Why I don't cycle

Although I like to write, I’ve not yet made enough money to give up the day job. Yes, I actually work for a living, as a driving examiner for the DVSA. In other words, I’m one of those much feared people who sit next to you with a clipboard when you take your driving test. It’s a job I’ve been doing for the last eight years. Prior to that, I was a driving instructor for 18 years. In terms of what goes on on our roads, I’ve seen quite a lot.

When I was in my early twenties, I did a lot of cycling; partly for pleasure and partly as my principle form of transport. I covered many, many miles on my bicycle. Now, I rarely cycle. Occasionally, Sarah and I will go for a bike ride along the Monmouth and Brecon canal which passes close to our home, but that is as far as it goes.

I often tell a story of what I witnessed on a driving test some years ago. My candidate was driving at about 50 mph on a clear 60 mph limit single-carriageway. There was a cyclist ahead of us on our side of the road, and an oncoming vehicle. The candidate couldn’t make up his mind whether to overtake the cyclist, or to slow down and wait behind it for the oncoming vehicle. Unable to make a decision, he just kept going in a straight line. I had to use the dual footbrake to prevent the candidate from ploughing into the cyclist at high speed.

Now this is the scary bit. That was the only reason he failed his driving test. Had the cyclist not been there he would have passed his test, and he would have been allowed to drive on the road with cyclists and other vulnerable road users. I wonder how many more slip through the net in a similar fashion.

When you ride a bicycle on a main road, you are at the mercy of the vast range of experience of the other drivers around you. It’s a real game of Russian Roulette.

This story aside, I know how inept many newly qualified drivers really are. So no, I will not ride a bicycle on a main road anymore.