Reply to: Cylists

[MaryPoppins]

Sad news. Sorry to hear about your friend.

WHS. V sorry to hear that.

[doodab]

When I was in Ibiza I noticed that when you're crossing what resembles a zebra crossing there, the traffic starts moving off while you're still in front of it, or perhaps not even in front of it yet. The logic I guess being that by the time their vehicle reaches your current location, you will have moved. The first time it happened to me, I stopped in my tracks, expecting the scooter (in that instance) to zoom off in front of me, ignoring the crossing. But no, he slowed when I slowed, creating a temporary impasse, with my not wanting to walk in front of a vehicle moving directly towards me, and the moving vehicle wanting to skim past behind me.

I found that in parts of Italy. You basically have to step out into moving traffic and trust that it will avoid you.

[TimberWolf]

When I was in Ibiza I noticed that when you're crossing what resembles a zebra crossing there, the traffic starts moving off while you're still in front of it, or perhaps not even in front of it yet. The logic I guess being that by the time their vehicle reaches your current location, you will have moved. The first time it happened to me, I stopped in my tracks, expecting the scooter (in that instance) to zoom off in front of me, ignoring the crossing. But no, he slowed when I slowed, creating a temporary impasse, with my not wanting to walk in front of a vehicle moving directly towards me, and the moving vehicle wanting to skim past behind me.

[Mason Boyne]

The common term is SMIDSY - sorry mate, I didn't see you. Drivers usually say it after nearly killing you despite the fact that you're lit up like a Christmas tree.

You quickly get used to assuming that everyone else on the road is simultaneously drunk, drugged up, half-asleep, demented, blind, deaf and trying to remember if they left the gas on at home.

I assume that's the case even when driving a car. There really are some fuqwits out there.

[SueEllen]

The common term is SMIDSY - sorry mate, I didn't see you. Drivers usually say it after nearly killing you despite the fact that you're lit up like a Christmas tree.

You quickly get used to assuming that everyone else on the road is simultaneously drunk, drugged up, half-asleep, demented, blind, deaf and trying to remember if they left the gas on at home.

It's not a help if you are teenage pedestrians as quite a few teenagers near where I live get run down.

Some of them deliberately torment drivers by crossing the road as slowly as possible or just walk out into the road not realising that it's not a good idea to walk out in front of a London bus, a van or lorry. There as others legitimately cross i.e. at pelican crossings, zebra crossings but car drivers don't stop.

Interestedly I've noticed 10-12 year olds purposely now not start crossing the road at pelican crossings etc until cars have actually stopped.

[gingerjedi]

You quickly get used to assuming that everyone else on the road is simultaneously drunk, drugged up, half-asleep, demented, blind, deaf and trying to remember if they left the gas on at home.

When I passed my driving test my instructor said "Now you learn to drive, treat everyone else as an idiot and you won't go far wrong", good advice.

[dang65]

Two motorcyclists I know call it "Look but don't see".

The person looks like they are looking but other road users, normally the most vulnerable in that particular circumstance, don't register in their brains.

The common term is SMIDSY - sorry mate, I didn't see you. Drivers usually say it after nearly killing you despite the fact that you're lit up like a Christmas tree.

You quickly get used to assuming that everyone else on the road is simultaneously drunk, drugged up, half-asleep, demented, blind, deaf and trying to remember if they left the gas on at home.

[SueEllen]

OTOH, drivers who've cycled to any extent, are generally much more aware of road conditions. My sister in law terrifies me whenever she drives - she just doesn't look.

Two motorcyclists I know call it "Look but don't see".

The person looks like they are looking but other road users, normally the most vulnerable in that particular circumstance, don't register in their brains.

[dang65]

Sadly, I think there will be a lot more of this sort of thing for a few more years yet.

Yeah, till the oil runs out. Then there will be a sudden massive drop in the number of cycling deaths, for some reason.

[doodab]

Sad news. Sorry to hear about your friend.

[NotAllThere]

...oh poor old me, I'm just being picked on for having a different point of view. I'm the victim here...

[NotAllThere]

OTOH, drivers who've cycled to any extent, are generally much more aware of road conditions. My sister in law terrifies me whenever she drives - she just doesn't look.

[Moscow Mule]

Sadly, I think there will be a lot more of this sort of thing for a few more years yet.

There are a lot of people taking up commuting on a bike who did their proficiency test 20 plus years ago who's only road experience is in a metal cocoon.

You need to be 100% aware of your surroundings the whole time, if not you get hit - as I found out twice before I learned my lesson.

The simple fact is that a lot of drivers drive like *****, and you need to be aware of it.

[SueEllen]

There are lots of cyclists in my area of London and what scares me more than anything is the fact that you see children out with their parents, and it's the parents who don't know how to position themselves around motor vehicles.

Kids in lots of boroughs in the UK can have free cycling lessons paid for by the local council. They actually follow the rules until they get above 13/14 when they turn into dangerous little tulips.

BTW any person walking, cycling or running with headphones in who can't hear their surroundings is an idiot and deserves to be run down. You can have your music at a level where you can hear background noise but also hear your music.

[PRC1964]

Cycling is relatively dangerous no matter how you look at it:

There are three main statistics which may be used to compare the safety of various forms of travel:
 
Deaths per billion      Deaths per billion      Deaths per billion 
passenger-journeys     passenger-hours     passenger-kilometres
---------------------    --------------------    -----------------------
Bus: 4.3         Bus: 11.1         Air: 0.05
Rail: 20         Rail: 30         Bus: 0.4
Van: 20         Air: 30.8         Rail: 0.6
Car: 40         Water: 50         Van: 1.2
Foot: 40         Van: 60         Water: 2.6
Water: 90         Car: 130         Car: 3.1
Air: 117         Foot: 220         Bicycle: 44.6
Bicycle: 170         Bicycle: 550         Foot: 54.2
Motorcycle: 1640     Motorcycle: 4840     Motorcycle: 108.9
---------------------    --------------------    -----------------------
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_safety#Accidents_and_incidents (might be Yankland oriented)

So die every 6 million journeys, 2 million hours or 22 million kilometres on average (whichever comes first). Hmm, cycling feels more dangerous than that. Presumably nasty injuries are far more common.

to the motorcycle figures there.

Sorry to hear of your friend NAT.

Just today I took my 8 year old twins out for their first real cycle on the roads (15 minutes on fairly quiet roads). I've seldom been so aware of the dangers on the road.