Compulsory cycling law passed

[sten_super]

Carnage, probably. Given cyclists already poor judgement of speed and compliance with Highway Code rules and guidelines.

http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/55464/cyclist-badly-injured-new-cycle-safe-junction

This junction is around the corner from my work. I haven't cycled through it since it changed but I have driven through it, and I think it is a silly design. There were some problems with people trying to overtake cyclists across the junction, but, as with cycle boxes at junctions, I think this scheme encourages cyclists to weave between traffic dangerously to reach the front of the junction. I'd have much preferred a more cyclist-centred layout, such as a dedicated cycle-only crossing phase in all directions (as in the Netherlands) or shared cycle/bus lanes in all directions (as there is on one of the approach roads but which disappears before the junction).

 

[teaboy]

The helmet debate always reminds me of a statistics lecture when doing my degree.

During the 1st world war the British army introduced tin helmets to replace cloth berets, caps and hats.
This change increased dramatically the number of head injuries recorded.
How can this be, the war minister asked. Weren't tin helmets were supposed to reduce injuries?

Answer: fewer soldiers were being killed outright, the tin helmet reduced a previously fatal incident to a mere head injury but the stats alone, based on number of head injuries, was misleading.

Anyway, cycle helmets, wear one if you value your brain, as they reduce brain injuries - FACT

They can reduce certain brain injuries in certain specific circumstances. In others they can actually increase other certain brain injuries. A badly-fitted helmet can also increase risk of strangulation (especially in children). If you choose to wear one, make sure it fits properly and is fitted properly at all times. Understand it can decrease the distance given to you by overtaking vehicles. http://www.cyclehelmets.org/

 

[teaboy]

Carnage, probably. Given cyclists already poor judgement of speed and compliance with Highway Code rules and guidelines.

http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/55464/cyclist-badly-injured-new-cycle-safe-junction

So 1 injury to 1 cyclist in 1 incident means everyone on a bike is dangerous? Would you like me to find the statistics for people killed by motor vehicles yesterday, and thus prove that letting anyone on the road is a terrible idea?

 

[Bold Seagull]

They can reduce certain brain injuries in certain specific circumstances. In others they can actually increase other certain brain injuries. A badly-fitted helmet can also increase risk of strangulation (especially in children). If you choose to wear one, make sure it fits properly and is fitted properly at all times. Understand it can decrease the distance given to you by overtaking vehicles. http://www.cyclehelmets.org/

Yeah but if you want to go fast on a bike, probably best to wear one . If you want to poodle about like Miss Maple with a basket on the front, then perhaps it's no big deal...

 

[teaboy]

Yeah but if you want to go fast on a bike, probably best to wear one . If you want to poodle about like Miss Maple with a basket on the front, then perhaps it's no big deal...

Exactly! Today I shall mostly be riding around like Miss Marple.

 

[Nibble]

I like a cyclist who pops to work or out for a cream fancy or just to get about. Those ones who go out on a Sunday dressed all in Lycra and ride 3 abreast around Sussex and Surrey like dickheads. Now those ones I loathe.

 

[theboybilly]

I can't understand where all the anti-cyclist attitudes come from. Didn't the vast majority of us ride about on some very dodgy two-wheelers as kids? It seems that once we pass a driving test a certain other mode of transport becomes very much 2nd class. I couldn't really see a Brighton car-free day taking off because of the hills that the city is built upon but other areas could most certainly be more cycle-friendly. Shoreham is getting there.
Unfortunately chavs on BMXs running red lights get 'cyclists' a bad name (I realise a few lycra-clad cyclists do - shame on them) but we are then all tarred with the same brush.

 

[Albumen]

I can't understand where all the anti-cyclist attitudes come from. Didn't the vast majority of us ride about on some very dodgy two-wheelers as kids? It seems that once we pass a driving test a certain other mode of transport becomes very much 2nd class. I couldn't really see a Brighton car-free day taking off because of the hills that the city is built upon but other areas could most certainly be more cycle-friendly. Shoreham is getting there.
Unfortunately chavs on BMXs running red lights get 'cyclists' a bad name (I realise a few lycra-clad cyclists do - shame on them) but we are then all tarred with the same brush.

Yes but then big men got into big cars and watched Top Gear.

 

[teaboy]

I like a cyclist who pops to work or out for a cream fancy or just to get about. Those ones who go out on a Sunday dressed all in Lycra and ride 3 abreast around Sussex and Surrey like dickheads. Now those ones I loathe.

I'd probably make you explode in a shower of your own hypocrisy.

Why does someone else's mode of transport, or hobby (or both) bother you at all?

You do realise that cyclists are just people on bikes, right?

 

[Nibble]

I'd probably make you explode in a shower of your own hypocrisy.

Why does someone else's mode of transport, or hobby (or both) bother you at all?

You do realise that cyclists are just people on bikes, right?

I am as hard pushed to explain it as you. It's hardly even conscious, I see one and involuntarily my head says "****".

I remember stopping outside a house in Kew once and as I waited for the lights to turn one of those half man/half bike people came out of his front door all dressed up in this garb, tottering on those weird lock brake pedal shoe things. He kissed his wife on the cheek and turned his back to her to go down the steps. She stood in the doorway and just looked at him with such disdain and a look of "My Husband.What a ****ing idiot". She caught my eye and she just shook her head and went in.

Summed it up perfectly.

You are right. Perfectly unreasonable dislike but it's there.

 

[teaboy]

There are plenty of activities I don't like, and can't understand why anyone would. There are also plenty of clothing types I have no interest in. I could never bring myself to "loathe" a disparate 'group' because of it though.

Other than that there's a certain danger in your attitude that is seen by cyclists (of all sorts) across the country. The "I hate cyclists" thought seeps into deeds of people sharing the roads. It leads to not giving people enough time and space, which can (and does) lead to deaths of people like that woman's husband, possibly a father, however much of an idiot he may look like.

Chill out, roll your eyes and smile with the knowledge that you're not that ridiculous, but lose the hate.

 

[Nibble]

There are plenty of activities I don't like, and can't understand why anyone would. There are also plenty of clothing types I have no interest in. I could never bring myself to "loathe" a disparate 'group' because of it though.

Other than that there's a certain danger in your attitude that is seen by cyclists (of all sorts) across the country. The "I hate cyclists" thought seeps into deeds of people sharing the roads. It leads to not giving people enough time and space, which can (and does) lead to deaths of people like that woman's husband, possibly a father, however much of an idiot he may look like.

Chill out, roll your eyes and smile with the knowledge that you're not that ridiculous, but lose the hate.

What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants.

 

[vegster]

So 1 injury to 1 cyclist in 1 incident means everyone on a bike is dangerous? Would you like me to find the statistics for people killed by motor vehicles yesterday, and thus prove that letting anyone on the road is a terrible idea?

Er, read the article. It seems that 2 cyclists collided head on at a set of traffic lights redesigned to make it safer for cyclists. It appears there were injuries to both cyclists. One can only assume that one went through a red light as the crash was head on.

I was naively assuming that at a "cyclist friendly " junction that red lights would be observed, at least by cyclists.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Everyone cycled and ate a frugal vegetarian diet in Mao's China. Doubt many of them want to go back to it.

 

[Triggaaar]

I can't understand where all the anti-cyclist attitudes come from.

I'm not anti cyclist, but I do get annoyed at the amount of them that jump red lights - one very nearly ran over my little kids a few weeks ago. He was totally oblivious to the lights he'd jumped, like he never bothered looking at them.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Er, read the article. It seems that 2 cyclists collided head on at a set of traffic lights redesigned to make it safer for cyclists. It appears there were injuries to both cyclists. One can only assume that one went through a red light as the crash was head on.

I was naively assuming that at a "cyclist friendly " junction that red lights would be observed, at least by cyclists.

If the crash was head on, then it's just as likely both were on green as they would both be travelling along the same road, just in different directions.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm not anti cyclist, but I do get annoyed at the amount of them that jump red lights - one very nearly ran over my little kids a few weeks ago. He was totally oblivious to the lights he'd jumped, like he never bothered looking at them.

I am a cyclist and I get annoyed with cyclists jumping red lights, especially pedestrian crossings. It's out of order and dangerous, and should definitely be subject to on the spot fines or some other suitable punishment, like maybe undertaking some form of cycle proficiency course like the vehicle speed awareness courses.

 

[sten_super]

I was naively assuming that at a "cyclist friendly " junction that red lights would be observed, at least by cyclists.

You've obviously never been to Cambridge! There are a huge number of people on bikes (I refuse to call them cyclists), a lot of them students, that ignore the rules of the road and go around with no regard for any other road users.

However, these are not the same as the lycra-clad cyclists that are the subject of such ire. The vast majority (although not all) of genuine cyclists that I see act in a sensible fashion. I commute in from a village on my bike, and the standard of cycling gets worse the closer you get to the centre of Cambridge, with a terrible drop off within a mile of the centre.

I am a cyclist and I get annoyed with cyclists jumping red lights, especially pedestrian crossings. It's out of order and dangerous, and should definitely be subject to on the spot fines or some other suitable punishment, like maybe undertaking some form of cycle proficiency course like the vehicle speed awareness courses.

I agree with you entirely, but the problem here is policing - it's occasionally prioritised but given all of the other demands on their time it's unsurprising that the police generally chose not to devote much in the way of resources to cyclists.

 

[Triggaaar]

I am a cyclist and I get annoyed with cyclists jumping red lights, especially pedestrian crossings. It's out of order and dangerous, and should definitely be subject to on the spot fines or some other suitable punishment, like maybe undertaking some form of cycle proficiency course like the vehicle speed awareness courses.

Yep, it probably annoys you more than most, because as well as how it irritates us, it also gives you a bad name.

 

[mistahclarke]

What if you can't ride a bike?

I can't, can't drive neither. I walk everywhere or public transport at a real push.