I was nearly doored this morning by a motorist opening her car door on us as I cycled passed. Fortunately I always take a wide berth around parked cars – for this very reason – and as it was the door missed the three of us by mere centimetres. It was a mother dropping her children off at school and she was very apologetic. She said she checked her mirror but didn’t see us.
Cyclists should never be put between parked cars and traffic. Not ever. Unfortunately this is common in Aberdeen. To reduce the risk I take a wide berth around parked cars but the problem with this is that we end up taking up a lot of space on the road – much more than we ought to. This means cars cannot easily overtake us and we’re slow. I could never go as fast as a car which means cars and buses stuck behind us have to drive very slowly.
I feel so frustrated that more isn’t being done to make it safe for cyclists. I want to reduce my carbon footprint. I want to make sure I exercise everyday and I’d love it if my kids could exercise everyday by cycling to and from school but it’s too dangerous right now. Getting regular exercise reduces the health burden on the NHS. It also reduces air pollution. Why is there such a barrier to doing the right thing? There’s no incentive not to drive and definitely no incentive to cycle.
rachel.blog 
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