he was there. As he had the arrogance to drive off without having the courtesy to listen as to why I was so upset, I'd like to say the following: -
1) It's lucky you did sound your horn as the gap you was heading into was way too small for the two of us and I was already in it. In other words (and according to law), I had the right of way, you should have been patient and waited until it was safe to pass.
2) In this instance, the right thing to do was to wait until the truck travelling in the opposite direction had passed us by, then overtook me safely with plenty of room. This may have added up to a second on your journey time (shocking!), but this was the safe thing to do and your legal obligation.
3) Sounding your horn to "let me know you're there" doesn't give you the right to drive at me.
4) Sounding your horn in in such a manner is illegal and it should only be used as a warning to avoid a danger such as collision.
5) If there was likely to have been a collision between us, you were behind me and therefore going too fast for the traffic conditions. It would have been your fault (remember, you aren't allowed to drive through other road users even if they are in the bit of road you would like to drive on).
6) A less experienced or less confident rider may have been startled by the sounding of your horn. This could have caused them to swerve into the path of oncoming traffic or they may have frozen, unable to get out of your way as you drove at them.
7) You're a bit of an idiot.
For anybody else reading this, please be assured this isn't an anti-car rant. I am a motorist too. This is a safe roads rant. In my experience as a motorist and cyclist I have found that a the vast majority of road users are safe, patient and careful. Sadly, the driver in question seemed to possess none of these qualities. The simple answer to reducing injury and death on roads is for all road users (cyclists, motorists, pedestrians and, well, everyone!) to understand and obey road law. Our "driver" here obviously doesn't understand who had the privilege of right of way and ignored the saftey of other road users in his desperation to save a second on his journey time. Therefore, as a motorist he is a danger to himself or others. I hope that even if he thinks I'm a cycling fool and this incident was all my fault (maybe for having the nerve to even be on the road?), that he picks up a copy of the Highway Code and reads it. I hope he takes this action before he kills somebody's wife, husband, parent or child.
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