Recent rides across London have given us first-hand experience of how easy it is to fall foul of incompetent cyclists.
Our trips between Lpoo St and Euston at both ends of our June holiday involved in being overtaken on the wrong side on at least three occasions. We were heavily laden, therefore even slower than usual, but we we cycling as a close-knit group of three, mostly in the bus lane. On the way out, around 10pm, some young idiot overtook Jan on the left and then had the temerity to stop and berate us for our lack of cycling acumen. On the return, in the morning rush hour, another overtook us at speed and then had a forced dismount as he leaned over on a wet manhole cover.
My impression from this, admittedly extremely limited, cross section of the cycling community was that there is cudos in risk-taking and that anyone who cycles with safety in mind is therefore to be scorned. I wonder whether this attitude is fostered by the fact that an awful lot of young cyclists have their first experiences on BMX bikes, where risk-taking and ever more daring manoeuvres seem to be the name of the game.