Laura\u2019s cycling ordeal in London mirrors that of many women in the capital <\/p>
It was at once a rare horrible cycling experience and yet, in some ways, unsurprising.<\/p>
I was riding down Brick Lane one unremarkable afternoon when I heard a taxi driver come up behind me. I knew he was going quickly and I braced myself.<\/p>
Brick Lane is a single-lane, one-way street running three-quarters of a mile between Whitechapel and Shoreditch in East London.<\/p>
While often chock-full of pedestrians visiting the many restaurants, bars, shops and event spaces it also, incongruously, acts as a shortcut for drivers.<\/p>
Because it\u2019s only just wide enough for a single vehicle, safe overtaking is impossible without someone mounting a pavement.<\/p>
Within moments, he was just behind my back wheel. I turned and told him to back off.<\/p>
In response, he poked his tongue out, glaring at me manically and shaking his head.<\/p>
On our way along the road, he continued gesturing, flipping me the V, and yelling at me to \u201cget out of the way\u201d.<\/p>
Practically the whole way down Brick Lane, those three-quarters of a mile, he would try to squeeze past, driving within 50cm of my rear wheel, before swerving behind me again. <\/p>
Looking behind, worried what he would do next, I nearly hit a man who stepped out in front of us.<\/p>
Why not just get out of the way, you might ask? In hindsight, and for my own safety, it was probably the wisest option but, perhaps foolishly, I wasn\u2019t going to submit to a bully.<\/p>
Brick Lane was briefly blocked to through traffic during the pandemic using planters, but the experiment did not last.<\/p>
Sadly, regardless of how narrow or busy a street is with pedestrians and cyclists, or with businesses that could use that space for other things, such as outdoor seating, the belief every road should be a through-route for traffic won out.<\/p>
Many of the delivery bike riders choose to cycle along the pavement and in the gutter, I noticed, presumably having experienced this treatment before.<\/p>
At the end of the road, there is often a stationary queue of cars at the lights.<\/p>
My heart thumping after the ordeal, I sat down on a park bench and cried, wondering if he would have threatened a man in the street like that.<\/p>
Mine was, sadly, not an unusual experience.<\/p>
A recent survey by the London Cycling Campaign\u2019s Women\u2019s Network uncovered \u201ca shocking toll of abuse and aggression towards women who cycle in London\u201d.<\/p>
Of more than 1,000 women who responded, 93 per cent said drivers have used a vehicle to intimidate them. For 77 per cent \u2013 three quarters \u2013 it happens on a monthly basis.<\/p>
More than one in five women surveyed stopped cycling, temporarily or permanently, following such an experience.<\/p>
In this context, it\u2019s hardly surprising that for every three men cycling there is only one woman. It\u2019s not to say men never experience this, but for women it has a greater impact.<\/p>
For women with children, 39 per cent said their kids never cycle, alone or with an adult. This doesn\u2019t bode well for the happiness and wellbeing of our future generations.<\/p>
Where police were called, only one in 25 incidents resulted in significant follow-up action, the survey found.<\/p>
For my part, I didn\u2019t get the cabby\u2019s number plate and I had no camera footage<\/a>.<\/p> The solutions aren\u2019t rocket science: nine out of 10 women said they\u2019d ride more, or indeed start to cycle, if they had safe routes.<\/p> That means not having to face busy roads, rat-runs for impatient drivers or isolated, unlit towpaths and greenways with the risk of nocturnal attack.<\/p> The Women\u2019s Network report calls for three things: physical safety, social safety and good-quality local cycle networks. <\/p>