Dear Editor,
I would like to apologise to the driver with whom I had an unpleasant interaction last week.

On Wednesday 3 July, I was cycling down College Road towards Eyre Square and drew to a stop at the red light at the foot of the hill, where you were doing the same. You had left minimal space between the kerb and the medium-sized bus you were driving, so I had to navigate my way carefully. You must have been startled when you caught sight of me, and you honked the horn loudly and long, which frightened me in turn. The anger that has built up over years of being honked at, roared at, squeezed out, and nearly driven over by motorists rose in me, and I threw up my arms and shouted at you in frustration, asking where I could possibly go. I'm not proud that I lost control and I apologise to you.

However, the truth is that I wouldn't have responded that way if I wasn't fed up to the teeth with the way I am treated as a cyclist, and frustrated by the lack of recourse available. If only motorists could understand where we are coming from! It's not our fault that Galway's road system and infrastructure are designed for cars. We often have to search out a safe, convenient place to lock our bikes, due to the minimal bike parking in this city. We cycle through the weather for which Galway is notorious, and endure the waves of dirty water that motorists send up whenever they speed through the resulting puddles. We are cursed at, honked at, ignored, clipped, and sometimes hit. And at the end of the day, who is doing more for the common good, those driving their cars or those on the bikes? Who is polluting the air that our children and grandchildren will breathe? Given the easy answers to those questions, how dare motorists treat us so badly?

I would ask the car drivers of this city to put themselves in our place before mistreating us, and, in fact, I would ask them to literally put themselves in our place and join us on the roads.

The weather and the frustration of being second-class citizens on the road will remain, but you will save money and, depending on your route, possibly time while simultaneously getting exercise and being part of a solution rather than a problem.

Rothar abú, carr amú!

Kerry E'lyn Larkin,
PO Box 251,
An Post,
Gaillimh

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