Opinion: Laying down hope for tolerance

We were lying in the same place that a friend and fellow cyclist had died 6 months earlier, after colliding with a car.

It was incredibly poignant to feel the cold tarmac under my head, as we listen to one of Ade’s favourite songs, Shine on your crazy diamond.

This was what they call a ‘die in’. a 10-minute protest. We stopped the traffic with barriers across the road, organisers walked up the line of cars, handing out fliers and informing people why we were protesting, and thanking them for waiting.

The junction between Common Lane and Ringinglow road is a known hot spot for dangerous interactions between cyclist and cars.

There have been many serious incidents, and now a death. There are many things that can be done to improve cycle safety in our city.

At junctions like this a simple, cheap and easy thing to do is to narrow the mouth of the junction, forcing cars to slow down and look more closely. Please see www.thelanecampaign.co.uk for more details of others.

It was incredibly poignant that as the 10 mins came to an end we could hear shouting from down the road.

This was quickly followed by a revving engine, and then a car accelerating past the waiting cars, mounting the grass verge on the side of the road, to by-pass the barriers, and attempt to drive through the lying protesters.

Fortunately, the driver decided not to actually drive over people on the ground, but leaped out and was clearly furious.

People tried to explain what was happening, but he was past reasoning, the red mist steaming, well and truly ‘triggered’.

It was quite a confrontation, and an abrupt end to a magical moment. People parted and let him through.

Interestingly afterwards there was some anger, but mostly sadness. How miserable it must be to live with such a short fuse, and how quickly a brief inconvenience descended to rage

For me this underpins a real danger in the issue we have to resolve here.

Cycling has been shown relentlessly to be key to a healthy and commercially successful city.

It is also central to combatting climate change, as we shift our approach to transport and energy use.

But getting around in cars is also central to all our lives. It doesn’t work to draw battle lines and polarise arguments.

We all want the same thing (I hope). We want to live in a place where we can all flourish, and on a planet that is not spiralling into uncontrollable overheating.

On the Town Hall steps at the end of the protest, Peter Gilbert, Green party candidate, reminded us the world’s scientists have agreed this is the final hour, literally the last couple of years to address the climate crisis.

That is an issue for all of us cyclists, drivers, fellow human beings to address together. Tolerance, understanding and working together is going to be key.