h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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More or less my experience, too (except being the UK it was a left turning driver). Note to motorists - beeping your horn does *not* give you right of way over a cyclist when turning.

Noggin

Well, I think Amsterdam has many more bike lanes in place than perhaps other cities do.

And perhaps also more 'motorist awareness' to always shoulder check.

One very bad bike accident I once witnessed in Toronto was when a car suddenly stopped in the street and the passenger immediately opened the car door without checking . . . the cyclist coming up on the inside between car and pavement rode straight into the open car door and went flying, breaking her jaw on the pavement. The car drove off very quickly, the passenger also disappeared without checking on the cyclist - it was up to a few of us pedestrians to take her into a nearby restaurant and call for an ambulance.


az

Don't talk to me about Amsterdam. A few years ago when staying there with a friend, I borrowed her bike. Talk about a primitive bone shaker. And it had that mechanism in which you're supposed to pedal backwards to engage the brakes. For me it was worse than London because of the trams appearing out of nowhere whenever I was at junctions and crossroads. I came very very close to throwing it into a canal on one occasion. A memorable experience that I was most lucky to survive!

BTW I took the bike test and got one out of eight. Good job I no longer cycle. But I agree with others that the letter of the law would often p*ss car drivers off so much that it would lead to danger and accidents, particularly here in London where vehicle drivers are so aggressive and continually flout the law themselves.

>>Actually when I used to drive I used to avoid cyclists as much as possible. Mostly because I learned that they're strange eratic creatures who do not seem to follow any rules other than the ones they make in their own little minds<<

Might I ask motorists if these statements appear familiar???

Like that funny ticking noise that occured when illuminated arrows appeared on the dashboard when you flicked a lever the first time you started driving. Strange how that sound has disappeared.

Like the need to squeeze as many cars as possible onto that funny yellow hatched area at a junction or at traffic lights.

Like the fact that a plain amber light at the traffic lights means accelerate.


Like the fact that it is vital to drive with one hand and hold onto an electronic device in the other, constantly talking into it.

Like the fact that pavements are for parking on.

Like the fact that yellow lines, of any description, disappear as soon as a driver needs to stop at a specific shop.

Like the realisation that once a pedestrian obtains a four wheeled vehicle all human locomotive power ceases, and necessitates driving endlessly around until a means of parking is found within 2 metres of the destination.

Like the necessity to have an altercation with anyone else especially if parked in an area designated as a 'no parking' zone, which is being used to drop aff something, and are then surprised to recieve a ticket.

Shall I go on? When my bike is back on the road I may cycle on the pavement, but it is unlikely. I may wear a helmet, but again it is unlikely, as there is no recognised safety standard or kite mark so what's the point? (never wore one in 25 years of cycling, and 5 years of that was along Park Lane via Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner).

When buying a new bike it is compulsory to have a bell fitted, although there is no law to say it must stay there. It is also law that lights must be fitted in the dark, just like cars and that they must be constant, not flickering, like the current craze.

I would say both types of vehicle user is guilty of many faults. The person who said about cycling across a pedestrian crossing is breaking the law. Even pushing a bike across is illegal as it is a designated pedestrian crossing, whilst a bike is a vehicle and so cannot use it. The correct way to do so is to lift the bike nto the shoulders and walk across....

Just as an aside, pedestrians do not escape scot-free. expecting vehicles to stop every time a pedestrian wishes to cross a road. They will also insist on crossing a road at a dangerous place even though there is a perfectly good zebra or pelican crossing 50 yards away.

I think I'll stop there and stick to the tube and es. They are normally Safer

I'm not sure about Amsterdam but I've cycled around Sittard and Roermond (which are not exactly heaving metrolopses) without any problem.

Driving around Holland I do tend to notice a lot more cyclists than I see at "home" in the UK - but then I minly stay in Sheffield which is too hilly for a lot of people.

Here in Germany the rules (which are often flouted, it must be said) are very clear. Excepting small bikes for very young children, they have to be "street equipped" with Dynamo lights and a bell. I was against Dynamo only because of the fact they go off when you stop, but now they stay on so it's not a problem.

The law is often on the side of the bike, however, if there is an accident, and I believe this leads to them thinking they are invincible. My worst accident was similar to one described above, but not as serious, when a passenger opened a door causing me to crash into it.

One bike which causes me problems in the summer when I drive to work is a recumbant one. It's almost impossible to see if it comes up behind/alongside me when I'm stopped at lights - and generally it's a set of lights where I have to turn right. I'm petrified that I'm going to knock him off one day.

>> One bike which causes me problems in the summer when I drive to work is a recumbant one. It's almost impossible to see if it comes up behind/alongside me when I'm stopped at lights - and generally it's a set of lights where I have to turn right. I'm petrified that I'm going to knock him off one day. <<

A problem that would disappear 100% if the bloody rider stuck to the rules of the road and didn't try to sneak up along your side. But, hey, that would be a cyclist actually paying attention to other road users, wouldn't it?

I also have very little sympathy for cyclists being swiped over by passengers opening passenger-side doors without looking. Again, why are you sneaking up the side of the road? If you want to pass a parked car, go round the correct side!

RF

RF I love your no no nonsense bluntness; you're a hootoo

Why, thank you, Red!

Will we be seeing you at the next London meet?

RF

Actually I believe the law (in the UK) has changed recently: flashing lights are now legal

Yes, I'm considering it Freddy! It all depends what state my neuroses are in.

*Flashes her lights at RF*

RF: >>I also have very little sympathy for cyclists being swiped over by passengers opening passenger-side doors without looking. Again, why are you sneaking up the side of the road? If you want to pass a parked car, go round the correct side! <<

Sorry, I agree with you - unless the cyclist, as I was, was on the cycle path. There is a clear distinction that there is a cycle path (here they are generally red brick) and they are part of the pavement. Car drivers have a responsibility to check before they open their doors.

Mind you, how many car drivers cause me to do an emergency stop/swerve because they stop their cars (yes, not so much park, as stop) and just get out.

A pox on all of them. (btw, I have drilled it into The Gruesome Twosome never ever to open a car door until they have checked nobody is coming. And to go carefully past a car that they have just seen stop. Hopefully they'll be ok.

Back to the thing about doing "shoulder checks" for a sec...
I used to live in Canada and learned to drive there (tho failed my test for speeding ) and doing a shoulder check to check the blind spot was taught as standard for a lot of manouvers i.e. changing lanes, turning, pulling out into traffic from being parked etc.

However over here (UK) people just dont seem to do it! My friend's dad knocked someone off his motorbike, and from how he described the incident it would have been avoided if he had simply checked his blind spot instead of just looking in the side mirror.

On a recent trip to Canada, my boyfriend (was has lived in UK all his life) was bemused about the way that everyone we drove with would always shoulder check when changing lanes etc.- he said "why dont they just use their side mirror?"

Is that just the way that driving instructors teach here? Because it clearly states in the Highway Code to look round and check the blind spots in the sections about moving off, mirrors, turning right, reversing, overtaking, and changing lanes.

Also, my boyfriend's stepdad is a London bus driver and always boasts that he knows everything about the Highway Code and yet he doesnt check the blind spots either! Well maybe London bus drivers arent the best people to take advice from about driving...

Whilst being taught to drive, checking your blind spot is mandatory in the UK as well. Then again, once you've passed your test you stop doing a lot of things that you were taught to pass your test. I agree, you should check over your shoulder...but you should also have a pretty good understanding of where every vehicle is in your immediate environment, and if one suddenly goes missing you should find it before turning, changing lane etc.

RF

<> (RF)

Unfortunately, in most big cities like Toronto without designated cycling lanes, cyclists *are* meant to ride on the small bit of road between the car lane and the pavement. If they ride in the car lanes they *hold up traffic* because they aren't going as fast as cars. So it isn't 'sneaking up', though I agree this person should have been more aware, except the car I mentioned did stop very abruptly and the passenger door flew open even before the car had come to a complete stop.


az

Hey freddy, you'd have loved my trip to Sainsburys just now. Cyclist comes up my inside at traffic lights and bumps wing mirror. Just up the road another one cycles across a zebra crossing in front of me. That get's me. I'm always very careful when I approach a zebra, looking out for pedestrians. And that includes cyclists wheeling their bikes. But when they're riding them it's much harder to clock them cos they appear to be 'traffic'. They somehow don't register in the same way. Oh well, one day I'll probably not 'see' one and it'll be squashed cyclist! Sorry for this slightly ranty post, but I've got a hangover and my mood wasn't improved by the usual sunday morning trolley wars in Sainsburys

So I ended up spending far more than I intended on the ingredients for a seafood risotto, including safron

Shopping in Sainsbury's

on a Sunday

Lucky beggar (despite cyclists)

Sainsbury's ain't that great

That's probably because you don't live in Germany. Trust me, Sainsbury's is fantastic.

Although I usually go to Morrisons, in the hopes of bumping into Sean Bean.

but that's a whole other story.

when I'm in the UK that is. Here it's Real - which to be fair is getting better.

Here's an example of cyclist derring-do that i witnessed last week.

I was driving my truck up the Embankment in London towards Chelsea Bridge Road, which is a very busy intersection controlled by traffic lights.
For about a mile white van man has been making abortive attempts to overtake me, due to oncoming traffic and his inability to swerve and eat a Gingsters Cornish pasty at the same time. Even driving a 38 tonne truck i don't play games with white van man, and usually let them pass, as when they were picking up their attributes from the bottom of the gene pool they only came away with a brain the size of a Periwinkle.
As we approach the lights ,which are changing to Amber, White Van Man finishes his pasty, ends his mobile conversation and makes a concerted effort to overtake me. In usual style i thought he'd continue through the lights at red and roar off in a cloud of smoke. Amazingly he stopped, presumably because the lights have a camera, with the front of his van about 2 feet over the line.
Approaching from the road on the right, and with a green light, is our hero the cyclist. Dressed from head to foot in yellow and black Lycra, topped off by a Yellow helmet, he was obviouslt trying to convey the look of a speeding wasp. Unfortunately, ignoring all the best advice offered by Trinny and Suzanne to the portly Gent, he has chosen to wear hoops. Thus the effect is not speeding wasp, but bumbling bee.
He starts gesticulating wildly at White Van Man for encroaching on his space, before he decides this transgression warrants much more direct action.
I'm no expert on the law of Physics, but even to me launching your leg out to kick a stationary object while peddling at 20mph seemed rash. And so it proved.
As Mr.Bumble's foot connected with White Van Man's front wing the force unseated him from his volocipede and he curved a graceful arc through the air,and landed on his back in the middle of the Embankment. Strangely all the while his little legs were peddling furiously, and this added to the Bumble Bee effect, although now resembling one which has taken a fatal dose of 'Flit'.
Eventually what had occurred filtered through to the 'react' part of the Periwinkle brain, and White Van Man launches himself out of his van and off up the road after the skidding Mr. Bumble.
Unfortunately at this point the lights changed and i had to move off, but i can happily report that Mr.Bumble was last seen being helped to his feet by White Van Man, although i would question the use of the windpipe to achieve this end.