ON SATURDAY morning (May 21), I was nearly involved in a head-on crash on the A985, between Rosyth and Kincardine Bridge. 

If that accident had happened, some of the responsibility would have been on a cyclist who was riding in the road rather than on the designated cycle track beside the road.

I was heading east after Crombie village. The oncoming car pulled out late to pass the cyclist. It was an alarmingly near-miss between that car and mine.

With both cars travelling at the legal limit of 60 mph, the collision speed of 120 mph would almost certainly have been fatal for some of the occupants of the cars.

The other driver obviously should have waited until the road was clear but there would have been no risk at all of such an accident occurring if the cyclist had been riding safely on the track.

I drive that road every Saturday morning and regularly see cyclists in the road – sometimes in groups – rather than taking advantage of the track which was created at public expense precisely to protect them from such dangers. 

What gets into them? Are they acting thrawn – exercising their rights to ride in the road just to prove that nobody can stop them? Or does wearing a cycle helmet act as a blindfold to some people, shutting out the interests of other road users?

By the way, I write this as an enthusiastic, lifelong cyclist.

Neil Lyndon,
By email