I'm at that time of life when my body starts to act like a volcano erupting hot flushes every hour or so. So I certainly don't expect to watch a TV programme that has the power to trigger them off.

But, watching ITV's Tonight programme last night really got me very hot.....and angry.

We've been in many decades of oppression as the seemingly simple act of riding a bicycle has taken on an ominous persona in the UK. With the increased media reporting of cycling collisions and casualties and the safety fanatics babble wishing we were all afraid as they, it's little wonder that the public are staying away from cycling in their droves.

ITV's report did little to reverse the trend. Fair enough, the programme was more concerned with who is culpable when accidents occur - the cyclist or the driver, but I think ITV could have set the scene better by giving some recent statistics that shows cycling is become a lot more safer.

Since the mid 90s the number of cyclists who have been killed or seriously injured has fallen by 37% - from 3,732 to 2,360 per year. (Sadly, the highest casualty rates are children between the ages of 12 to 15).

Recent statistics from DfT show that serious risk to cyclists is roughly 0.26 fatalities per million hours. Driving has 0.47 fatalities per million hours. Even if riding on an A-road is four times more dangerous than non A, this gives the cyclist a cycling life expectancy of almost one million hours - much more than the average life time.

It was interesting to see the panel views as to culpability for each of the three 'staged' driver/cyclist accidents. There I was screaming at the TV that both driver and cyclist were to blame in each; the cyclist for poor road positioning, lack of observation and mis-reading the road conditions and the driver for lack of awareness towards other road users and Highway Code infringements.

The pro cycling guy from Liverpool was well out of order; in my opinion, he did little to build the bridges between the cycling fraternity and car drivers and wants shooting and, as for the input from the CTC guy, well, that left a lot to be desired too.

The other thing that got my goat was the comparisons made between Holland and UK. Despite all the moves to make London a cyclised city and regional initiatives to promote cycling, the UK's infrastructure simply cannot support a replication of the Dutch system here. We already have cycle lanes - they are called roads.

At least Tiff Needell and the Taxi Driver both remained objective and had valid contributions and good on Quentin Wilson for ditching his car for 2 wheels.

So where is all my rambling leading?

1. Get a cycle registration plate system going

2. Make it mandatory for cyclists to get a license to ride on busy main road. Bikeability Level 3 should include testing for Highway Code knowledge similar to car driving tests.

3. Build bridges between cycling fraternity and car drivers rather than create divides

4. Make it mandatory for all cyclist to have insurance

My final thoughts are directed to ITV....if you are going to create media hype to keep people away from cycling, then the least you could have done was to promote cycle lessons with a professional to give a balanced view.