London's Idiot Cyclists

Woebot

Well-known member
Back on my my bike after a lazy six months.

The following should be indicted for their sheer stupidity:

• Pretty girls not wearing cycle helmets cos they're too bloody vain.
• Post 7/7 idiots who have joined the throng of other idiot blokes who dont wear helmets.
• People who cycle wearing earphones! How insanely stupid is this? Youve got to be on your toes!

Delighted to see so many people cycling, but REALLY, people have to wear skid-lids.

The Word from Auntie WOEBOT.
 

DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
Yeah, the earphones thing is really stupid.

I try to bike to work once a week. It's about 5-6 miles each way on suburban roads. Most don't have that much room for bikes so I gotta be careful and hear the cars coming from behind me.

What's it like in London? In New York you can't bike on the sidewalk so you gotta be there in the middle of traffic. On the other hand there are lots of one-way streets and wide avenues but it still seems kinda dangerous. At least it's flat.

The helmet looks a bit dorky and it gets hot but safety first.
 

henrymiller

Well-known member
woebot otm, alas. in civilized cities you can get away with headphones, but london is fucked-up and cycle-unfriendly.
 
WOEBOT said:
Back on my my bike after a lazy six months.

The following should be indicted for their sheer stupidity:

• Pretty girls not wearing cycle helmets cos they're too bloody vain.
• Post 7/7 idiots who have joined the throng of other idiot blokes who dont wear helmets.
• People who cycle wearing earphones! How insanely stupid is this? Youve got to be on your toes!

Delighted to see so many people cycling, but REALLY, people have to wear skid-lids.

The Word from Auntie WOEBOT.

Hmmmm... seriously, cycle helmets may not be the best idea. The argument against is rather tortuous but goes like this. Wearing a helmet is a 'barrier to entry' for prospective cyclists. The number of accidents involving cyclists is inversely proportional to the number of cyclists on the road. If compulsory helmets meant fewer cyclists on the roads, the number of accidents involving cyclists would likely increase. Why? Because more cyclists on the road means motorists and pedestrians become conditioned to expect to see cyclists, to take them into account when manoeuvering.

More on that here. Basically, most cycle helmets are USELESS.

There's also an argument that a couple of centimetres of polystyrene perched on top of your skull brings about a very false sense of security. A cycle helmet will not prevent your innards being squeezed out by a double decker bus, but it might make you a bit more cavalier when cycling in its vicinity.

I for one have never worn a cycle helmet and probably never will. Why have you come over all nanny state on this one?
 
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labrat

hot on the heels of love
henrymiller said:
woebot otm, alas. in civilized cities you can get away with headphones, but london is fucked-up and cycle-unfriendly.
CERTAINLY not in Manchester
 

jenks

thread death
wear the helmet, you wouldn't drive a car without a seat belt ( well maybe you would)

don't jump red lights it pisses the car drivers off and the rest of us get the shit for it

and take the ear phones out - just exactly what can you hear anyway - listen to the traffic that's what's gonna kill ya.

{in essence in total argreement with woebot - not nanny state just stating some good solid sense}
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
Nobody in Italy wear cycle helmets, you know, those italians.... the thing you see, like childrens placed above the handle-bars.

I have to leave Monza where I lived for an year. This small medioeval little nice city is the most cycle friendly I have ever lived in, everibody has a bicycle and the centre is forbidden to cars. Since I love bicycle, was fantastic.
 
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dominic

Beast of Burden
DigitalDjigit said:
At least it's flat.

errr, one thing about biking in ny is that you get to notice all the potholes and, in general, how poorly maintained the streets are!!!

below 14th street and above houston there are biking lanes

but yeah, i used to bike when i lived in brooklyn -- way too nerve-wracking for the likes of me, the need for constant vigilance lest you get struck by a car (as well as the need to watch out for pedestrians)

and i rode w/o helmet, w/o light, w/o reflectors -- all hours of the night
 
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borderpolice

Well-known member
jenks said:
don't jump red lights it pisses the car drivers off and the rest of us get the shit for it

jumping red lights is a safety measure for cyclists. it means you are safe from left turning
motorists cutting into your path.

i think the law should be modified to allow jumping traffic lights for cyclists.
 

xero

was minusone
there should be a special green light for cyclists that comes on before the main light goes green to give us a chance to get ahead of the main flow of traffic & therefore more visible - in practice this is what a lot of london cyclists who red light jump are doing. The green space for cyclists in front of the stop line at some junctions could be helpful but a large number of car & van drivers just ignore it.

Agree about the earphones thing, are people nuts?? You even see quite a few people cycling with full size closed-back headphones & of course no helmet! Mind you I like cycling on the canal where I consider it safe enough to ride with a soundtrack
 

borderpolice

Well-known member
Rambler said:
But, er, not from everyone else legitimately using that lane on a green light...

sure, but everybody else legitimatly using a crossing is in the cyclist's field of vision.

the number of near-death experiences i've had with motorists turning left on traffic lights that
have just gone green is ridiculous
 

owen

Well-known member
i was thinking about cycling in london once and realised that being south of the river, to get anywhere i would have to go through the elephant and castle, which was too terrifying to even contemplate

in germany they (apparently) have 'pimp my bicycle' rather than 'pimp my ride' so it must be better there...
 

henrymiller

Well-known member
it's the junctions that are the real turn-off yeah. i grew up in cambridge, where *everybody* cycles, and i consider myself a pretty careful rider, but i still have to dismount at junctions in lunnun.
 
It makes me really angry to see these hideous cyclists zooming through a gaggle of innocent pedestrians when the little feller is green and the beeps are beeping. Have some respect for your fellow city dwellers I say. Such an attitude of contempt is sad. Actually I used to do it but now I'm on the wagon.

There are ways around the Elephant and castle but they are a bit difficult to describe.
 

rewch

Well-known member
previously i had thought cyclists assumed that traffic signals did not apply to them... glad to discover how wrong i was & that it's a safety thing... also glad you're all on your bikes because now i can get a seat on the tube...
 

Woebot

Well-known member
HMGovt said:
Hmmmm... seriously, cycle helmets may not be the best idea. The argument against is rather tortuous but goes like this. Wearing a helmet is a 'barrier to entry' for prospective cyclists. The number of accidents involving cyclists is inversely proportional to the number of cyclists on the road. If compulsory helmets meant fewer cyclists on the roads, the number of accidents involving cyclists would likely increase. Why? Because more cyclists on the road means motorists and pedestrians become conditioned to expect to see cyclists, to take them into account when manoeuvering.

More on that here. Basically, most cycle helmets are USELESS.

There's also an argument that a couple of centimetres of polystyrene perched on top of your skull brings about a very false sense of security. A cycle helmet will not prevent your innards being squeezed out by a double decker bus, but it might make you a bit more cavalier when cycling in its vicinity.

I for one have never worn a cycle helmet and probably never will. Why have you come over all nanny state on this one?

well this runs contary to the stats that ive seen (rummages around) which state that 95% of fatal cycle accicents are head injuries and that, i dunno, roughly 75% of those are avoidable by wearing a helmet!

but yes, a good helmet (in good nick) is essential.
 

Jim Daze

Well-known member
My bike got nicked a year ago, just got a new one and have joined the throng once more. Just cycled to White City from hackney, whoa ! nelly Euston Rd is so shit god , and so many cyclist have the ubiquitous I Pod leads in their ears , madness. Sorry Matt I haven't a lid yet but I'm going to get one on my way home :eek:
 

ambrose

Well-known member
pimp my fahrrad



cyclists should never jump red lights. as with the number of cyclists on the road increasing the safety of cyclists, so does the rule that the more that cyclists act like legitimate road users, the more they will become an accepted road user. at the moment in this country they seem to regard themselves (and are regarded) as a sort of uneasy cross between a pedestrian and a car, without having to follow the protocols of either. London cyclists piss me off something chronic, the way when i came down st johns st and watch loads of cyclists pour past me as i wait at the lights on the pedestrian crossing.

as a transport student, i take any endorsement of breaking highway code regulations with extreme scepticism. it might be safer for cyclists to jump a red light to avoid left turning traffic, but it isnt safer for all other road users! think about the other people using the road facilities, they have been designed to maximise safety for all road users, cyclists, bus passengers, car drivers and pedestrians. advanced stop lines are present at many large junctions in London, so if you want to turn right at a junction, you can get into a right hand turn lane in front of other traffic. the point about traffic sitting in advanced stop boxes is the same about increased cycle traffic, the more people using them (and not jumping!), the more drivers will learn to respect them. this safety thing seems like a smokescreen to excuse very poor cyclist behaviour, whereby cyclists will jump any red light, even if no one is crossing a pedestrian crossing, they will jump it ahead of all other traffic. if cars can wait, why cant cyclists?

obey the fucking rules. i want to cycle in a cyle friendly pleasant environment, not a fucking war zone with pitched battles between motorists and cyclists.
 
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