Give me room, Gordon, Tim Dawson (2009)
Original article, first published in The Sunday Times on 15 November 2009
I was meandering down a minor road outside Edinburgh, and I had entered that kind of pedalling trance when thoughts wander. Suddenly, the air was sucked from around me, and a monstrous roar filled my ears as a motorcycle scythed past just an inch from my arm.
God knows what speed it was doing — from my vantage point, it could have been shot from a cannon. As the wheeled Exocet left, I braked and sat down, and it was a good 10 minutes before I stopped shaking. I never saw that motorcyclist again, but I’m pretty sure that this had been an attempt to terrorise me.
Was it illegal, though? The Highway Code states that a motorist must leave “sufficient” space for a cyclist, but doesn’t define what that is. Now a campaign plans to persuade legislators that 3ft should be defined, in law, as the absolute minimum gap a motorised vehicle should leave when passing a cyclist. Had such a law been in force — and obeyed — there would have been 2ft 11in more of a gap between me and that motorcyclist on the B6371.
US cycle advocacy groups have persuaded 14 states to make just such a law, and the idea comes to these shores in the form of a No 10 website petition to which nearly 2,000 people have already subscribed in the hope that Gordon Brown will act.
But even 3ft is too close for a speeding vehicle, and what provision could there be to enforce such a law? There was no one else on the road when that motorcycle missile swerved beside me, and I was far too disoriented to take note of its numberplate. Not that these are reasons to dismiss it; millions of incidents could be avoided by getting people to think about this sort of thing.
Cyclists have a formidable reputation when it comes to expressing their opinions online. In 2005 the BBC asked viewers and listeners to vote for what they considered to be the most significant technological innovation since 1800, and thanks to a concerted online campaign, 59% of respondents voted for the bicycle. If cycling advocates weighed in behind this petition in similar style, it would create a very persuasive amount of noise.
It is certainly timely. Figures released earlier this month by the Department for Transport show that 820 cyclists were killed or seriously injured in the three months to June — a 19% rise on the same period in 2008.
Happily, just publicising this petition has raised the subject of passing distances; having had the issue brought to their attention, some motorists will modify their behaviour beneficially. Considered that way, the more noise generated around this petition, the better — even if you disagree with its specifics.
If the response to the petition is spectacular by the time it closes in January, it might persuade the main parties to consider cyclists’ safety when finessing their commitments prior to the coming election.
In fact, the real moral here is one that cyclists should have running through them like the legend in Blackpool rock.
The first law of self-preservation for cyclists is to make sure they are noticed; this applies in the sphere of public persuasion, just as much as it does on the road.
TD Nov 09