Jeremy Vine’s video of cyclists on country road sparks intense and heated debate

Jeremy Vine has riled the masses after sharing a video of cyclists riding four abreast on a quiet country road over the weekend.

The presenter was trailing a riding group and filmed them, insisting they weren’t doing anything wrong, and uploading the clip to his social media.

Which has created quite the polarising reaction from followers, may we say.

Some of the 6,700-plus comments on the footage accused the cyclists of ‘self-entitlement’ and ‘blocking the road’, while many others shared it was a ‘safer’ way for cyclists to travel on roads.

Vine, himself a cyclist, filmed the scenario while a passenger in a car behind the group.

As the car slowly approaches the cyclists, he is heard saying: ‘Sunday morning in the country. Absolutely no problem with this at all. This is exactly how cyclists should ride.

‘They’re calming the traffic behind them.’

Jeremy Vine’s thoughts on cyclists has stoked a fierce debate (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Disagreeing with the sentiment somewhat, former England rugby union captain Will Carling wrote in the comments: ‘I am a cyclist. Simple rule – we are smaller than cars – so be polite, ride single file when holding up cars.’

Ex-London mayoral candidate Laurence Fox wrote that ‘Mamils’ – that is, an acronym for middle-aged men in lycra – should give the same respect to horse riders that they received from the car driver.

He added that he was thrown off a horse in West Sussex after ‘a bunch Tour de France wannabes zoomed out of the shadows’.

Talk Radio presenter Cristo Foufas also wasn’t feeling Vine’s belief as they commented: ‘You’re just trolling us now!’

One of the viewers of the clip fumed: ‘One doesn’t have to be a bad driver to be offended by your lack of consideration for motorists and the ugly sense of self entitlement it reveals.’

Another felt it would only lead to an incident: ‘Blocking the road will make people take bigger risks and lead to worse accidents.’

Setting the record straight on the situation, to an extent, Roads Police Unit of Surrey Police posted: ‘No driver should need to get angry in those circumstances. Anyone can pass very easily and safely.

‘Drivers and riders have to take each section of road as they find it and adjust accordingly; being safe and courteous.’

Responding to comments, Vine offered: ‘Strange that all the bad drivers triggered by this innocuous tweet wouldn’t dream of getting angry at a tractor, which is slower and wider.’

Also hitting back at one who slammed his message, the host wrote: ‘If people can’t control their emotions while inside a 2ton lump of metal whose speed is controlled by small movements of their right foot, they should not be on the road at all.’

Roger Geffen, policy director at charity Cycling UK, told the PA newsy agency it is a ‘frequent misconception’ that ‘bunching up is inconsiderate behaviour’, and insisted it ‘makes the group far safer and easier to overtake than a longer thinned out group’.

He added: ‘It is not much more different to when overtaking a car on a single carriageway or a HGV – the less time spent passing the vehicle, or group of cyclists, the safer, easier and faster it is for everyone.’

More: BBC

The Highway Code states that cyclists ‘should never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends’.

This is advice rather than a legal requirement.

The Department for Transport announced last month that the Code is being updated to include a hierarchy of road users so those who ‘can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they may pose to others’.

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