A SERIES of high-profile crashes involving Scots cyclists have also highlighted the dangers in the past year.
The case of 75-year-old Audrey Fyffe caused controversy when it came to court in April and the motorist convicted of killing her by careless driving was sentenced to just 300 hours of community service and a five-year driving ban.
Gary McCourt, who had a previous conviction for knocking down and killing a cyclist in 1986, had clipped the back wheel of Mrs Fyffe's bike with his car in Edinburgh in 2011, but the sentencing judge provoked outrage by seeming to hand part of the blame to the pensioner herself by saying her failure to wear a helmet may have contributed to her death.
In July came the deaths of Edinburgh financiers Andrew McMenigall and Toby Wallace, who were killed when they were hit by a lorry hours into a charity ride from Cornwall to John O'Groats. Meanwhile, London Mayor Boris Johnson has vowed to improve safety at junctions after the deaths of six cyclists in 13 days in November, but there was controversy after a leaked Metropolitan Police memo revealed officers had been set a target of fining ten cyclists a week.
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