ABOUT 20,000 cyclists a year are victims of accidents involving errant drivers; just one per cent are solely down to cyclist error. When you’ve been on the receiving end and had friends who have been killed, such facts hit home and cycling becomes stressful to say the least.

Although the Highway Code is supposed to provide guidance and a common language for all road users, the reality is that what drivers and vulnerable road users such as cyclists see is as different as chalk and cheese, with a victim cyclist having a ‘warped’ sense of right and wrong.

Ideally, in places where cyclists should be recognised as vulnerable, all too often they are seen as a problem. They get in the way of drivers running late.

There are five fatalities a day resulting from errant driving, and errant cyclists kill fewer than one innocent a year.

Having ridden, single file with six friends, over a 40-mile route peppered with potholes and close encounters, our ‘coffee stop’ was Grasslands Garden Centre, near Knutsford.

In queuing for coffee, I noticed the Guardian of April 1 and read the letter, "Let’s put safety first". Thank you, Sophie Turner, speed reduction can never be too much.

A member of RoadPeace