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  3. Cycling awakens my inner Trotwood. David Copperfield’s great-aunt Betsey was obsessed with donkeys trespassing on the green outs

Cycling awakens my inner Trotwood. David Copperfield’s great-aunt Betsey was obsessed with donkeys trespassing on the green outs

admin2018-01-01  31
问题     Cycling awakens my inner Trotwood. David Copperfield’s great-aunt Betsey was obsessed with donkeys trespassing on the green outside her cottage. My pet peeve recently has been delivery vans parking in a cycle lane I use every day. Honed by repetition, it now takes less than a minute to photograph the offending vehicle on my phone, find an email address and the names of the company’ s directors, and fire off the picture and a complaint. However therapeutic such efforts may be for me—I also have video cameras, so I can record and report road-rage incidents and other diversions they only nibble at the problem. Our roads are mostly designed for cars. And as a new report by the all-party cycling group illustrates, the justice system is still skewed in favour of the four-wheelers. Injuries on the road are only drifting down, but convictions for dangerous driving have dropped by 30%. That reflects lax enforcement, not better driving.
    No surprise then that nearly two thirds of people still think cycling on the road is too risky. That is a pity. In 40 years on two wheels I’ve suffered nothing worse than a bump. Cycling is not only healthy for the pedal-pushers: it reduces pollution and congestion. I support every proposal for safer streets, more cycle lanes and tougher treatment of bad drivers. Yet my tribal loyalties to my fellow cyclists are mixed. A survey shows that 39% of British drivers admit to getting angry with us. In the southeast, 80% have "verbally abused" a cyclist. I wonder if the other 20% are telling the truth. Some of that anger may stem from misguided beliefs: that cyclists don’t belong on the roads. But it is not all baseless. Why should cyclists be allowed on the road without insurance, blithely pedalling away if they clip a wing mirror or scratch paintwork? Why do they ride without lights? Or flout traffic rules with impunity? And why are they so blasted smug?
    Behind these gripes is an important point: people who are inconsiderate, or worse, in their treatment of others cannot be surprised when they in turn are treated as nuisances. Particularly indefensible are the grim-faced dispatch riders who treat pavements as racetracks, and pedestrians as contemptible inferiors to be shooed or whistled aside. We cyclists are the weaker folk when we are on the roads. We should remember how frightening a fast approach on two wheels can be for those tottering on two feet. My own remonstrations with speed-crazed cyclists are mostly as fruitless and expletive-ridden as attempting to chat to drivers about their overtaking habits. (What sometimes works is to start by admiring the vehicle; "Lovely car!" may prompt a surprised grin, after which I add "but you did give me a bit of a fright back there".)
    I have more luck with my afterdark project. Every autumn I buy a hundred or so small Chinese-made strap-on bike lights. When I see a grey-clad cyclist, bereft of any illumination or reflector, flitting down a dark street, I politely offer him a pair of lights. The reaction is sometimes splenetic, but more often shamefaced gratitude. The culture war between cyclists and motorists is marked by the same mutual paranoia and selfrighteousness that plague other parts of life, such as politics. Rather than escalating recriminations, the counterintuitive way out is for cyclists to improve their behaviour. I am surprised how few of us give a friendly wave to motorists who make an effort to help us. We could even try smiling. It would also help our image if the cycling pressure groups would acknowledge that motorists’ exasperation is not wholly unfounded.
    But the real problem is enforcement. My daily commute includes a Kensington Gardens cycle route where the authorities have optimistically erected signs urging us to "Slow Down, Enjoy the Park". They might as well write in Tibetan. To save a few seconds, cyclists also skirt the speed bumps, scarring the grass. Lately the authorities have replaced the damaged turf and protected it with large barriers, complete with flashing lamps, to try to deter us from taking these trivial but annoying detours. Rather than these costly and unsightly efforts, I would prefer to see police officers levying on-the-spot fines for dangerous or antisocial behaviour. A friend of mine was recently fined ￡60 for cycling through a central London park and she hasn’t done it since.
    This does not mean a draconian clampdown on every minor bit of naughtiness: I have some sympathy for cyclists who avoid the traffic by trundling carefully down a deserted pavement, or take a left-hand turn at a red light. But treating truly antisocial behaviour with at least some severity not only reduces the risk of accidents, it also protects the law-abiding. Impunity, in short, cuts both ways. And my Trotwoodian crusade against the delivery vans? It has come to a salutary if unexpected conclusion. The council resurfaced the road—and abolished that bit of cycle lane.
What is the culture war between cyclists and motorists? What is the implication of such a war?
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答案both cyclists and motorists are criticizing / blaming... for / accusing the wrong acts and performances of the other side on the road / both consider themselves are correct and right, truth and justice is on their side, while lacking trust in the others ("mutual paranoia and self righteousness") such a culture war is not limited on the road / actually it is often prevailing in various aspects of our social life ("that plague other parts of life, such as politics") / the treatment of culture war is indeed a great social issue / related to the harmony of overall society
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