An email I got today:

STOP BORIS JOHNSON RISKING LIVES AND CYCLING GROWTH WITH DECISION ON MOTORBIKES IN BUS LANES

Boris Johnson is set to ‘rubber stamp’ the decision to allow motorbikes to use bus lanes despite a lack of valid evidence to show the move will reduce road danger, reduce congestion or provide environmental benefits.

In April 2008, following a report on the subject, Transport for London concluded that ‘there is no evidence to indicate that motorcyclists would see any significant safety benefits from being allowed to enter bus lanes but that there were potential disbenefits for both cyclists and pedestrians.’

LCC is not anti-motorcyclist - like pedestrians and cyclists they are vulnerable road users and could benefit from improved road design. But we do not want the Mayor to make a snap decision, just weeks after his election, based on what TfL described as “flawed methodology and data that is “not statistically significant.”

Many of the growing number of London cyclists use bus lanes as a refuge from the HGV’s, vans, motorbikes and cars in other lanes. Putting high-speed motorbikes in bus lanes will likely impact safety, intimidate new cyclists and restrict future cycling growth. It is vitally important that the Mayor understands how important this issue is to pedestrians and cyclists.

For more information visit the LCC website.

We already have more than a 1000 signatures but we really need more to persuade the Mayor not to make a snap decision to put motorbikes in bus lanes.

You can sign the petition here (scroll to the bottom)

You could also write to Boris Johnson:
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, City Hall, The Queens Walk, London, SE1 2AA.

( And if you want MY opinion... )

I keep hearing an advert for road safety on the radio that aims to inform me about an optical illusion that 'contributes to the death or injury of 2 motorcyclists every day' and that 'in tests, 96% of us think that a smaller object takes longer to reach us'.

I've done some googling, and can't find any actual figures to back this up, but I've certainly experienced it myself, from both sides. Yesterday, in fact.

On my way home, I was about to turn right from a side road onto a main road, and to my left, a good distance away, were what I thought was two cyclists. As I went to pull out, I double checked, and one 'cyclist' was unexpectedly MUCH closer than the other - it was a motorbike. I stopped with plenty of time and no need to panic, glad that the advert was at the back of my mind and had made me more aware of the 'optical illusion'.

I think with cyclists, it's less an optical illusion, and more drivers simply being unaware of quite how fast we cyclists can go. I was heading down a main road, noticing the car in the side road waiting to turn right, but was going at a fair pace, and also there's this thing called 'right of way' which applies to cyclists too. As I neared the junction, the car suddenly pulled out in front of me. I yelled incoherently and slammed on the brakes, executing a nifty skid that resulted in me being parallel with the car and pretty much face to face with the driver. She looked at me with such a strange expression - part shock, part indignation. She seemed to think I was at fault in some way, by her reaction and subsequent hand gesture. I just shook my head and said 'stupid girl' and carried on my way.

'Stupid girl' may not be the best come back, but I've been trying very hard lately not to swear when things like this happen, just in case I'm ever in a position where my conduct as a cyclist may be held up to scrutiny - as in, next time someone fails to see me, or judge my speed accurately, and I end up failing to execute a nifty skid just in the nick of time. I think being on record as having shouted 'You absolute fucking monkeywankingelbowheadedknobchesseddickdisco' may make you look bad should you end up needing to testify, however true the comment may be.

Yes, motorcycles may be closer than they appear. Cyclists, also, may be faster than they appear.

Register now for the London Freewheel 2008

I know I had 'issues' with the last one, but it was still a great way to show the world how many cyclists there are. Maybe they'll deal with some of the issues a bit better this year, offer safety information about cycling and sharing the road.

We can but hope.

I'm still signing up, because problems aside, it was still wonderful to cycle around the city car free!

Who's with me?

crossposted to domorethings

It occurred to me, re-reading this (long neglected) blog, that I failed to mention an incident from Halloween.

I was cycling home from work. I was about to turn right, and so was stationary in the centre of the road, waiting for the traffic to my right to clear long enough to safely turn.

I felt something ON MY ARSE. I turned in shock to see a white van stopped behind me with a guy leaning out of the nearside window, reaching out towards me, with his hand ON MY ARSE.

I was in such shock, I didn't know what to say. It all happened in moments - they all laughed and jeered and sped off. I was about to shout at them (something along the lines of OI YOU FUCKING TWATBURGLARMONKEYSHITCOCKS) and then realised that there was an assortment of tiny witches, wizards, ghosts and a cat crossing the road, and not wanting them to hear such language, it came out as a rather pathetic 'HEY YOU...'.

Fucking WANKERS though! I mean, REALLY!

Leaving aside that fact that that was unbelievably dangerous - I'm in the middle of two streams of traffic, in winter, at night - HOW DARE some bloke assume that it is ok to touch some random stranger's bottom??

He wouldn't have done it to a male cyclist, so this is all about girls on bikes apparently being anyone's property.

I was INCENSED. Writing about the incident now has brought back all that anger. I didn't write it up for a long time as I was (and still am, to a degree) actually incoherently angry.

How DARE they touch me. How DARE they do something so totally dangerous and irresponsible.

And how DARE they drive off so fast I couldn't get their license plate.

We're at that stage of winter where my thin waterproof is not quite warm enough, my winter waterproof too warm. British weather. Marvellous.

I've now been cycling to work regularly for about 18 months, and so coming into my second winter of cycle commuting. Last year, I made it almost all the way through the winter, only coming in to work by train when I felt really ill, or the weather looked really dangerous. I cycled in the snow, which is a lot of fun, really, and cars do seem to take more care, and see you better. Perhaps only because the drivers are going 'what the fuck is that nutter doing cycling to work in this weather?', but that's good enough for me.

I'd like to take this moment to record this detail:

White Ford Transit, W261 JAA. This van with 3 young men in it swerved around me as I was signalling to turn right, then swerved back in front of me, then turned right o_O. As I muttered obscenities to myself (I'm trying hard not to yell it out, if the worst happens, it damages my case...) they drove off.

As happens often in London, the average speed of traffic being what it is, I overtook them not long after at a junction. They really didn't like this. They beeped, honked and generally were arseholes. As they sped up to overtake me on a quiet residential road one leant out the window to yell at me. To my shame, I made an obscene gesture, then bottled out as they slowed down! I once had faith in the 'you don't hit girls' rule which held sway when I was younger - but not in this day and age. They clearly changed their mind about an altercation (maybe it was the pink hi-vis?) and sped off.

So here's a business idea for a budding entrepreneur out there - a website where you can record bad drivers. You could put in the licence plate, the make of car and the time and date of the altercation. I'm not sure where it would go after that, but I'm not a budding entrepreneur, I'm the ideas lady...

I am going to try to record the licence plates of vehicles that do stuff like this whenever I can - if not for any purpose, just so I have a record of who they were. It's a good habit to get into - and a hard one. The last thing on your mind when you've just been scared/shocked/pissed off is to get that number. One licence plate I WISH I'd had the wherewithal to get was that of the van that slowed down behind me on 31st October as I was waiting to turn right off a main road. The van slowed almost to a stop behind me, and then I felt someone actually grab my arse! In shock, I looked round to see a grinning face in a white van (of course) and they sped off. I was too shocked to even think of taking the plate number, and I couldn't yell OI YOU FUCKING CUNTCOCKINGSHITBAG because there was an assortment of tiny witches, vampires and a zombie crossing the road, this being the 31st, and I thought perhaps that language wouldn't go down well with the mum.

So I am going to try to get into the habit of getting that plate number. Just in case.

It's not all bad news from White Van Man - as I was cycling a fairly unfamiliar route the other day, and slowing to stop at a red light, a voice behind me said, "Miss! hey, miss! miss on the bike!" I looked around to see two chaps in a small dusty van, grinning at me, in orange hi-vis vests. Expecting the worse, I held a neutral expression on my face when one of them said, "So where'd you get a pink hi-vis?". I laughed and said, "Internet! You can get blue ones too." TO which the reply was, "Naaaaaah mate. It's gotta be a pink one, innit!". That made me laugh. They let me pull away first and waved as they went past later.

Last night I went out for a drink with come friend, and after 2 rather strong cocktails made the decision to get the Overground home. This was a good decision - I am not a good drunk cycler. Some people find it easy, but I can barely stay on in a straight line, let alone avoid being in a horrible accident. Once, I saw a girl cycling along Holloway Road, no lights, weaving ever so slightly in the bus lane, with a glass of Baileys in one hand. Not that I approve, of course, but I was definitely impressed.

I'm sure I'm not the only cycle commuter who often hears a variation on this:



This comment has always confused and annoyed me in equal terms. Cycling in a city i find much less scary than cycling in the country, where the road are narrow and not as well lit, and cars are less used to seeing cyclists at every turn.

I'd love to cycle to work, but the roads are so dangerous!

How often is this one said by drivers? Is it rude to answer 'If people could drive properly, it wouldn't be so dangerous'. That's not really true, I realise now - the vast majority of cyclists I see on a daily basis either take dangerous risks or are just dangerously unaware of how to cycle safely.

London's Freewheel event was a great idea, but in order to get people feeling safe and able to cycle in London it was slightly backwards in its aim. The emphasis, in my mind, shouldn't be about giving cyclists car-free roads so we can just be dangerous to other cyclists, but to educate cyclists and drivers alike how we can share the road.

As of yesterday, the comments that confuse me most are the ones along the lines of

I don't know how you do that every day, in the winter when you could just get public transport

I wasn't feeling well yesterday morning, I think I have a female version of man-flu. It is sweeping thought our office like a, well, like a virus. I felt like my brain was overheating and was slowly melting, leaking out of my nose, while a family of porcupines had taken up residence in my throat. I decided not to cycle to work, or to my volunteer work in Battersea afterwards, and instead get public transport.

I felt like a cow on my way to the market - face pressed against the window, some bloke's crotch pressed against my backside, a man with a sign reading 'please repent your sins and start praying to god' loudly trying to save us all. It was the longest and most depressing 15 minutes of my life. At my stop I had to literally fight to get off. People are aggressive about getting on and off - people were at risk of being pushed out at every stop.The trains are so dangerous!

As we pulled into my station the chap trying to save us all announced that we should 'all giv0e thanks to god'. I said, 'thank god this is my stop'.

It took me twice as long to get to work twice as long to get to Battersea, twice as long to get home, and at every stage I was surrounded by swarms of hot, angry people all pushing, shoving, hurrying, glaring. And I paid £5 for the privilege.

And you know what? I don't know how people do that every day. They must be braver than I.

I nearly hit a pedestrian this morning. He suddenly walked out into the road, with no warning, no looking, nothing. I swerved as much as I could and he pulled back with a 'FUCK' and a 'sorry' yelled after me as I passed him by mere inches.

I am just old enough to remember Darth Vader being the green cross code man.

I remember all those terrifying old public information films. One particularly nightmarish one stays with me - some kids playing frisbee near an electricity thingy ending up in one of them being electrocuted.

The latter clearly worked on me - I never play frisbee near power stations.

But as for crossing the road - do we really look and listen? Listen, yes I'm sure we do, but looking? Since I started cycling I've realise how truly dreadful I am at crossing the road, along with the vast majority of pedestrians.

The number of times I've nearly hit someone who has suddenly stepped into the road, without looking round or showing any sign that they are about to cross is scary. Cars who do not indicate I've already covered, but on a bike you look out for those little signs that show that other road users may go left or right. Cyclists may look round behind them, sure sign they're going to veer left or right¹, pedestrians will look round to check the road is clear. These signs tell us to slow down, to be aware.

If a pedestrian just suddenly walks out in front of us, having not heard us and not looked for us, what can we do? Well, Ken Livingston would apparently like us to ring a bell every time we see a pedestrian.². He reckons "Using a bell to warn pedestrians that you are approaching is not only safer, it is also courteous." I reckon looking both ways to see if anything coming is not only 'courteous' but plain common sense.



I'm not very good at maths, but 12 in 3201 is not much of a percentage. But then, it's hard to kill someone when you are going at an average of 12-15 mph.³ I would be interested to know the number of pedestrians and cyclists injured in collisions like that, I suspect it's considerably higher.

Spend a day really looking at how you cross the road. You may look down the road, but do you look around to see if any traffic is turning onto that side road from behind you? DO you look for cyclists, or just listen for cars? Do you assume traffic will stop if you just walk straight out? You might be rather shocked at how terrible you are at crossing the road. We've all forgotten the lessons of David Prowse.

The green cross code is taught by hedgehogs these days, which I find odd, as hedgehogs aren't generally known for their road-crossing skills. Shock tactics are used for teenagers, with that rather terrifying advert happy-slap style advert. Drivers are reminded to watch out for bikers, cyclists, children on the road. Many of these public information films are brutal and bleak, designed to terrify drivers into being more cautious on the road sup4;.

But as adults, we seem to forget how to cross the road. Where are the films trying to shock adults into LOOKING both ways before they cross the road? Or on the dangers of setting a bad example to kids but telling them one thing, and doing another? How many times have we seen parents legging it across the road dragging kids by the hand, or crossing before the little man has gone green? When I was young it was DON'T RUN ACROSS THE ROAD. Children seem to know how to cross roads better than any adults do, and they have significantly less understanding of what 'death' or 'serious injury' actually means.

I think the absolute worst road crossing behaviour I have seen in the year and a half-ish I've been cycling to work is mums. Mums with pushchairs. They are pushed out into the road, in front of bus stops, between parked cars, at junctions, at pedestrian crossings while the traffic is still moving, like a canary in a mine. And only then, after the baby is out in the path of the traffic, do the mums look left and right. I've had to swerve to avoid a nasty accident at least 3 times in memory, and witnessed the same crossing behaviour without an incident on countless other occasions. On every time I've swerved, I've had abuse for nearly hitting them.

I wonder if this behaviour is some sort of Darwinism in action.



[1] Or to make sure they are beating you. Although of course, it's not a race. Right?
[2] link.
[3] link
[4] Whether or not they have any effect is another matter entirely.

Cyclists. We're hard to see. In the brightest of daylight, if we're lucky to get more than a cursory glance from other traffic, we're hard to see. People don't look for cyclists, they look for other cars and people on foot. And because people aren't looking, people don't see.

I'm just as guilty as anyone, I've swerved into cyclists by not looking carefully enough behind me. I've pulled out into the road and received an angry 'OI' as I avoid a cyclist. This is because cyclists are hard to see.

So. At night, cyclists are EVEN HARDER to see. This is because it's dark, see? See how that works? CARS are hard to see in the dark, if they don't bother to turn their lights on.

I'm simply amazed at the number of cyclists who, as the nights draw in and it's getting dark at 5pm, totally fail to light themselves up. I saw so many people cycling around today with totally ineffective crappy lights or worse, no lights at all. I can only assume that they are complete idiots, who have no idea how invisible they are, or that perhaps they eat a lot of carrots, and so can see in the dark, and thus have no idea how invisible they are to everyone else.

I would, at this point, add in a rant at those who wear black and no visibility aids. But that is me. The lame excuse is that my hi-vis belt broke and I haven't replaced it yet. I do have fucking good lights (the front one is blinding if you stare right at it) and I carry spare batteries in my pannier. But that is indeed a LAME excuse.

Lights alone are really not enough.

So I am searching for a hi-vis accessory that will make me visible, but also satisfy my vain streak a mile wide. My first thought was to get white hi-vis fabric and make a skull and crossbones patch to pin onto whatever I'm wearing. But that sounds like WAY too much effort.

So I decided I'd just forget vanity, and get a hi-vis vest. You can pick them up fairly cheap. I particularly like this site's attempt to make hi-vis vests sexy by using a blonde chick in a suggestive pose as a model.

I particularly like that site because it has pink hi-vis vests. And thus, I can be visible AND vain, all at once.

In light of the fact you can have printing on these vests for a small extra fee, here is a poll!

I welcome anyone, drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, even white van man...

If you want me to friend you back, please say so in a comment. This journal will be public, and I am unlikely to read my friends list, so you have no need to worry about privacy whether I add you back or not ;)

I may post an opinion that you don't agree with - I encourage debate, feel free to disagree with anything I say with well reasoned and well thought out debate.

If you do engage in debate, please own your words. Don't delete comments!.

This journal is a space to rant, moan, bitch and whinge about the daily commute. I will most likely moan about pretty much everyone on the road except me.

( Some info about me... )

Is indicating out of fashion or something? Is it no longer the done thing? Is keeping traffic behind you in a state of confusion over your direction of travel the new black?

Not just for other cyclists, but for cars too.

Today, 3 cyclists and 4 cars totally failed to indicate which direction they were going. In a half hour commute.

LEFT AND RIGHT TURNS MOTHERFUCKER. CAN YOU INDICATE IT?