Typical Cyclist

[justbecause]

A) I merely aim to reach the safety of the cyclists box (ASL) at the front of the queue....That is, provided some ignorant wally in a car hasn't occupied it!

B) In the new Highway Code, it is up to drivers to keep cyclists (along with horse riders and pedestrians) safe.

You just can’t help yourself, can you.

[The PNP]

You just can’t help yourself, can you.

The cyclists box is put there for cyclists, to ensure bike and rider are clearly visible (and therefore safe) to vehicles behind......It's funny how motorists hogging the bike box, think they are no longer motorists. Apparently believing they are in charge of a rather large four-wheeled bike - with engine-assist!

[justbecause]

The cyclists box is put there for cyclists, to ensure bike and rider are clearly visible (and therefore safe) to vehicles behind......It's funny how motorists hogging the bike box, think they are no longer motorists. Apparently believing they are in charge of a rather large four-wheeled bike - with engine-assist!

Dick brain.

[silver fox]

A) I merely aim to reach the safety of the cyclists box (ASL) at the front of the queue....That is, provided some ignorant wally in a car hasn't occupied it!

B) In the new Highway Code, it is up to drivers to keep cyclists (along with horse riders and pedestrians) safe.

Horses are unpredictable creatures to be treated with caution at all times, pedestrians and cyclist are supposedly intelligent with a functioning brain, able to make sensible decisions regarding their own and others safety, are you now trying to say that the motorist is responsible for every damn fool and or dangerous maneuver taken by pedestrians and cyclists.

Like the bloody clown today, riding along the pavement, then just turned onto a pedestrian crossing expecting everything to stop, didn't trouble me, I was far enough away, but the van driver in front went in for some quick braking and change of direction, let the rider know he wasn't happy, response from cyclist was the usual finger.

You can't have it both ways, you demand standards from drivers, it's only reasonable to expect at least a modicum of standards from cyclists,
in your book if the van driver had collected grade 1 idiot on the front of his van, it would be the driver at fault, you must be joking or insane.

[The PNP]

A) You can't have it both ways, you demand standards from drivers, it's only reasonable to expect at least a modicum of standards from cyclists,

B) in your book if the van driver had collected grade 1 idiot on the front of his van, it would be the driver at fault, you must be joking or insane.

A) Yes, of course all road users should behave according to the Highway Code at all times, however some do and some don't - whatever group of user they fall into.

B) I didn't see the incident, but take your word for it.....Drivers of vehicles that can do the most harm, have a responsibility towards those further down the scale, ultimately to the most vulnerable of road-users. The van driver should have already noticed the bike and been ready to brake if the bike should turn towards the crossing.

When I did my driver training for the HGV licence, I was made to always be aware of what was happening on the pavement/roadside. It's not good enough to become aware of a situation only after someone/something has walked or ridden into the road (by which time it may be too late to avoid contact)...It's about continuously recognising what may happen, so you are 100% ready to react if it does, giving you more chance of preventing the accident.

[donkey22]

Gear Change: One year on

Attachment 203158

About this time last year, I promised to kick off the most radical change to our city streets since the arrival of mass motoring. Perhaps rather quickly for a government promise, we seem to be achieving it.

Since last year, cycling in England has risen by 46 per cent – the greatest increase in postwar history. Cycling has increased by more in this one single year than it did over the whole of the previous 20 years. The roads are festooned with people wearing colours not found in nature. Hundreds of new schemes have created safe space for people to cycle and walk, supported pubs and restaurants that might otherwise have closed, and allowed us to get the exercise we need. For decades we mourned that children no longer played in the street. Now once again, in some places, they do.

But these achievements are not nailed on yet. So this document seeks not just to celebrate the success of our policies – but to repeat our commitment to them, to bust some of the myths about them, and to show how we will do more.

Spending on active travel this year will significantly increase – from the £257 million announced at last November’s Spending Review to £338m, a rise of a third. We will use the money to invest in more low-traffic neighbourhoods and protected cycle lanes. And we will upgrade the National Cycle Network.

In the decade to 2020, road traffic in urban areas grew by a quarter, and on side streets by a third. It is forecast to rise even more in the next decade. There are only a few ways to deal with this. The best way is to make better use of the roads we’ve already got, by encouraging vehicles such as cycles and buses that take up less space per passenger.

I know many people think that cycling and walking schemes simply increase car traffic on other roads. But there is now increasing evidence that they do not. We sometimes think of traffic as like water: if you block a stream in one place, it will find the next easiest way. Of course some journeys by car are essential, but traffic is not a force of nature. It is a product of people’s choices. If you make it easier and safer to walk and cycle, more people choose to walk and cycle instead of driving, and the traffic falls overall.

I support councils, of all parties, which are trying to promote cycling and bus use. And if you are going to oppose these schemes, you must tell us what your alternative is, because trying to squeeze more cars and delivery vans on the same roads and hoping for the best is not going to work.

And as the benefits of schemes increase over time, what opposition there is falls further. That is why schemes must be in place long enough for their benefts and disbenefits to be properly evidenced.

Almost exactly six years ago, in east London, we began the first of the transformational low-traffic neighbourhood schemes I funded as mayor. There was intense controversy: hundreds of protestors carried a golden coffin to symbolise the “death” we were supposedly causing to the local shops. But the council stuck it out, thank goodness. Now, the local shops and cafes have never been busier, air quality is up, opposition to the LTN has evaporated, and so has some of the traffic.

That is the future I want to see for a lot more places, and this plan will help achieve it.

I look forward to reading Damien Moore’s support of his glorious leaders stance with cycle lanes.

[donkey22]

Dick brain.

And is that really your most intelligent response?
Then again it must get quite sore typing long sentences when your having to drag your knuckles around behind you all day. Ingrate.

[silver fox]

A) Yes, of course all road users should behave according to the Highway Code at all times, however some do and some don't - whatever group of user they fall into.

B) I didn't see the incident, but take your word for it.....Drivers of vehicles that can do the most harm, have a responsibility towards those further down the scale, ultimately to the most vulnerable of road-users. The van driver should have already noticed the bike and been ready to brake if the bike should turn towards the crossing.

When I did my driver training for the HGV licence, I was made to always be aware of what was happening on the pavement/roadside. It's not good enough to become aware of a situation only after someone/something has walked or ridden into the road (by which time it may be too late to avoid contact)...It's about continuously recognising what may happen, so you are 100% ready to react if it does, giving you more chance of preventing the accident.

In all probability the driver had noticed the pavement riding cyclist, which is also why the cyclist didn’t finish up under the front wheels.

You can blabber on about training, skills and responsibility as much as you wish, but can you or anyone else predict utter stupidity? or in your book drivers must slow for every pedestrian, cyclist, lamp post, tree or parked vehicle just in case some idiot decides to jump in the road.

[The PNP]

You can blabber on about training, skills and responsibility as much as you wish, but can you or anyone else predict utter stupidity? or in your book drivers must slow for every pedestrian, cyclist, lamp post, tree or parked vehicle just in case some idiot decides to jump in the road.

It's about picking up clues that may give away a persons most likely next move.....A staggering drunkard for example may lurch in any direction, inc the roadway. Young children can't be relied on to stay on a pavement either. Hoodie cyclists are another unpredictable group. Then there's the person with their back to you, who sees a friend on the other side and looks likely to dash impulsively across. Or 101 other situations that show signs of developing into a potential incident.

I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at. Whereas say a 'driverless' car can only ever react to obstacles appearing in its path, a human has genuine intelligence and ability to pick up early clues that a dumb machine never can.....Yet we've all seen the motorist who drives too close, fixating on the vehicle in front to the exclusion of all else. When something unexpected does happen, he/she has little chance of avoiding contact.

[silver fox]

It's about picking up clues that may give away a persons most likely next move.....A staggering drunkard for example may lurch in any direction, inc the roadway. Young children can't be relied on to stay on a pavement either. Hoodie cyclists are another unpredictable group. Then there's the person with their back to you, who sees a friend on the other side and looks likely to dash impulsively across. Or 101 other situations that show signs of developing into a potential incident.

I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at. Whereas say a 'driverless' car can only ever react to obstacles appearing in its path, a human has genuine intelligence and ability to pick up early clues that a dumb machine never can.....Yet we've all seen the motorist who drives too close, fixating on the vehicle in front to the exclusion of all else. When something unexpected does happen, he/she has little chance of avoiding contact.

Most drivers are aware of what’s going on ahead and to a degree around them, but you simply can’t make drivers responsible for any and every eventuality, which certainly appears to be your only claim.

IF everybody used common sense and played by the same rule book, many things could be safer, however in the best of worlds accidents will happen, but in your book when it comes to road accidents there is only one party at fault, EVER and that just isn’t true.

[carliol]

Like the bloody clown today, riding along the pavement, then just turned onto a pedestrian crossing expecting everything to stop, didn't trouble me, I was far enough away, but the van driver in front went in for some quick braking and change of direction, let the rider know he wasn't happy, response from cyclist was the usual finger.

You can't have it both ways, you demand standards from drivers, it's only reasonable to expect at least a modicum of standards from cyclists,

You are quoting one incident by one person. You can't use that to condemn all cyclists. Some drivers behave badly.

[The PNP]

IF everybody used common sense and played by the same rule book, many things could be safer, however in the best of worlds accidents will happen, but in your book when it comes to road accidents there is only one party at fault, EVER and that just isn’t true.

A ton or more of steel propelled at 30mph by a powerful engine, is a highly lethal piece of machinery......Those in charge of them need to recognise the horrendous damage it can so easily do, should it make contact with something soft and squishy like a pedestrian or cyclist.

[silver fox]

You are quoting one incident by one person. You can't use that to condemn all cyclists. Some drivers behave badly.

It isn’t just one isolated incident, the idiots are not an excuse to condemn all cyclists, by the same token motorists are not all homicidal maniacs by a long way, sadly in the PNP’s view getting behind the wheel of a motorised vehicle means you are already guilty.

I am not anti-cyclist by a long way, I am most definitely anti the PNPs dictatorial approach, were motorists are constantly demonised as the villains, yet cyclists are the saints of the road, it just isn’t true.

[justbecause]

A ton or more of steel propelled at 30mph by a powerful engine, is a highly lethal piece of machinery......Those in charge of them need to recognise the horrendous damage it can so easily do, should it make contact with something soft and squishy like a pedestrian or cyclist.

And likewise, those soft and squishy cyclists also need to recognise the horrendous damage that can be done, and take some responsibility for their own safety and mortality.
Just this afternoon, I had a cyclist at Eastbank Street Square who was determined to get past me as I was turning right into Lord Street, I was in lane two and he mounted the central refuge in his determination to get past. At this point, I stopped to allow the idiot to pass, he then drove across the path of a moving car in lane one and continued up the inside of a parked bus that was picking up passengers. From there, he moved back into lane two and rode straight through the red traffic light.

[silver fox]

And likewise, those soft and squishy cyclists also need to recognise the horrendous damage that can be done, and take some responsibility for their own safety and mortality.
Just this afternoon, I had a cyclist at Eastbank Street Square who was determined to get past me as I was turning right into Lord Street, I was in lane two and he mounted the central refuge in his determination to get past. At this point, I stopped to allow the idiot to pass, he then drove across the path of a moving car in lane one and continued up the inside of a parked bus that was picking up passengers. From there, he moved back into lane two and rode straight through the red traffic light.

Exactly the problem, a fool like that doesn’t represent all cyclists, BUT in the PNP’s view it is still down to motorists to predict what this sort of idiot is going to do and take avoiding action to ensure the safety of the cyclist.