Saving Cyclists Lives

[Dave]

A6, busy morning traffic held up by red light. Note to cyclists - the red light is the top one of the traffic light, and it means STOP. Cyclist overtakes stationary traffic  on right, then as traffic starts  to move, moves left  in front of cars, deliberately preventing them from passing. Result - instead of 30 cars getting through green light, only 15 get through. Thanks a lot.

The interesting thing is that this sort of cycling - in the middle of the carriageway instead of the left hand side - is actively and possibly even 'officially' promoted as being 'correct', even though it can cause major hold ups to other road users.  I believe it's sometimes called 'assertive cycling', and it's promoted in books like this one:   http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/

'Assertive' is one word for it.  Another, is 'selfish'.

[CTCREP]

Hello.
I fully expected to get a raft of comments on this issue., which I will not comment on.

The Petition request form says something like "What do you want the Government to do".   I put "Help Save Cyclists Lives"

They rejected this as being too imprecise, so I changed it to "Link the subsidiary lights on the sides of long vehicles to the signal lights",    but the argument I gave is still the same.

If you consider it not worth your while to try to help save cyclists lives, then don't sign, but just remember you didn't next time you hear of a cyclist fatality involving a long vehicle. I hope others will spend the 10 seconds or so it takes to sign and leave it to the Politicians to investigate fully,  rather than spend 5 minutes trying to find reasons not to.

[ringi]

I was sorely tempted to target a cyclist for a Darwin Award in Bramhall this evening. He was riding no handed, swerving about the road, with a rear light that was barely visible while he was texting! Didn't give a hoot for the dozens of cars who were holding back from overtaking because they couldn't predict where he was going to be next. Fortunately for him my fondness for my paintwork prevented me from doing what nature required....

He was making himself SAFER by making car drivers take more care!

[Belly]

I am a cyclist and I am also a motorist (generally much more the latter than the former).

There are idiot cyclists and there are idiot motorists.

The difference is that an idiot driver has the potential to kill a cyclist / pedestrian / other motorist, an idiot cyclist may well delay a driver by 5-10 seconds or, at worst, put a scratch on a vehicle. 

Not quite a balance in cause and effect is it?

Believe me, when I ride a bike, I also go at circa 20mph on the flat and often ride with two or three other cyclists at most. I don't ride in the gutter due to the potholes, grids and general detreitus that make up these relatively  'unused' parts of the road, where most motorists seem to think cyclists should dwell. This is due to the fact that a) it is very uncomfortable to ride in the gutter (the same reason that motorists don't do so) and b) it is not safe, due to the holes / slits / water / leaves / gravel, etc in in this area. As a consequence of this, I would guess I ride about a metre or so out form the edge of the kerb (taking up maybe a third of the available lane) and so almost without fail, every week, I get a blast from an impatient motorist (typically 50+ in age, which I find interesting) who may have to wait 10-20 seconds on windier roads for them to overtake. Would they adopt this behaviour with a tractor, horse rider, pedestrian, etc? No, they do this because in the past they  seen a cyclist do something stupid and have now decided that all people on bikes are fair game, conveniently forgetting that motorists themselves are always cutting lanes, running red lights, having near misses, speeding, etc, etc. These peope don't adopt a crusade against all other motorists off the back of this though, do they?

I'm afraid threads like this just reinforces the same old attitudes and gives some people the feeling that they are in the right to treat other road users, no matter what the evidence, with disdain.

Going back to the point of the thread though - I do agree that the education should also be focused on making sure cyclists (typically the less regular variety) don't under cut HGV's or sneak up the inside on the approach to junctions, no matter how tempting. Its stupid and dangerous . Most HGV's now have clear signage on them warning cyclists about this practice and slowly but surely I think the message is getting through.

[Cyberman]

Sorry but you won't get any support from me either. I used to be a keen cyclist and occasionally dust off my Carlton Criterium and go for a spin - but now I want nothing to do with the arrogant and dangerous individuals who make up a sizeable proportion of cyclists. I have had many near misses with these types as a pedestrian and as a driver.

Typical scenario from personal experience - A6, busy morning traffic held up by red light. Note to cyclists - the red light is the top one of the traffic light, and it means STOP. Cyclist overtakes stationary traffic  on right, then as traffic starts  to move, moves left  in front of cars, deliberately preventing them from passing. Result - instead of 30 cars getting through green light,
only 15 get through. Thanks a lot.

Until cyclists show more consideration for other road and pavement users they get no sympathy from me.

[Rudolph Hucker]

I was sorely tempted to target a cyclist for a Darwin Award in Bramhall this evening. He was riding no handed, swerving about the road, with a rear light that was barely visible while he was texting! Didn't give a hoot for the dozens of cars who were holding back from overtaking because they couldn't predict where he was going to be next. Fortunately for him my fondness for my paintwork prevented me from doing what nature required....

Cyclists do have a tough PR job but the above burk, and the weekend warriors who ride Lycra clad in large peloton 3 deep, 50 meter's or more long, down busy A roads at < 20 mph don't help. I ride solo, without Lycra, without occupying more than my fair share of road, and at close to 20mph (on the flat at least) and NEVER have annoyed motorists tooting their horn, cutting me up, gesticulating or whatever. Just saying....

RH.

[ringi]

Often it is the lorries overtaking the cyclists then turning left…..

Part of the problem is training cyclists to ride in the gutter, by putting in “fake” cycle lanes that are just some paint on the road – often making it more dangerous then the road was without them.

[marpleexile]

Wouldn't it be better to train cyclists to stop undertaking lorries.  So much cheaper and easier as well.

As a cyclist myself, I couldn't agree with this more. There are many areas of cyclist safety (and road safety in general) where money and technology can help, but this isn't one of them.

Education, and then let nature take it's course - #darwinism #survivalofthefittest

[mikes]

Wouldn't it be better to train cyclists to stop undertaking lorries.  So much cheaper and easier as well.

[CTCREP]

It is recognised that a disproportionate number of deaths and injuries of cyclists occur when they are in conflict with long vehicles. The Government tries to deal with this by considering introducing additional mirrors, video cameras and radical cab design.  All these rely on making the, probably overstressed, driver more aware of the situation and taking appropriate action.  Nothing is done to raise the awareness of cyclists and give them the opportunity to save their own lives.

Because of this I have created a Petition to the Government.

Link the subsidiary lights on the sides of long vehicles to the signal lights.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/123652

I hope you can sign this and also spread the word.

Even if you disagree with  the idea, getting the Government to discuss Cyclists' Safety can't be a bad thing.