Cyclists....

[bobspud]

I walk and cycle most of the same urban roads I drive, and know when pedestrians and cyclists are just being plain stupid.

On the flip side it also means I know when a car driver let alone a larger vehicle cannot see you at certain points due to poor road layout and/or shrubbery.

Do you consider convertibles? If the roofs up on them then if you sit either side of the roof, there is little chance the driver will know about you until you get munged...

[vetran]

did any of you see this tonight?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02znsx2
very pro cyclist thought it would have the car lovers up in arms.

[bobspud]

did any of you see this tonight?

BBC Two - The Route Masters: Running London's Roads
very pro cyclist thought it would have the car lovers up in arms.

I thought it was very telling that they had decided that it was a great idea to set the lights to favour buses and cyclists, Only to wonder why the rest of the traffic was snarled up. You can tell that they were only thinking about travel from a takes kids to school or cycles to an office point of view. How does this "Oh everybody has to cycle strategy" fit the businesses that need deliveries or the tradesmen that carry tools and materials? With London left to these clowns it will look like any other burned out high street eventually.

The trouble with TFL is that they think everyone that is in a car lives inside the M25 judging by the M11 link and the M4 on any given morning I would say that this assumption is pretty far from the truth. For the record I think that cycling or free tubes are the only sustainable method of transport for the future in London. But the economics do not add up when it comes to cross country travel. Yesterday I drove from my home into the centre of London. I left at 6 and arrived onsite at about 9 I had a car space at the clients so that was free and the return trip cost me just over half a tank of petrol (£45) and the congestion charge. If I used rail then the ticket would have been £181 for a cattle class ticket plus £18 to park at the station (First was over £260 for a single return journey) So for clients that I only visit very occasionally I will continue to sit in car...

[malvolio]

I thought it was very telling that they had decided that it was a great idea to set the lights to favour buses and cyclists, Only to wonder why the rest of the traffic was snarled up. You can tell that they were only thinking about travel from a takes kids to school or cycles to an office point of view. How does this "Oh everybody has to cycle strategy" fit the businesses that need deliveries or the tradesmen that carry tools and materials? With London left to these clowns it will look like any other burned out high street eventually.

The trouble with TFL is that they think everyone that is in a car lives inside the M25 judging by the M11 link and the M4 on any given morning I would say that this assumption is pretty far from the truth. For the record I think that cycling or free tubes are the only sustainable method of transport for the future in London. But the economics do not add up when it comes to cross country travel. Yesterday I drove from my home into the centre of London. I left at 6 and arrived onsite at about 9 I had a car space at the clients so that was free and the return trip cost me just over half a tank of petrol (£45) and the congestion charge. If I used rail then the ticket would have been £181 for a cattle class ticket plus £18 to park at the station (First was over £260 for a single return journey) So for clients that I only visit very occasionally I will continue to sit in car...

Actually the car journey cost you about £200, since the average car costs around 72p per mile these days, according to the RAC.

[Old Hack]

Actually the car journey cost you about £200, since the average car costs around 72p per mile these days, according to the RAC.

If you're going down that route, then you need to add on the standard costs of owning a car to the original rail fare, as he would still own a car. The 72p a mile considers depreciation, wear and tear, insurance, maintenance, MOT's etc.

[bobspud]

If you're going down that route, then you need to add on the standard costs of owning a car to the original rail fare, as he would still own a car. The 72p a mile considers depreciation, wear and tear, insurance, maintenance, MOT's etc.

So that would take my day out to over £320

Its not encouraging is it?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

did any of you see this tonight?

BBC Two - The Route Masters: Running London's Roads
very pro cyclist thought it would have the car lovers up in arms.

I wanted to know what happened to the foreign woman who got mangled under the bus - there appeared to be a view (not saying this was hers as we weren't told) that drivers of cars, buses etc needed to do whatever they had to in order not to prang the poor cyclists no matter how dangerously the cyclists are riding. I'm fairly sure that bus driver wouldn't have wanted to hurt anyone any more than the woman wanted her legs mangled.

What I'm saying is there has to be consideration on all sides, the bloke I saw yesterday, and loads of people in London seem to be riding a bike, which is potentially dangerous, as if it had an invisible forcefield and no matter how poor or dangerous their riding, it's up to other people to get out of their way - like BMW drivers, that approach works 90% of the time because the rest of us put up with it - but you can be unlucky.

[bobspud]

Actually the car journey cost you about £200, since the average car costs around 72p per mile these days, according to the RAC.

Would be if I had a nice car but I am running a paid in cash snotter. It cost me 3k last year and I extracted 9k out the business in milage in the same period its the only car I have ever ran at a profit.

[darmstadt]

"I was already way too committed to stop … I couldn't see a line through the crowd and I couldn't stop, so I laid it down and just plowed through the crowded crosswalk in the least-populated place I could find,"

A superior court judge could determine within six months if his conviction can be reduced to a misdemeanour.

Imagine if a car driver did that: San Francisco cyclist guilty of manslaughter in legal first | World news | guardian.co.uk

Actually a cyclist (young female) killed an old man just down the road from me and got banged up, likewise there have been quite a few injuries in the town where cyclists have hit pedestrians. The town made one certain area cycle free but cyclists continued to use it (a friend got a leg and arm broken by one inconsiderate lycra clad moron) and, laughably, the chairman of one of the local cycling clubs argued against it saying that pedestrians should walk to one side and get out of the way of cyclists which is a bit difficult to do when they're haring down a hill and you can't actually see behind you.

[BrilloPad]

Imagine if a car driver did that: San Francisco cyclist guilty of manslaughter in legal first | World news | guardian.co.uk

Actually a cyclist (young female) killed an old man just down the road from me and got banged up, likewise there have been quite a few injuries in the town where cyclists have hit pedestrians. The town made one certain area cycle free but cyclists continued to use it (a friend got a leg and arm broken by one inconsiderate lycra clad moron) and, laughably, the chairman of one of the local cycling clubs argued against it saying that pedestrians should walk to one side and get out of the way of cyclists which is a bit difficult to do when they're haring down a hill and you can't actually see behind you.

All you say is correct. But consider the number of times pedestrians just walk into the road causing cyclists to swerve - sometimes in a daze and sometimes on phone. Worse they sometimes see a cyclist and decide the cyclist can swerve anyway - after all if a cyclist hits a pedestrian the pedestrian does not get hurt do they?

As I have repeatedly said, the biggest danger to cyclists is not cars but pedestrians.