London - Would you commute by bike?

[al-onestare]

Many do, all buses do. I said it once and I'll say it again; respect eachother and that will have the biggest positive impact.

 

[AndyMc]

Maybe lorries should all be made to carry a sign saying 'Cyclists do not overtake on left' or 'Cyclists keep your distance' or some such (not to say that doing so should make them immune from liability of course...).

Most of them do in fairness.

Again I'd say as someone who rides through London daily, I agree with the comment that naivety/errors of judgement are likely made on cyclists part. It feels insensitive to think this (and I don't know any details) and all road users will make the wrong decisions; its just when a cyclist does it can be fatal, whereas a motorist may lose his NCB.

Ultimately the vast majority of fatalities are caused by left turning HGVs, skip lorries, coaches and buses- if all cyclists avoided being in these danger areas it would be a good start rather than waiting for the Mayor to do something about it for us. I never go near any of these vehicles- I have made mistakes elsewhere and had many near misses, but I'd like to think for every mistake I make it makes be a better, safer cyclist.

Yes segregation as seen in other European cities would be great, but we need to be part of the solution too.

 

[Pyro Tim]

doesn't help when a bus starts overtaking you when you are riding along 10m from a tight left bend, than pass going round the bend, squeezing me so I had to slow right down to avoid being a casualty, then stopping 20m past the bend at the stop, all the time with me still with him.

 

[lumos2000]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24998730

reading this today and reading your comments it think that removing all signs, paths, restrictions ect might be a good idea in some areas. just keep a speed limit, sounds a bit crazy but having a shared space would force everyone to be more careful and slow down and think. also stopping cars and lorry's in city centres would also make sense.

 

[Johnsqual]

doesn't help when a bus starts overtaking you when you are riding along 10m from a tight left bend, than pass going round the bend, squeezing me so I had to slow right down to avoid being a casualty, then stopping 20m past the bend at the stop, all the time with me still with him.

I hate stuff like this. When I lived in Oxford, I encountered so many idiot bus drivers. In particular, they were in the habit of overtaking cyclists after the lights at a particular junction, then pulling in to a bus stop 20m later. I got into the habit of riding as far out in the bus lane as possible, but even then one kn0bhead bus driver pulled out of the bus lane into the normal lane to try and overtake.

I understand that bus drivers aren't very well paid and it's a stressful job, but why do they feel the need to carve up cyclists like that?

Buses and bikes really don't mix at all, it's just a frustrating and often dangerous combination of traffic types.

 

[David B]

Maybe lorries should all be made to carry a sign saying 'Cyclists do not overtake on left' or 'Cyclists keep your distance' or some such (not to say that doing so should make them immune from liability of course...).

I've seen quite a few HGVs that do - agreed, it doesn't make them liability-free but is a sign (no pun intended) that they're aware of the dangers and are at least doing something, however minor, about it.

David

 

[al-onestare]

I'll just leave this here. It's reassuring to know that the internet is still full of retards but thankfully, not here. I'm quite happy with BOTM nonsense compared to the hell-holes elsewhere:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/matt-gl ... 98701.html

 

[Bpool77]

Looks like the police are taking note

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25080427