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Cycling uptake in London has improved the city’s air quality and traffic, despite what some sections of the media tell you. Mike Kemp \/ Getty Images<\/p>\nFor years, cyclists were seen by many as pariahs and I had plenty of road-rage abuse thrown at me. Tropes such as \u2018pay road tax or get off the road\u2019 were hurled at me by people driving worse cars than I do \u2013 and mostly not worth as much as the bike I was riding. I had lots of near misses too, either from ignorance or \u2013 I\u2019m sure of it \u2013 sometimes malice.<\/p>\n
Then, the London 2012 Summer Olympics saw incredible success for Britain\u2019s cyclists, with no fewer than 12 medals won by British legends Sir Chris Hoy, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Dame Laura Kenny (nee Trott), Sir Jason Kenny, Victoria Pendleton, Geraint Thomas, Ed Clancy, Joanna Rowsell, Dani Rowe (nee King) and more. That year also saw Sir Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France, with Chris Froome rolling in second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This led to British Cycling gaining a foothold in the mainstream media and our riders rightly being celebrated as national heroes. There was an upsurge in cycling participation, too, with claims of cycling being ‘the new golf’.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For me and my long-time riding friends, we started to notice a new-found respect on the roads. Other road users seemed more considerate and courteous. They gave us more room, and were just generally nicer.<\/p>\n
But while I thought the sunny uplands of the post-2012 world would last, sadly, that hasn’t been the case.<\/p>\n
Dark days are back
\nCycling uptake in London has improved the city’s air quality and traffic, despite what some sections of the media tell you. Mike Kemp \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Politics and society in general have become much more polarised, and the same has happened on our roads.<\/p>\n
Instead of the mainstream media celebrating success from the new generation of riders such as Tom Pidcock or Junior world road champion Harry Hudson (I bet you never saw any reports of that in a national newspaper or news website), what do we get now?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Apparently, London is full of balaclava-wearing, cycling terrorists who\u2019ll steal your phone, watch or necklace as soon as you step outside. We\u2019re told ULEZ is bad, Lime bikes are a nuisance, that \u201ccyclists are turning UK roads into death traps\u201d, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Can](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Can-Cycling-Save-Britain-01-91d4ce7.jpg\")
Lockdown made many people reassess how they travelled from A to B. Russell Burton \/ Our Media<\/p>\n
This is all rather than reporting that London is cleaner than ever thanks to 1.5 million daily bike journeys in 2025, an upshift of 43% since 2019<\/a>. At the same time, the reduction in traffic has made it better for motor vehicle users.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, pollution can have a devastating effect on the health of the young and elderly. And guess what: cycling can help reduce that.\u00a0<\/p>\n You\u2019d think people would be grateful for cyclists, not targeting them for hate.<\/p>\n Electric bike terror! When you consider electric bikes<\/a>, things get even worse. Apparently, ebikes are both ticking time bombs that\u2019ll burn down your house<\/a> and the silent tools of those balaclava-adorned thieves, even though in almost all footage I\u2019ve seen of any said criminal activity it\u2019s been a Surron.\u00a0<\/p>\n For those who don\u2019t know, a Surron isn\u2019t an ebike. It\u2019s a basic electric off-road e-moto, its speed regulated by a throttle with no human effort at all.<\/p>\n It’s illegal to ride them on the road in the UK, unless it\u2019s a registered road-legal model with a Vehicle Identification Number, insurance and you have a licence (full or CBT). The standard model is off-road only, supposedly sold only to be used on private land. Surely that\u2019s a legal loophole that should be closed as soon as possible.<\/p>\n But this confusion over ebikes and e-motos is further proof of how anti-cycling rhetoric is whipped up, regardless of the facts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Abuse is back In the last year, the abuse has returned, I\u2019ve had SUV drivers screaming at me to get out of the way. I\u2019d suggest they buy smaller cars if they don\u2019t think they have space to overtake a solitary cyclist. I\u2019ve had bags of fast-food trash thrown from moving vans, and I\u2019ve even been purposely squeezed against the kerb when riding in traffic.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m not an advocate of the complaining near-miss culture we see in some other cycling media. It simply doesn\u2019t achieve anything other than creating more division. Neither do I see the GoPro<\/a>-wearing cycle vigilantes doing anything but stir up hate on both sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n But this animosity from drivers puts lives at risk, and I can\u2019t help but feel that it\u2019s a consequence of how cycling and cyclists are discussed across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you happen to capture abuse, threats or dangerous road users, don\u2019t post the footage on social media, just inform the police via your local police website or Operation Snap, where you can submit footage of driving offences.\u00a0<\/p>\n But what can we do? I wouldn\u2019t advocate any direct action or confrontation; we are the more vulnerable road user compared to car and van drivers. The law now reflects that, too. Amendments to the Highway Code<\/a> in 2022 enforced a hierarchy of road users, placing pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders at the top and increasing responsibility on drivers of larger vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n I know how hard it is to take the high road, but I just tend to be as courteous as I can be. If I\u2019m on a climb and traffic is building up behind me, I\u2019ll soft pedal at a layby, or pull in and wave traffic through. I’ll also pull over on single-lane rural roads to let traffic pass.\u00a0<\/p>\n And don\u2019t give cause for other road users to get irate. That means not jumping traffic lights. Ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n You should protect yourself, too, with the right clothing choices (don\u2019t ride head-to-toe in black, for instance), bike lights<\/a> even in the daytime, and maybe even a rear-view radar<\/a> if you can afford one.\u00a0<\/p>\n As well as making sure you\u2019re safe on the road, there are other tactics we can all employ.\u00a0<\/p>\n If your chosen mainstream media, newspaper or website continually runs anti-cycling rhetoric, boycott it. Don\u2019t buy the paper, don\u2019t give them clicks online.\u00a0And if brands seem to endorse anti-cycling rhetoric by advertising with the same media, don\u2019t put their products in your shopping trolley.<\/p>\n Comment on and correct media ebike crime reports if it\u2019s not an ebike, and especially if it\u2019s an illegal, unregistered electric moto.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been riding and writing about bikes for a long time, so I know how depressing experiencing aggression out on the road and reading anti-cyclist rhetoric can be. But I\u2019m hopeful that soon we\u2019ll see a shift back to greater tolerance as people realise the benefits of cycling as a mode of transport, especially when they\u2019re faced by rising fuel costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Scaremongering around ebikes has contributed to anti-cycling sentiment. London Fire Brigade<\/p>\n
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Don’t run red lights, ever. Prisma by Dukas \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
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A rear light is a great safety addition, a radar light even more so. Warren Rossiter \/ OurMedia<\/p>\n