Cyclists have been sharing their experiences of life on the road and are urging drivers not to get too close.
The cycle campaign group Cyclox is well established and campaigns for greater investment for the cycling network in Oxford.
Share your experience of cycling in Oxford
Chairwoman Dr Alison Hill said some drivers were still getting too close to cyclists and were failing to give them enough room as they passed.
Dr Alison Hill
Dr Hill spoke out after she was subjected to what she calls a driver’s ‘punishment pass’, where a motorist deliberately drives too close to a cyclist to shake them up.
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She said drivers needed to be more aware of the need to share road space with cyclists.
Dr Hill added: “There were three of us cycling and a car did what we call a punishment pass - he came within much less than a metre - it was deliberately close and so frightening.”
The cycling campaigner, who has been in charge of Cyclox for the past two years, added that the group wanted to represent all the new cyclists who have taken to the roads since lockdown started as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Hill said a Bikes for Key Workers project which Cyclox initiated with the support of Active Oxfordshire, has provided 350 bikes for key workers, many of them nurses and health workers.
The old bikes have been fixed so they can be used again, with Cyclox providing 270 of them.
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Dr Hill said the group, working with the Oxford Mail, wants to hear from cyclists about their experiences on their favourite routes.
Jenny Mould rides an electric bike which cost £1,000 and enjoys cycling around Oxfordshire.
She said: “Drivers often drive too close and too fast.”
Jenny Mould
Ms Mould, who has had her bike stolen from outside her flat and in the city centre, first took up cycling as a child to get to school.
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When asked if the government was doing enough to make cycling safer in Oxfordshire, cyclist Sarah Twine said: “The speed limit for cars should be reduced when cyclists have to also share the road.
“There should be more signage on popular cycle routes. Near Otmoor/Stanton St John there are signs warning of deer but not (warning signs for) cyclists. There is still a lot of work to be done to make Oxford safer for cyclists.”
Ms Twine said drivers needed to “slow down near cyclists, not get too close and be more respectful.”
Sarah Twine
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Sam Spinks cycles in Abingdon and Oxford on his £2,000 Marin Hybrid.
The keen cyclist said following a collision, in which he was knocked off his bike, the car driver asked for contact details and then demanded hundreds of pounds to pay for damage to his wing mirror.
Mr Spinks added: “I then asked him if he had contacted his insurance to say he had hit an oncoming cyclist while driving on the wrong side of the road. He hung up and never contacted me again.”
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