DEBATES rage in Britain and Ireland over cyclists versus motor vehicles, but the crux of the problem lies in nothing physical, just words.

Why have we started solely referring to people who cycle as cyclists? “Cyclists take up all the road”, “cyclists should be fined for this”, “a cyclist has been killed”.

It’s true that people who cycle are cyclists, but they are also people – and that is what many have lost sight of; these cyclists are the same as these motorists what want them eradicated.

It would be an interesting experiment to see if attitudes towards cyclists could be changed simply by those speaking and writing about the key issues using the phrase “people who cycle”.

Sure, it’s a mouthful, it smacks of grating political correctness, but couldn’t it be worthwhile to humanise a stem of society that is under such duress?

I mean, how many of these ‘cyclists’ are also ‘motorists’, are also people?