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Today I was a happy cyclist. My rides to work and back felt the safest and fastest yet. This is because I rode in the middle of the road and made drivers think about me. The fact I was there and made myself an issue on the road meant they had to allow for me as they drove.

Up till now I've been tucked away as far to the side as I could. I thought this 'Don't mind me I'm not really here' attitude when biking would make me safer. But today drivers had to account for me on the road and I forced them to make way. It made for a much more enjoyable ride as drivers waited behind me until they could pass. Most of them did at a much slower pace and giving me more room than they did when I was tucked away at the side.

Why the change of attitude? Its all come out after an study was leaked from TFL (Transport for London) about the risks faced by cyclists and female cyclists specifically. It was shown to me by a fellow, though far more experienced, London cyclist with whom the discussion about safety on the road has been on-going.

The report was on the e-zine for bike couriers - 'Moving Target' - before being picked up by the Times. For any cyclists and drivers, indeed every road user out there, its worth a read. There was an interesting interview with a bike courier and a member of the TFL on Radio 4 which unfortunately has gone now. It was this interview that changed my mind.

Scarily, the report suggested that those who waited patiently in the designated cycling lanes at the lights were more likely to be killed. Those cycling lanes, where the cyclist wobbles and plods their way up the left hand side of traffic, trying to avoid drains, side mirrors and careless smokers thrusting their cigarettes out the windows, are known to the professionals of Moving Target as 'Suicide Zones'. Now there's an attractive name.

Women cyclists were being killed by lorries turning on top of them at the lights, and it was revealed that unless there is an independent witness to the crash the police will not prosecute. They still might not even if there is one. Even more scary, if a lorry driver turned on top of me, there was an independent witness, the police did prosecute and they won a conviction, that lorry driver would face nothing worse than a fine and a few points on the license. A slap on the wrist for taking a life?

So all this has sparked the new, assertive me. Watch out for me driver, I'm not hiding in the 'suicide zone' any more.