Biggest Threats to Cyclists?

WiggyDiggyPoo

Johno100 wrote: »

Or cyclists undertaking left turning vehicles, but I am sure it will all come out in the wash.

I'm not making any judgements at all on whose fault it may be, but given all 5 cyclists have died in a collision with this type of vehicle I know where the threat is if I see one.

Johno100

WiggyDiggyPoo wrote: »

I'm not making any judgements at all on whose fault it may be, but given all 5 cyclists have died in a collision with this type of vehicle I know where the threat is if I see one.

There is another commonality of course, all the accidents involve pedal cycles, perhaps that is the problem.

WiggyDiggyPoo

Johno100 wrote: »

There is another commonality of course, all the accidents involve pedal cycles, perhaps that is the problem.

Stating the obvious award of the day goes to.....:rotfl:

Johno100

WiggyDiggyPoo wrote: »

Stating the obvious award of the day goes to.....:rotfl:

"We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." - George Orwell

WiggyDiggyPoo

Johno100 wrote: »

"We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." - George Orwell

Well that explains why an intelligent man would state the obvious, why are you doing so?

Heycock

I think the point that Johno100 is making is that it's predominantly pedal cyclists who persist in undertaking. Motorbikes rarely do it although they have an alarming tendency to weave in and out through the middle and around the outside.
As a cyclist, the way I see it is if I'm approaching a lorry or bus stuck at lights, I hold back and let them clear the junction. It's really a case of it being ultimately up to the cyclist to ensure they don't go under the wheels by riding defensively. You can argue about cyclists rights and being assertive and reclaiming the road blah blah but in the end in a collision there'll only be one winner. And dead is dead regardless of blame.

Johno100

Heycock wrote: »

I think the point that Johno100 is making is that it's predominantly pedal cyclists who persist in undertaking. Motorbikes rarely do it although they have an alarming tendency to weave in and out through the middle and around the outside.
As a cyclist, the way I see it is if I'm approaching a lorry or bus stuck at lights, I hold back and let them clear the junction. It's really a case of it being ultimately up to the cyclist to ensure they don't go under the wheels by riding defensively. You can argue about cyclists rights and being assertive and reclaiming the road blah blah but in the end in a collision there'll only be one winner. And dead is dead regardless of blame.

Agreed, I can imagine the inscription on the gravestone "Here lies Joe Bloggs, crushed by a heavy truck but he was within his rights to be there when it happened"

WiggyDiggyPoo

Heycock wrote: »

I think the point that Johno100 is making is that it's predominantly pedal cyclists who persist in undertaking. Motorbikes rarely do it although they have an alarming tendency to weave in and out through the middle and around the outside.
As a cyclist, the way I see it is if I'm approaching a lorry or bus stuck at lights, I hold back and let them clear the junction. It's really a case of it being ultimately up to the cyclist to ensure they don't go under the wheels by riding defensively. You can argue about cyclists rights and being assertive and reclaiming the road blah blah but in the end in a collision there'll only be one winner. And dead is dead regardless of blame.

Although I agree with your behaviour (and demonstrate it myself) as a cyclist we need to judge when to undertake or not, I'm really not sure what Johno's point is although I'm happy to read whatever clarification he wishes to provide.

And I've made no points whatsoever about "cyclists rights and being assertive and reclaiming the road blah blah" but here is where you are spot on-

"in the end in a collision there'll only be one winner. . And dead is dead regardless of blame."

This is why regardless of cyclist behaviour I think the biggest threat are HGV's and Bus's:

London cycle deaths
2010: 10 deaths, four involving HGVs
2011: 16 deaths, 12 involving HGVs
2012: 14 deaths, five involving HGVs
2013 so far: 13 deaths, eight involving HGVs

Source: TfL


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24936942

Cycrow

i guess it depends what you class as undertaking. a few years ago i ended up scraping down the side of car, nothing serious, but the driver was pretty angry, and was saying it was my fault for undertaking him when he was turning left.

what actually happen was i was ahead of him, he then overtook me, then once the front of his car was ahead of my front wheel, he started turning left.
claiming that as he was ahead of me at that point so his overtake was complete and i was then undertaking him, despite me being at no point behind him

WiggyDiggyPoo

Johno100 wrote: »

Agreed, I can imagine the inscription on the gravestone "Here lies Joe Bloggs, crushed by a heavy truck but he was within his rights to be there when it happened"

Its nothing to do with rights, its to with people are driving such machines with this attitude -

"As a bus driver, you've got so much to deal with. We've got CCTV cameras, passengers, other road users. We're under a lot of pressure and get a lot of stick from drivers. We have to stick to a tight time schedule."

So they're basically too busy to watch out for more vulnerable road users and more interested in sticking to the timetable.

"A lot of bus drivers hate cyclists because they slow them up and they get in their way."

God forbid you have to share your road space with another user who isn't as fast as you.

"The bikes that really get up my nose are the Boris bikes because they are not regular bike riders. Usually they have no head protection and they don't know how to ride them."

A sweeping analogy that Boris Bikes are used by the inexperienced and can't ride, and I'd a love to know how wearing a helmet will help when a HGV or Bus runs me over and crushes me beneath its wheels.