Drivers: you're idiots. Murderous, stupid, criminal cretins. Not all of you, I know. Not all of the time, maybe. But there is one particular driving fault that I can vouch affects most of you, most of the time.

And I have plenty of experience of being a non-motorist on country roads. More than 40 years of it - as walker, horse-rider, bike-rider and now runner.

 

As a horse-rider, I once had a stirrup knocked from my foot by an articulated lorry on a country lane. Luckily the horse grazed next to the Alvis Scorpion tank test track outside Coventry and assumed all big noisy things shot past regardless of his sensitivities. So we survived.

Now, having left the comparative calm of Warwickshire for a more frantic Essex and with several decades of increased traffic levels inbetween, I'd want more than a bomb-proof steed to protect me.

As a runner, at least I can leap out of the way of vehicles if drivers fail to see a fat 6ft bloke with a fluorescent yellow T-shirt. That's why I run facing oncoming traffic. And for all those drivers (and cyclists!) who mouth at me, following is what I'd like to shout back about if I had the breath. It's No. 2 of "Rules 1-35: Rules for pedestrians" from The Highway Code:

If there is no pavement keep to the right-hand side of the road so that you can see oncoming traffic. You should take extra care and
* be prepared to walk in single file, especially on narrow roads or in poor light
* keep close to the side of the road
It may be safer to cross the road well before a sharp right-hand bend so that oncoming traffic has a better chance of seeing you. Cross back after the bend.

It's the last line that brings me to the particular fault that I see most commonly. It relates to drivers who are certain that a clear road exists in front of them even when they can't see it. Particularly round sharp bends or over a blind brow. I heed the Code's advice and trot to the left-hand side of the road when approaching a sharp right-hander. Even then, drivers have rushed past on the other side of the road - heading blind into the path of any oncoming traffic.

Mind you, I wouldn't dream of criticising you if you're driving round Billericay, Stock or Hanningfield and are thinking of sponsoring my London Marathon run (for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity). But then you ARE the exception...

www.justgiving.com/martinking1