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July 10, 2008

Comments

Riddley Walker

"We cyclists think of ourselves as basically pedestrians with a bit of a machine to help us go faster": And you can't grasp how utterly inaccurate that self-perception is? How utterly inadequate as a response to the death of a teenage girl who - *regardless" of where she was standing - had no time to get out of the way of this dickhead, who could have stopped but did not? In trying too hard to counter the stereotype of cyclists as selfish, thoughtless bastards (which, I agree, is indeed exaggerated and unfair), all you've managed to do is to reinforce it.
Well done.

Nicole Segre

Try cycling on a "non-designated cycle path" on Hampstead Heath, as I sometimes do, so shoot me. I always slow down and give walkers a wide berth, but people shout abuse or step out to block my way, absolutely incensed. But I am no more dangerous on a non-designated path than on an official shared path. I merely wish to go from one place to another without troubling anyone and without having to tangle with traffic. You are right: cyclists think of themselves as pedestrians, except on wheels and therefore particularly vulnerable, but pedestrians are adamant that our proper place is with the bendy buses. Road planners are more concerned with keeping cyclists out of everyone's hair than with their safety, hence all the useless or downright dangerous little bits of cycle path they have put in. It is all very strange.

Mick H

No, RW, I can't grasp how utterly inaccurate that self-perception is. Sorry.

Riddley Walker

I rest my case.

Nicole Segre

Riddley Walker: I believe 16 cyclists were killed in London last year, and 800 were injured. Why does that not make you angry?

Mick H

According to Richard Morrison, 136 cyclists were killed on Britain's roads last year, and 16,195 injured, of whom 2,428 were serious injuries.

dearieme

I cycle, and much though I despise the stupidity of pedestrians, I reckon that I'm more at risk from stupid, selfish, reckless cyclists who are only too likely to send me under the wheels of a vehicle. And I must add - 25 years ago, I found that taxi drivers and bus drivers were mainly competent and not too selfish: by God, they are worse now. Especially the taxi drivers. Ordinary car drivers who are used to cyclists are not too bad, with the usual proviso that any driver in a hat should be reckoned an incompetent until he demonstrates otherwise.

Nicole Segre

See? It's a lost cause. Even cyclists complain about 'selfish, reckless' cyclists who are likely (but don't actually) send them under the wheels of a vehicle. Or else they complain that irresponsible riders give the rest of us a bad name, a bit like Jews who like to disown Israel. The fact is that if more people got out of their cars and onto bikes, the world would be a much nicer place. Maybe that's what makes everyone so furious with cyclists.

dearieme

If the fuckers had sent me under the wheels of a vehicle, I wouldn't be here to tell the tale, would I? Twit.

Peter Harley

In Felixstowe where I live most cyclists do not:
Signal their intentions on the road
Look around before moving out into traffic

They also seem in the majority to cycle around listening to Ipods and such like.I even saw a cyclist on the high road this week texting on his phone whilst traveling along not watching the road.
This isn't London with it's traffic volumes but "silly suffolk" and it amazes me that we have so few accidents here.And this before one takes the car driver's faults into account.

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