AFTER the most miserable April ever, spring suddenly arrived and for once the sun coincided with the weekend.
Husband had been looking forward to the airshow at North Weald for weeks, and so when he saw the glorious weather, trundled his trusty push-bike from the shed and packed a picnic.
I waved him off down Commonside Road, calling Enjoy yourself have a good time!
It should have been a great day, with healthy exercise, lungs filled with fresh air (well, as fresh as you can get on Harlows roads), and the ability to escape the worst of the traffic jams. An hour later he was back. Just as hed passed Harlow Garden Centre a motorist turned across his path without bothering to check for traffic or cyclists and though he slammed on his brakes, he still hit the car.
Luckily, hes okay, but his treasured bike is a write-off. The (lady) motorists comment? You must have been going too fast.
Another cyclist witnessed the whole thing and spoke in his defence and while the fracas was taking place, other drivers complained that the road was blocked and they couldnt get past. It didnt seem to worry them that a man had been knocked from his bike.
Please, when youre driving, keep a look-out for cyclists. I know that Harlow has an excellent system of cycle-tracks but they dont link up or go everywhere, which means many roads still need to be used.
Cycling is, or should be, a pleasurable form of exercise, yet sadly many of us whod love to ride wont take the risk.
As both motorist and cyclist, my husband is aware of the dangers, and the vulnerability of cyclists. No doubt after his accident hell be doubly sure to keep his eyes peeled.
But cyclists must do their bit, too, by making sure they wear bright or light-coloured clothing, especially at night, and remembering that traffic rules arent just for motorists.
Several times recently Ive seen bike riders weaving across lines of traffic without looking, jumping lights and even riding no hands.
Only a few months ago, in this column, I mentioned a crazy youth near Bush Fair whose stupid cycling antics caused a near-accident. Roads are dangerous, and all road users must take constant care.
And if youre a cyclist, buy a safety-helmet. Now!
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article