Coping with poor infrastructure. Threats to kill.

Of course islands in the centre of the road are useful for pedestrians, though perhaps not quite as useful as an old fashioned pedestrian crossing.  They do seem to proliferate on my route to work and they do potentially cause problems for cyclists.  The way to negotiate them safely is to take the lane and this is particularly so if you cannot trust the impatient motorist behind you.  Thankfully this island near Houslow is not paired with a narrow cycle lane like the subject of my last post.  However some motorists do still express a preference for us to keep to the side of the road, in this case accompanied rather charmlessly with a threat to kill.



One of the more polite adjectives he uses is 'cocky' a word I used to hear in my first year at primary school from second years.  You see, we cyclists ought to recognise our inferiority to people like him in their 'motors' and we should not be upsetting the natural order of hierachy by getting about as fast as them.

A threat to kill is unlawful and I believe needs to be taken seriously when communicated from someone in a motor car to a cyclist.  I contacted the Metropolitan Police about this and the answer is that they will only look into it if I go into a Met station and fill in that form.  No, there is noone to whom I can e mail the video.  Shall I bother?

Postscript:  yes, I did bother, prompted by the many views here that I should.  For the results see my next post.