Give Cycle Space: Sally's story

Sally Devlin is 25 years old. She lives, works and rides in Aviemore. We asked her about her experiences of cars overtaking her too closely when she is out cycling:

She said: “I love cycling and will go out four or five times a week on social rides with friends or just myself – I love to explore the trails and mountains on our doorstep here in the Cairngorms National Park on my mountain bike. When I’m on the road, I tend to cycle with others: riding on my own can often leave me feeling very vulnerable, as it's rare to go for a ride and not have at least one close pass or someone shouting abuse at you.

Close passes do make me feel vulnerable on the road. The Highlands are getting busier and with that comes faster driving and motorists who don’t understand you can’t blast around at 60 miles an hour everywhere. It’s sad as there are some places I will no longer ride my road bike. It’s important to give cyclists space as we are humans too. I feel like some motorists forget that there is a person on the bike when they pull a dangerous manoeuvre. How would they like to be overtaken the way that? Surely it’s better to be two minutes slower on your journey than end up knocking someone off their bike.”

Find out more about the Give Cycle Space campaign.