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

Apart from a rash of weird skyscrapers, the one thing which has most changed London over the last decade is the number of cyclists. OK, it's not of Beijing proportions, but the rush hour traffic, on fine days at least, is packed with these hardy souls in hi-vis jackets and helmets weaving in and out of the traffic.

I love to see it. I'd do it myself if it wasn't for one thing: safety.

Five cyclists have been killed on London's roads in the last 9 days - see http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/cyclist-killed-after-collision-with-doubledecker-bus-man-hit-in-aldgate-becomes-londons-latest-casualty-8938505.html

Basically, they don't stand a chance when they come up against big lorries, who in turn probably don't have the visibility or advanced driving skills to spot them when they manoeuvre these beasts. Buses seem to cope better with cyclists, but two died under buses this week. I catch a bus to the office and my heart is in my mouth at every corner the bus takes.

The mayor has spent a lot of money on a bike hire scheme to encourage more people to cycle, but there seems little in the way of road engineering to protect them. About all they've done is paint a blue strip along some of the busier roads - and two cyclists died under lorries on one of those blue lanes in recent weeks.

And so you wouldn't catch me cycling in London, and I'm amazed that anyone does.

You've got to go by statistics, though. More people die in cars, it seems, even when you adjust for time/distance/numbers. I've seen statistics that show more head injuries occur inside cars than outside them, with the same adjustments.

One thing that seems to help the cyclist stay safe is bad behaviour. A report commissioned and sent to the London Council (but not published) established that men suffered less cycle accidents of the crushing type than women, and showed that this corresponded to the greater propensity of men to take off early just before lights turn green, thus making themselves more visible.

A1986951 Cyclists - Be safe: be seen as a bad target

Thanks for reminding me of that one

The biggest argument at the moment is whether these "cycling superhighways" (i.e. a blue stripe painted on a busy lorry route) are instilling the same feeling of immortality in cyclists. Many believe they are.

I used to cycle, but then I came off my bike three times - once by hitting a large rock in the road, once by being struck by another cyclist, and once by a car driving at about 2mph. The driver looked me straight in the eye as he propelled his car into the side of my bicycle.

Mrs G was knocked off her bike by a car cutting across in front of her that never saw her - she was briefly in hospital as a result and never recovered her memory of the event.

All of these persuaded me it was not safe, and I've never cycled since.

My first job was in an office at the top of a hill, and I cycled to it. One the way home one day I came down a steep slip road to join the busy A3. There were cars queued to join it. I hit the brakes, but they snapped. Somehow I managed to turn the bike sideways just as I hit the back of a waiting car, then rolled over the roof and ended up on his bonnet staring at the driver in a state of disorientation. Oddly, the bike and car were undamaged, but I caught the bus from then on.

I have always, and still do, cycle. I don't drive you see and the nearest public transport is a ten mile taxi ride away.

I have always believed that cycling is one of the most dangerous things to engage in anywhere, but especially in towns and cities. Which is why I have trained myself to be aware. It really is a jungle out there, and if your heart would freeze at the sight of a full grown lion approaching you then it should be doing the same with a bl**dy great truck.

I don't expect that drivers will see me. Even if I am right in front of them and we are looking deep into each other's eyes, I still work on the assumption that in an instant I will become invisible.

Having said that I do accept that I cannot afford to be smug, accidents happen no matter how careful you may be. You are generally sharing a small space with people called motorists, a modern euphemism for what in less PC times were labelled 'village idiots'.

OK OK to forestall the criticisms, I visit London a lot and in my opinion I am amazed that there are not more cycling deaths. A lot of them really do believe that they are (a) above the law and (b) immortal.

I am lucky in one respect. I live in Bretagne (Brittany). The national sport of Bretagne is cycling. Think Bernard Hinault 'the badger'.

The roads are straight and cars will pull over to the opposite side of the road when passing. Large lorries will hoot as they approach to warn you to beware of the effects of the wind as they zoom past. Of course this isn't just a natural concern and support. I understand from friends that the French authorities view in any contact between a vehicle and a bike, is the assumption that the motorist is solely to blame.

And you do have to keep an eye out for English registrations

Theanswer is to provide more room for cycled and vevicles to co exist. Where possble more room would be nice what about useing some of the underused footpaths in many cities. Cycle ways through pedistrian only areas could provide some useful shortcuts. There must be more ways the the cycle uesers can think up.

It will cost money however, funding is a problem... but how about every cycle user payind say £15 a year to be able to use the cycle on the road, the Swiss do it, the registration also cuts cycle theft to almost nothing as there is a microchip tagging system to flag up the non payers and picks up stolen cycles. It will bring cycle users into focus for leglisation and offences such as ignoring traffic signals and riding in no cycling areas could be prosecuted as the cycle and offender could be traced.

And everyone else pays for road use, small childerns cycles would be exempt.

access (to) road safeareas (for) everyone

Deb

I cycle 16 miles a day (8 miles each way) and fortunately am able to spend most of it off road. I've only been hit by a car once, by a car that decided to overtake me and turn left at the same time - and it hurt.

I've always wondered about spaces next to railway lines. In some areas, there's almost no gap between a working line, and roads, houses etc. In other areas, there is a huge amount of space covered in gravel that doesn't appear to be used for anything, and I don’t think counts as wildlife areas. Why not convert some of that otherwise unused space into cycle paths, so you can go straight from A to B along fairly flat routes without being disturbed by other road users?

<BB<

I cycle quite a bit, lately. But I'm very choosy about where I ride. I actually prefer to ride in more congested urban areas like Downtown Houston than on many roads in the suburbs and rural areas. I don't mind riding in the street lane when in Houston, as there are normally multiple lanes and traffic is typically moving at 20-30 mph. But out in the sticks, there are many roads with single lanes/direction and very small or nonexistent shoulder areas and the vehicle speeds are typically above the limits. There's one stretch of bridge near work that has pedestrian paths each direction protected by concrete barriers. I will always take the sidewalk to get to them. I see more ambitious cyclists ride in the road quite often and I think each of them is an eedjit. I know the law says I CAN ride in the road, but you can be right and you can be dead right. The traffic there is posted at 45 mph, but traffic is typically moving at 55+. And it's got a curve so a cyclist may not be visible until the last moment. If a cop ever tries to give me a ticket there for riding on the sidewalk, I'll gladly accept it (but argue it in court later).

Also, drivers in the more rural/suburban areas just aren't that accustomed to cyclists in the lanes and get serious road rage when they see lycra clad cyclists. I've experienced it personally and I wasn't even wearing lycra. (Actually this cell phone blabbing eedjit never saw me, but he heard me curse him after he nearly killed me and got mad at me for that and pulled over for a fight.)


I could imagine riding in London, but not on every street.


As to bike/car collisions, I've only had one and it was definitely my fault. As above, I was rapidly going down hill and was trying to slip through a yellow light. I was in the lane to make a left turn drafting a pickup truck ahead of me when he suddenly braked on yellow. WHO BRAKES ON YELLOW IN TEXAS?! I didn't have my brakes properly adjusted on my racing bike. At the last moment I saved my bike by twisting sideways and took the brunt of the collision with my chest. I dented his tailgate in by a good inch and half and surely cracked a couple of ribs. It knocked the breath out of me. As I lay there in a heap, feet still in the stirrups, I realized why he braked so suddenly when two police officers approached from their squad car. They didn't get out of the car right away, they had to regain their composure first, I'm sure. That had to be funny as hell to see. They threatened to give me a ticket. When I asked for what, they replied "failure to control your speed." Breathlessly I replied, "I can't argue with that."

In the part of New Mexico where I live, people regularly ride horseback along the side of the roads. It's pretty much all quarterhorses out this way, a calm and sensible breed (unlike thoroughbreds, which tend to turn into frisbees at the sight of a murderous dandelion). And in the main the local drivers know horses and drive circumspectly. But every now and then you get a flopwit driving a large truck who thinks it's a god idea to hit his air horn just behind the animal, you know, to let the horse know the truck is coming.

Underground cyclig tunnels? (are there any unused/shut tube tnnels under busy areas? or is the whole of London just too full of stuff underground these days?) <erm

There shouldn't be lorrys in citys, or towns, during the day; Deliverys at nights, for shops etc, would surely be pssible, to restrict trafic during daytime, when rush hours are on, etc., and there are likely to be more cyclists about?

I do think 'town planning' or I guess 'city planning' isat fault a lot o the time, little if any consideration seems to be given, half the time to the impact of say putting in aa new shop, in a central town area, to the absolute rediculus of it, when one considers tat access is non-existant for deliverys, and access for people, not* on foot, can onl be achieved by messing up traffic flow on nearby roads

They've chaned some fo the busy lights, in Cambridge recently; So cyclists get a (I think it is), thirtysecond head-start, to leave the junciton, when the lights go green; I seem to recall this is done in some places on the continent, and has cut accidents at juncitons with lights

I don't think that a few cycle superhighways, quiet routes or disused tunnels will really solve the problem. London is densely packed and busy throughout, and cyclists will always need to negoatiate busy junctions as they approach the locality of their office. Similarly, we're not going to be able to do away with lorries and buses to any significant degree. There are major building projects all over the capital (crossrail, weird skyscrapers, poncey riverside flats) and tipper trucks (responsible for many of the recent cycle deaths) are all over the place.

Then, really, and no only for the reason of cycling, there probably needs to be some actual thought put into planning, for London... and, perhaps, an end to further building, and a move away from th necessity for every firm to have a bg posh office in central London, just ... I udnno, I guess its prestigue a lot of the time, and instead get some, of these firms to move elsewhere, and free up sace within the city... Of course, this might also go some way to resolve the insane London housing and rental marekts, and ultiamtely also go some way to resolving the same inflated prices in other housing rental markets (comuter towns, and citys, that have inflated prices becuase for a ere £5K per year you can g travel nto London) Cambridge is gradually loosing any sense of history it might once have had (with the exception of the colleges of course), as every postage sized piece of land, gets turned into hidious luxary flats for overseas investors to buy and rent out at unaffordible prices O course, they can only charge those prices, becuase of the high percentage of people who work and comute to London, who then buyh/rent them

Bobstafford writes: "everyone else pays for road use"

This is not so. "road tax was abolished in 1937 and replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty. This is a tax on cars, not roads, and it goes straight into the general Treasury fund. Many government agencies have now started calling VED "car tax" but it might be classified as a pollution tax, since it's now based on the size of engine and emissions. Ultra-low emissions vehicles are exempted."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23694438

[Amy P]

So in conclusion, we have learnt that you never - never, ever, ever, ever even remotely consider riding a bicycle in London.

Never ever.

No way.

Don't even think about it.

Ever.


So, who's thinking of signing up for the London to Brighton bike ride next year? Or is it just me, then?

<BB<

I can't ride a bike at all these days, so not me.

But it would be great if there were to be an h2g2 contingent doing this Brighton ride. How many miles is it and what is the date?

My daughter often uses the "Boris" bikes in London, which you hire by the hour. My heart is always in my mouth when she does this, though I suppose I doon't always hear about it. She did get a nasty shock when they fined her £150 for not returning a bike in time - a mistake by the computer at their end, but a worrying week for her. So maybe that's put her off.