'I don't feel safe cycling in Kent'

Alice Thomas says she does not want to see a rivalry between cyclists and drivers

A cyclist from Kent says she does not feel safe riding on the county's roads as a charity says a record number of people are reporting to police being overtaken too closely.

Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart says the numbers of cyclists who submitted video footage of poor driving to police also doubled from 7,249 in 2021 to 15,779 in 2024

More than half of motorists admit they do not know how much space to leave when overtaking, the charity says.

Cyclist Alice Thomas, from Hildenborough, said: "I don't feel safe cycling in Kent, I lived in London for 10 years and I felt safer cycling there than I do here - drivers get so annoyed and overtake very closely."

IAM RoadSmart says data shows the number of reports leading to the serving of a notice of intended prosecution rose from 38% in 2021 to 54% in 2024.

However, a third of people say they do not cycle because they think it is too dangerous, the charity says.

According to the Department for Transport, 87 pedal cyclists were killed in Great Britain in 2023, while 3,942 were reported to be seriously injured and 10,970 slightly injured.

Ms Thomas told BBC Radio Kent: "I always see arguments between cyclists and drivers online, comment sections, radio phone-ins, but other countries aren't like that, they all work together, it feels like a real conflict here."

'Cyclists are human beings'

The Highway Code, which was updated in 2022, recommends that drivers gave cyclists at least 1.5m (5ft) of space - about the width of a compact car - when overtaking at speeds of up to 30mph (48kmh).

Ms Thomas says: "There's a big narrative between cyclists and drivers hating each other, which is crazy because the majority of cyclists are drivers as well.

"So it's not one or the other, cyclists are human beings.

"I'm a mother of two young boys and I always just think, I want to be able to go home safely to my sons."