When you cycle frequently, you get to experience all sorts of unbecoming behaviour on the part of car drivers. A car driver will sit there, surrounded by his metal cage, protected from the elements, whilst you're exposed and vulnerable. Yet, this won't stop him from engaging in reckless behaviour that might well cost you your life. He becomes a bully, almost unaware of the consequences his actions could cause, and most probably unconcerned. As long as he can show how much faster and superior he is to you, then he owns the road and it doesn't matter about you or your safety.
This is how you're made to feel when cycling in the UK. There may be some towns and cities where cycling is tolerated, but overall you're left with the impression that car drivers would prefer it if you were off the roads. It shouldn't come as a surprise, really, when since the 1950s owning a car has been seen as something to aspire to and town planning has revolved around making access easier for cars. The big losers have been pedestrians and cyclists, who never really got much of a look-in. Consequently, car drivers have come to expect that they should have priority on the roads.
Such an attitude has generally been encouraged over the past fifty years or so, but in recent times politicians have had to concede that there is too much congestion on the roads and that the dominance of cars may not be such a good thing, affecting people's health, the economy and the environment. Policy makers have thus been moving towards a more integrated system that takes into account the needs of road users other than car drivers. In London, for instance, there are now more cycle lanes and events to encourage people to get on their bikes.
However, it is going to take a long time to overcome the arrogance that exists amongst some car drivers. Although many cyclists are also car drivers, themselves, there are those car drivers who are steadfast in their use of motorised vehicles only and who believe that they have a greater right to be on the roads than cyclists. They despise the fact that cyclists do not pay road tax, even though such a tax no longer exists, and that they do not have to possess insurance. Instead of making the most of these benefits and getting a bike, they would prefer to stop anyone from being able to access them.
The cost of maintaining and repairing roads comes from general taxation, not a specific vehicle tax, and, generally, cyclists and their bikes come off a great deal worse than car drivers and their cars when there is an accident. Another thing that irks car drivers, though, is the fact that cyclists move so slowly compared to them, except when there is a traffic jam and a bike can simply overtake the waiting cars to get to the front of the queue.
It seems that there are some car drivers who feel that they are a persecuted group, having to pay so much to run their little vehicles and seemingly targeted by the government and the police with taxation and speed cameras. The reality, though, is that cyclists are victimised, as they are at the receiving end of abuse, threatening behaviour and dangerous driving. In a collision between a cyclist and a car, the cyclist is obviously going to come-off worse, yet even when it is the fault of the driver, justice may not always be done. There are drivers who have been caught driving dangerously and injuring or killing a cyclist and merely been let off with a caution, so that there appears to be very little respect for cyclists amongst the judiciary, let alone the wider, car-driving public. Car drivers will never learn tolerance towards cyclists in a society where there is an arrogant macho drive-faster attitude and a crush anything less expensive and smaller than a four-wheeled vehicle mentality, especially when this goes unchallenged by people who have power to change the situation.
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