Biggest Threats to Cyclists?

Guesthouse

WiggyDiggyPoo wrote: »

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

Which is why we've got mixed bus/cycle/taxi lanes in Aberdeen.

Guesthouse

hugheskevi wrote: »

Not sure I'd describe London as having excellent public transport, I suppose relative to the rest of the country it does, but there are far better examples overseas.

My choices of public transport are:

• bus, which takes at least 90 minutes door-to-door
• train which takes 60 minutes, but which can routinely take longer and on several nights of the year will be completely disrupted and take several hours
• underground (when going into the City), but that involves changing at Balham, onto the underground line which TfL recently advised commuters to avoid and preferably walk instead as you often have to wait for several trains due to overcrowding.

An annual travelcard (rail) would cost me almost £1,500.

Alternatively, I can cycle which will always take 40-45 minutes, and also provides seven and a half hours of exercise per week, compared to standing in crowded and cramped conditions, often with your nose about 5cm from another person on train or tube.

Total cycling expenses, including replacement every few years, are about £300 per year, maximum.

Even if there wasn't a huge cost factor, I'd still prefer to cycle due to the faster journey time, the more pleasant journey and the exercise benefits.

Those are a few good reasons

Public transport...that's the bus service for me then. No trains or underground and no buses running for my 6am starts. I think the OP is missing that not everywhere is London...or even a reasonably large city

Altarf

AndyBSG wrote: »

A car in an ASL on a red light is a ticketable traffic offence, when they entered it is completely irrelevant so I would like to know why you believe this is not the case?

The only law in relation to ASL is passing a stop line on a red light.

Both motorists and cyclists seem to fail to grasp that there are two stop lines, and it is illegal to pass either on a red light. Inevitably that means that some motorists will end up in the ASL, if they have passed the first, but not the second if the lights have changed.

Guesthouse

dawny10 wrote: »

It's also a symptom of the rage and frustration people feel stuck in their little motorised boxes.

And yet, so many of those commuters that feel stuck in their boxes could so easily cycle, take a bus or walk since a large majority of urban journeys are less than approx 3 miles.

True, not everyone can but anyone will be able to provide evidence of someone who drives less than a mile to work. For my part, one colleague drives around a maze of streets and either roundabouts or a big set of traffic lights for what is truly no more than a 500m journey if he walked out his door, crossed the road and went down 1 closed off residential street.

Guesthouse

Altarf wrote: »

The only law in relation to ASL is passing a stop line on a red light.

Both motorists and cyclists seem to fail to grasp that there are two stop lines, and it is illegal to pass either on a red light. Inevitably that means that some motorists will end up in the ASL, if they have passed the first, but not the second if the lights have changed.

The red light doesn't magically appear, there's an amber one before it to give road users a clue that it's about to go red so you should be slowing down or travelling at a safe speed that you can stop safely within the confines of the road. If there's a sign saying stop at "x" line, that's what you do.

Consider the yellow box junction and it's rules. How many times do you see that ignored.

Or the blocked roundabout because every motorist HAS to move onto the roundabout or someone else will take their space?

Johno100

brat wrote: »

If the driver committed the offence why should he appeal?

Because according to AndyBSG the officer did not see the offence committed, namely the crossing of the first stop line while the light was on red.

Johno100

Guesthouse wrote: »

The red light doesn't magically appear, there's an amber one before it to give road users a clue that it's about to go red so you should be slowing down or travelling at a safe speed that you can stop safely within the confines of the road. If there's a sign saying stop at "x" line, that's what you do.

Consider the yellow box junction and it's rules. How many times do you see that ignored.

Or the blocked roundabout because every motorist HAS to move onto the roundabout or someone else will take their space?

And you have never been in a queue of slow moving traffic, edging forward, when the lights change just as you have passed the stop line? You can't reverse because someone is behind you, you can't continue forward as you can't clear the junction, so what do you do, that's right stop. But of course to the rabid cyclist filtering to the front of the queue you have deliberately put yourself in the ASZ

Cycrow

Guesthouse wrote: »

And yet, so many of those commuters that feel stuck in their boxes could so easily cycle, take a bus or walk since a large majority of urban journeys are less than approx 3 miles.

True, not everyone can but anyone will be able to provide evidence of someone who drives less than a mile to work. For my part, one colleague drives around a maze of streets and either roundabouts or a big set of traffic lights for what is truly no more than a 500m journey if he walked out his door, crossed the road and went down 1 closed off residential street.

where i used to live, one of my neighbours used to drive to work every day, she just worked at the local co-op which was a 5 minute walk around the corner, yet she would drive everyday, and due to the slow moving traffic, most likely took her 30 mins to get there.

some people have come to reliant on their cars they simply don't can't walk anywhere

AndyBSG

Johno100 wrote: »

And you have never been in a queue of slow moving traffic, edging forward, when the lights change just as you have passed the stop line? You can't reverse because someone is behind you, you can't continue forward as you can't clear the junction, so what do you do, that's right stop. But of course to the rabid cyclist filtering to the front of the queue you have deliberately put yourself in the ASZ

But you can't use that excuse if you get caught in one of those yellow 'no stopping' boxes you get at junctions because it's an offence to enter them if your exit is not clear.

The same rule should apply to ASL's.

andrewf75

Norman_Castle wrote: »

VED exists to encourage buyers to choose less polluting vehicles. Its just another tax. It doesn't pay, or compensate for anything.

Depends how you look at it. Pollution costs the government money so the way I see it you are helping to pay for that and in proportion to the damage your vehicle does. Seems completely fair to me.