Today, the phrase “Jeremy Vine” is trending on Twitter after the BBC presenter published a video of the abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of a motorist who didn’t like the way he cycled through West London:

BBC presenter @TheJeremyVine shares video of foul-mouthed verbal assault by motorist as he rides home in London https://t.co/Blw6m8VlVQ

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) August 30, 2016

To be fair, Mr Vine does appear to have stopped his bike and blocked the road when he could simply have pulled over as the road widened but the tirade of verbal (and it seems physical) abuse poured on him was totally unreasonable. Sadly, this kind of behaviour is not unusual, though most of us are not prominent journalists with a good network of media contacts to help highlight the issue:

The most depressing thing about that Jeremy Vine video is that to people who cycle every day, what he experienced happens all the time

— James Gleave (@jamesgleave1) August 30, 2016

[In addition to driving an average of around 25,000 miles a year for the last 27 years)] I regularly cycle – road, mountain and commuting – and, whilst it should be noted I see a fair amount of cyclist-induced stupidity too, Jeremy Vine’s incident is not an isolated one.  Just this weekend:

• I was cycling downhill in the town where we live, following my son at around 28mph (in a 30mph limit) when an impatient Audi driver decided to squeeze into the gap between Father and Son, and then tailgate my 11yo as he rode along. My son pulled over when it was safe to do so but he was scared – and there was no justification for the driver’s actions.
• Then, whilst out with a small group yesterday morning, the driver of a Nissan Qashqai tore past sounding a long blast on his horn (presumably in protest that two of the three of us were riding side by side – which is perfectly acceptable, especially as this was not a narrow road). That kind of behaviour is pretty normal, as pretty much any road cyclist will attest…
• Finally, whilst turning left, a motorist overtook me, on the junction itself, leaving around 18 inches to ride in between his car and the kerb, rather than follow the highway code ruling to “give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car”. I called out and was actually forced to use his car to steady myself. As he drove off, the usual hand signals were observed, along with some unintelligable expletives (from the driver, not me – I was in shock).

All of this in around 24 hours – and against a landscape where there are far more cyclists on UK roads (so motorists are more aware of us)…

Maybe it was all just a bit of Bank Holiday summer madness…