Traffic was slow that evening on the C-25, some trouble a short way ahead.  Maybe more roadworks?  Andy freewheeled gently into the waiting queues of bicycles, stopping up next to a guy in a sharp suit talking agitatedly on his phone.

"...yeah, but I still don't know what the trouble is!"

"...no, no... yes, I appreciate..."  The guy took the phone away from his ear, staring at it in exasperation.  He'd obviously been cut off.

Looking round, Andy saw the usual crowd of commuters, all anxious to get somewhere, anxious to know what was going on.  There was no traffic coming in the other direction, so whatever the trouble was, it was blocking both sides of the Cycleway, all 30 lanes.  He was glad he'd left in plenty of time, and didn't have to rush anywhere.  

The agitated guy was punching commands into the phone again, trying to get through to whichever Important People needed to know about just how inconvenient this blockage was.  Or maybe he was after information, in case it was something he could help to overcome where the other thousand people in the queues on the road could not.  Andy rolled his eyes, discreetly.

"Yeah, so what's this hold-up on the Cycleway?"  The guy was definitely after information.

"No kidding, straight across?"  Maybe something had run across the Cycleway, blocking the lanes of traffic.

"Twenty... and the kids in the ambulance, too?... ah, well, maybe they'll wish they had... yeah, yeah, ta."  He put the phone away, and shook his head a little.

The guy turned to Andy, eager to share the incredulity.  "You know what's happened up there?"  Andy indicated that he obviously didn't.  "Some layabout kids stole an ambulance and rode it all the way over from Milton Keynes, swooped down over the rush-hour traffic, and then kind of missed when they came around for another go.  Took out a whole section of the road up ahead, debris everywhere.  20 people killed!"

"No kidding.  And the kids survived, huh?"

"Too right, and they'll get what's coming to them, too."

Andy mused on the list of offences that had been committed up ahead.  Misappropriation of emergency services was a serious one, but for a bunch of kids and for their first time, they'd probably get off pretty lightly.  The dangerous piloting, that would depend on how old they were, most likely.  But the one they'd never be able to argue out of, wasting fuel - they'd likely never see daylight again.

He looked side-to-side at all the standing traffic around him, flipping casually from one foot to another to stay within regulations, and wondered if this world would ever be a safe place to cycle.

The guy to the left was on the phone again, demanding that someone do something about the lack of people doing something.  Andy took a swig of water from his flask and switched feet, waiting for a clear road and a safe route home once more.