The problem with these discussions is that they invariably polarise into interest groups, each one blaming the other, when in fact the blame lies equally on both sides

Perhaps, but drivers' bad judgment is very dangerous for cyclists, whereas a cyclist being an eejit is just annoying. It's like Bion of Borysthenes's saying "Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest."