I just saw this video posted by Jeremy Vine on his Twitter feed. For anyone who doesn’t know, Vine is the cycling equivalent of a Born Again Christian. He never gives up in his crusades. And they are legion.
There are two incidents in the video. The first – which he circles – is where a car pulls out into the cycle lane, forcing him to have to deviate slightly from the cycle lane (ironically, his Twitter feed shows another video where he’s in and out of the cycle lane avoiding puddles). That’s wrong on the part of the driver.
But in the second case, HE is in the wrong. The Highway Code says:
Rules for cyclists (59 to 82)
Rule 72
On the left. When approaching a junction on the left, watch out for vehicles turning in front of you, out of or into the side road. Just before you turn, check for undertaking cyclists or motorcyclists. Do not ride on the inside of vehicles signalling or slowing down to turn left.
Vine was in complete contravention of this. The car was in front of him all the time. It indicated well before turning, so Vine – as the big nuts, all-seeing, all-knowing űber-cyclist he believes he is – would have known exactly what it was intending to do. Instead, he pumps on without slowing even a fraction and attempts to undertake it. The only possible alternative for the car driver, had she known he was trying this, would have been to slam her brakes on to let Vine pass – with the risk of someone slamming into the back of her. She should not have been put in that situation by someone blatantly disregarding the Highway Code as it applies to them.
Vine cleverly captions her comment on the video: ‘Oh my God. I didn’t see you at all’. I know what my response would have been, and part of it would have rhymed with ‘clucking bat’.
It’s really coming to something when cyclists who do things like this believe they are somehow in the right. And they seem prepared to put their lives at risk trying to exercise it.