Anti-cycling sentiment

As a pedestrian and cyclist, I have found the junction confusing and potentially dangerous. It is to be hoped that the young student is making a full recovery from her accident.

But it puzzles, indeed saddens, me to read the assertion “It is appalling that cyclists consider themselves to be above the law of the road”. Does your correspondent think that all cyclists are of this persuasion, or perhaps most, or some, or a few, or possibly just the one who, by acting dangerously and illegally, caused the accident?

The letter goes on to qualify this: “far too many cyclists ignore the traffic signals . . .” but how many is too many, let alone far too many? What is it about cycling that provokes anger, resentment, dislike and distrust?
I have yet to read in The Oxford Times a letter beginning ‘It is appalling that motorists consider themselves to be above the law of the road’. Yet, although I have no statistics to prove the point either way, I suggest that a greater proportion of motorists are likely to disregard the law of the road (jumping red lights, exceeding the speed limit, using mobile phones while driving, parking on yellow lines . . .) than cyclists.

And, with all sympathy for the unfortunate student, law-breaking by motorists is much more likely to lead to a tragic outcome than a traffic infringement by a cyclist.

One can only hope for a more constructive dialogue among all road users (including pedestrians) to try to understand the basis of what seems to be an instinctive anti-cycling sentiment, sadly not uncommon in the letters pages of The Oxford Times. Road users of all description do sometimes break the law.
Greg Birdseye, Iffley