An open letter from a motor insurance company to Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening that called for all cyclists to be required to “undergo compulsory training and testing before they take to the road” has attracted strong criticism from cyclists on social media channels including Twitter.

The letter to Ms Greening formed part of a campaign from insurance firm Ingenie called #ShareTheRoadUK launched yesterday, accompanied by the infographic pictured above and with heavy promotion on Twitter, including by footballer turned TV presenter Gary Lineker as well as the endorsement, subsequently withdrawn, of cycling website BikeRadar.

Ingenie provides insurance to young motorists who often have trouble securing motor insurance or are charged high premiums, using telematics – also referred to as ‘black box’ technology – to allow it to assess risk on an individual driver basis. [road.cc]

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Okay, so Ingenie just shot up my list of absolute favorite companies in the world. What’s that? Bicyclists are complaining that the roads are unsafe? Well maybe you should learn how to mitigate that risk yourselves, assholes. I mean honestly I don’t see what the problem is here. It’s a vehicle. You need a license to take a car on the road. You need a license to take a motorcycle on the road. Hell you need a license to take a Goddamn VESPA on the road. Let’s not sit here and pretend like bicycles are SO MUCH DIFFERENT.

But then again of COURSE bicyclists are up in arms about this. What good is safety training going to do? They run red lights. They run stop signs. They don’t yield to pedestrians. They hog the road. It’s not like they’re confused and they think that those things aren’t against the law. They know they’re against the law. They just firmly believe that the law does not apply to them.

So yeah, even though it’s pretty much an empty gesture because nothing is ever going to change these lawless fucks, I have to applaud Ingenie for trolling the fuck out of bicyclists and getting their panties firmly a bunch.

PS. Isn’t that just about the best picture of all time?