Have we become a nation of cycle haters?

[MadDad]

I went for a quick spin tonight that took me through Windsor, as I approached a set of lights that were in my favor a bus coming in the other direction jumped the lights and pulled directly across in front of me.

I was traveling at 22 mph when the bus cut me up causing me to skid quite heavily, but I steered towards the back of the bus and missed it by inches (it just kept moving - despite the fact the driver acknowledged me by lifting his hand from the wheel and shrugging of the shoulders).

A bit of drama but it happens, so I let it slide and was in the process of clicking up through the gears so I could pedal off when a group of 4 pensioners started to shout at me about jumping red lights (despite the fact they were using a pedestrian crossing on red!). I pointed out that the bus jumped the red and my lights were in fact still green - so before they start berating people they should get their facts right!

At this point another group on the other side of the road and totally unrelated to the pensioners got involved and started to shout abuse 'you *ucking bike riding *unts are all the same, think you own the road, don't pay tax, etc etc'.......I didn't say a thing, just looked at them in disbelief as another torrent of abuse kicked off - so I just peddled off - absolutely fuming!

Have the general public finally turned against cyclists en-mass based on the drivel written in the Daily Rant by some antagonistic jerno who simply wants to sell headlines? I was genuinely shaken by the abuse from the pedestrians despite the fact I had done nothing wrong, but can't figure out what on earth would trigger people to behave like that towards someone who was almost flattened by a bus driver who broke the law!