Most cycle lanes are irritatingly short, meaning that if the traffic has been jammed it is unlikely that any cycle lane will take you all the way past - even if it has reduced the available road width. The proliferation of information painted on road surfaces only confuses the issue. With green cycle lanes and red bus lanes, drawings of bikes, and special boxes, motorists can be forgiven for not knowing whether the instructions are compulsory, just advice or graffiti. The unspoken cyclists' secret is that we are more susceptible to road rage than anybody else. Put your back into it and the adrenalin starts pumping.
All cyclists hate cars and their drivers, instinctively.
That makes us a ready stage army for the government's campaign to reduce car use. Leo Chapman at the Islington cycling campaign protests 'the motorists have taken over the roads'. But roads are built and paid for by motorists. They subsidise our free cycling and much else besides. Cycling in any city can be pretty frightening even to the most confident cyclist - and that fear breeds a hatred for the motorist.