[Shades]

Have a mate who is part of our wider cycling gang; he’s taken early retirement and heard he was really frustrated with the Covid restrictions as he has a small holiday flat in Germany and can’t pursue his various plans.  My comment was why hadn’t he gone out on some long rides etc; then I was told he’d stopped, because he was sick of UK roads (safety), and was just going to cycle when he’s out in Germany (which he always raves about).  I was initially bemused but then, having almost being totalled on 2 rides recently (oncoming driver speeding on a lane and another speeding/not paying attention whilst I was trying to turn right off an A road; I’ve really lost my nerve when trying that manoeuvre), I kind of sympathised.  Realised that pre-WFH etc a lot of my miles were commuting on the Bristol/Bath bike path and quiet urban roads, so I was probably slightly cossetted.  I generally steer clear of A roads but, mid-week especially, the roads are like the wild-west post lockdown.  Apart from group rides I’ve now got front/back cameras so I could hardly criticise my mate for just being aware of his own mortality.

Topic

[kil0ran]

Re point 2: No point being

Re point 2: No point being brave if you’re dead. Having a pair of bollocks ain’t gonna save you from a close pass that ends up as a collision. And, to be honest, the red mist generated by aforementioned bollocks doesn’t help defuse situations when you’ve just been passed by an artic at 50mph on a country lane (thanks, Tories) . That’s part of why I stopped – one too many confrontations with drivers.

[Dinsdale81]

I bike through Ipswich for my
I bike through Ipswich for my commute, always a little ‘hair-raising’ but generally ok.
Did increase my route length though so that I wouldn’t have to cycle on the A137 or London Rd (old A12) as I just don’t feel safe on them.

[Anonymous]

I think people might be
I think people might be scared of going out cycling for a couple of reasons which aren’t backed up by long term stats (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447674/pedal-cyclists-2013-data.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwif-v7Gk_zwAhUXglwKHVbcB5QQFjAWegQIHhAC&usg=AOvVaw3lXDsj6Z_rf8pJYgQL-bCN):

1. The growth in cycling cameras recording near misses and playing then back on various forums, giving a false affirmation of danger (cycling deaths have generally been falling per capita and in absolute terms – source: statistica)

2. society is becoming more risk averse and health and safety conscious, and masculine traits arent as valued as they once were.

3. Covid traffic made cycling more pleasant, and the return of large volumes of traffic has reminded people of inherent risks which were always there.

Just my tuppence. Personally I dont find roads any more or less dangerous recently.

[wtjs]

quieter rural roads attract

quieter rural roads attract more motorists

They don’t when they’re single track and a lot of reversing would be involved. I have benefitted from quite a few roads like that in the N Pennines and Lakes in the last few days.

[Velophaart_95]

Same here. Roads that I would

Same here. Roads that I would happily ride on 10 years ago, I no longer bother, I can do without the stress of idiotic unaware drivers. However, during the original lockdown last year, I returned to them for a short period, but eventually they started getting busier.

And when planning a ride, I’ll check what roads seem to be ‘cycle friendly’…..doesn’t mean they are mind you – especially when the weather is nice, and the quieter rural roads attract more motorists – who can’t comprehend that they are used by cyclists, walkers, horse riders, tractors, etc

[Dave Dave]

Generally I fail those

Generally I fail those because I’m massively more cautious than the standard, and they think I’m clicking on too many things.

I haven’t had a collision* in 20 years of driving, though…

[*In fact that’s not entirely true. I once let someone hit me in the door and write off my car. But I knew exactly what he was going to do, he was driving so badly it must have been roid rage, and I was happy with the insurance payout for cosmetic damage I never bothered to fix. I could have braked, should have braked, but… He really was a complete gentleman-sausage.]

[Dave Dave]

Captain Badger wrote:

LOL. Blusters pompously about semantics. Proceeds to argue the toss semantically

Have a great week dude

You’re quite right, that was hardly a killer put-down. 15-love to you. But I’m still right about the meaning of hazard in this context. You wibbled about alternative meanings which don’t apply.

Have a good week too, as much as is left of it.

[Dave Dave]

wycombewheeler wrote:

wycombewheeler wrote:

In your ideal world side streets would be constantly blocked during rush hour

Yes, obviously. You say that like it’s a bad thing. Give way lines mean that the traffic from the minor roads has to wait for a long time, if there’s solid traffic on the major road. Obviously this doesn’t have any direct impact on cyclists, but enforcing it effectively would achieve 90% of the LTN thing all by itself. Are you in favour of rat runs? Or of pushing the traffic onto main routes?

As for the effect on congestion, you haven’t considered the compression-braking effect causing stoppages behind you. The total time (let alone fuel usage) for all vehicles involved to clear the bit of road in question is much higher if you stop to let people in from side streets than if they wait for a gap. Similarly with bits of road with parking on both sides where traffic coming one way has to stop to let traffic come the other way: it’s massively more efficient for all the traffic going one way to go, and then all the traffic waiting to go the other way, than to try and mix the streams. 

I didn’t mean to include the bit you said about stopping for pedestrians. I don’t have a problem with making cars wait for pedestrians. I have a problem with people who think they’re being nice by saving one driver time, when they’re costing other drivers far more time in total. 

[AlsoSomniloquism]

“I mostly did OK,…..”

“I mostly did OK,…..”

See, I didn’t. A motorscooter literally undertaking into a thin road is not classed as a Hazard but a person crossing the road in plenty of time is. Seemed all a bit arbituary to me and when they tailgated a cyclist (who had to be marked as a hazard as they turned in the road with plenty of time and space), I did wonder how I could mark myself as the hazzard. 

[ktache]

Pretty much everything

Pretty much everything presents a hazard to us, slight crack in the road, small animals, little stick at slightly too acute angles.  And absolutely EVERYTHING  bigger than us that moves, and quite a few things just a little bit smaller than us.  I would fail from identifying absolutely everything…

My shockingly low pressure 3inch tyres mean I have to worry less about the tiny stuff these days, but she behave very weirdly on odd slopes in the road, like those dips caused by buses around bus stops.

[Captain Badger]

Dave Dave wrote:

….

Utterly daft, irrelevant semantics. ‘Hazard’ has a specific meaning in this context. A child on the side of the road is a ‘hazard’. It is something that requires special attention from a driver, no more and no less.

https://www.gov.uk/theory-test/hazard-perception-test

LOL. Blusters pompously about semantics. Proceeds to argue the toss semantically

Have a great week dude

[AlsoSomniloquism]

I had similar when testing

I had similar when testing one off a CD the Mrs got for her tests. I clicked on so many things (child on pavement, car at junction) that I “failed”. Yet I see them and others as potential hazzards and will click if I think they are in my mind. 

[Tom_77]

There’s a hazard perception

There’s a hazard perception test here if you want to have a go – https://toptests.co.uk/practice-hazard-perception-test/

I mostly did OK, but I missed a couple and was a bit slow on some.

[Tom_77]

I haven’t been scared off the

I haven’t been scared off the roads completely, but my list of local roads I’m not willing to ride on has gradually increased. I also seem to spend a lot of time planning routes and staring at Street View to try and avoid dangerous roads.

There are some quiet roads in the countryside near me, the kind of road where you see almost as many bicycles and horses as cars.

[Hirsute]

You’d click when they moved

You’d click when they moved into the ‘developing hazard’ category.

It’s hard to put into words but from earlier today car comes round the bend: potential hazard. Driver takes bend too fast and the off side wheels are just over the middle of the road – now a developing hazard.

Parked cars are a potential hazard and you might pick up something from the wheel angle or off a mirror that a driver is present and it is now a developing hazard.

I did try one of those tests, but I clicked too much but my answers were not given. Mud on the road is an immediate hazard and should also alert you to the possibilty of meeting a farm vehicle or skip. Road narrowing a bit under a bridge is a hazard. None of those featured as answers.

 

[Author]

Replies