Cycle paths - if / where they exist at all - are an abomination. There is one I use every day where you cycle along in it until you are stopped at the red light. Then you move off again on green, and are immediately thrown into the bank of traffic moving off faster, but behind you (you were in the bike box) by a curb that suddenly sticks out in the road obliterating the path completely. You panic, indicate right, and so far I have got away with it. I should just stop using it.
The cycle path through the common is rife with dogs that worry you. This morning I slowed down to a steady, gritted teeth crawl while one growled and snarled trying to block me. It's owner a little way off bellowed its name, pitifully unheeded. I know people want to walk their dogs on the common but the highway code says clearly that they must be kept under control from impeding bike paths.
In central london there are always vans parked in bike paths. they just stop there.
Someone nearly drove into me the other day pulling out from a side road. She just barrelled into the bike path without looking and I screeched to a halt and came off. the driver had a go at me!
Some of the safest looking bike paths alongside roads don't allow for turn offs. They're fine if you're committing to a mile and a half in the same direction but you can't turn. So you can't use them because you will be turning e.g. right across many lanes of traffic which do not expect to see you there, and that's terrifying.
So: bike paths don't work and cause danger. The pavements obv are for pedestrians. So that leaves us with the roads. Sorry but we have jobs and places to go too. We're using the roads.
All the abuse I have ever had from motorists while cycling - quite a lot - is simply that they don't want me to dare to exist with a bike. There is never anything that you're actually doing wrong when some arsehole is bellowing at you, beeping their horn at you, flapping to "slot" you off to somewhere else (where? Where do you want me to go?) I used to challenge them and ask them what they thought I should be doing. Several times when doing this I have attracted from nowhere a critical mass of other cyclists who come and back me up. Which is nice. But now I know that anyone in a vehicle who is shouting, beeping, doing "slotting" motions, or "swatting" motions, is just an absolute fucking idiot and should be completely ignored. They're just jumped up arrogant lazy trumpwankmops who didn't get out of bed in time and are looking for someone smaller to abuse over their own failures.