In her article (Spat at, abused and run off the road: why do some people hate cyclists so much?, 30 August), Helen Pidd writes: “Given how few of us saddle up in Britain, it can be difficult to understand why we inspire such vitriol.” This is the crux of the problem – cycling is not normalised here and therefore the car-driving majority simply do not understand it. I have always cycled wherever I have lived and, apart from my time as a student in Edinburgh, have always been seen as unusual, no more so than in Bury St Edmunds, where I live now. I have been shouted at, driven at, and once even poked by an elderly woman with a stick.
Cycle rack provision has increased in the town centre, but safety bollards to protect cyclists have been removed after complaints from angry residents. The town centre is congested by ridiculous amounts of traffic, especially around the college where I teach, yet one of my students asked me, “Why do you go everywhere by bike?”, as if it is some kind of weird behaviour.
