Thread by @LeaskyHT

It’s amazing how obtuse and stupid some people can be about cycling and news stories about cycling. heraldscotland.com/news/24266308.…

Obviously I’m a reporter and not any kind of an authority on how to manage roads or develop active travel. I don’t have any views on segregated cycle lanes. But here are two especially weird things people say.

The first weird thing is that spending money on cycling lanes is pandering to a minority. Sure, active cyclists probably are a minority. But so, for example in the city of Glasgow, are drivers. Cycle lanes represent 1000th of the fixed asset value of roads for cars.

So - basic arithmetic - tax-paying cyclists are subsiding drivers, not the other way round.

The next weird thing people say is that Scotland’s weather means people won’t cycle. This is weird weird weird. We all moan about the weather but we have mild wet climate. I bet some people are put off cycling on rainy days, sure.

But some of the world cities with the highest levels of cycling have weather not that different to our own. Copenhagen, as an eg, is slightly colder than Glasgow in January (when it snows or rains on more than half of all days)

Bergen is a great cycling city. Are we claiming its climate is mild? But the key point is that we know, from any number of surveys, the main thing that pits people off cycling. It’s not the weather: it’s fear of dangerous and inconsiderate drivers.

So in a way cycling is a story about a minority - but of bad drivers, not people peddling.