A commute I did yesterday

[bonj2]

using the helmet camera kindly lent by magnatom (see this thread) - here is yesterday's commute:



this is taken with it on the handlebars.

I did also have it on going home again with it on my helmet, but it was pointed too far down and all you can see is the road immediately in front of me so didn't bother uploading that.
It's pissing it down today so not cycling in but I'll take some more videos and of different routes in due course...

 

[BentMikey]

Cheers for that bonj! It's interesting to see your riding.

 

[Arch]

I got as far as the bit about a minute and twenty seconds in where he turned right against a 'no right turn' sign, a one way arrow and a 'turn left only' road arrow and entered a roundabout from the wrong side of the road and then called the driver who beeped him for it a twunt, and decided I couldn't stand the tension...

 

[magnatom]

Glad you posted! On a technical note you need to have the camera pointing down a little more as you are getting too much sky. This floods the camera with light which results in in reducing the contrast on the road. You'll see more if you point it down a bit.

Now onto the cycling.....

You got tooted at because you took a right turn where you weren't allowed to take a right turn. There is a dirty big sign that says so! You are obviously a RLJer as well . Come on Bonj, didn't you see the discussions with the bus drivers and how RLJing cyclists give us all a bad name. You also appear to be hugging the curb and filtering down the left too much. No use of primary road position....

Do you really always cycle like this?


Oh well you'll soon know what it is like to have your cycling criticised.......

 

[BentMikey]

I think let's leave out the RLJ criticism. Of course it's wrong, but that whole debate isn't worth going into here.

 

[Arch]

I think let's leave out the RLJ criticism. Of course it's wrong, but that whole debate isn't worth going into here.

Ok, but can we talk about the turning right onto the wrong side of the road? I think that's a debate worth having....

It's the critisising the driver who hooted him for it that really, really annoys me...

 

[magnatom]

I think let's leave out the RLJ criticism. Of course it's wrong, but that whole debate isn't worth going into here.

Where is Cab when you need him.....

 

[magnatom]

I think let's leave out the RLJ criticism. Of course it's wrong, but that whole debate isn't worth going into here.

I agree that a debate would just be going over old ground, but any time I put up a video it gets every point picked at (and rightly so), so I think bonj should at least explain why he does it.

 

[BentMikey]

Yes, I thought the beep for the no-right turn turn was quite justified, assuming that was what caused it.

Another one that left me feeling uncomfortable was that nip in front of two cars waiting at the roundabout, and then only in a half-hearted seconday position. I would have gone behind the cars, and stayed in the middle of the lane all the way around there. Same goes for some of the undertakes on traffic lights, when the same cars only come past again metres down the road.

If it were me I would simply wait behind in the lane, and carry on afterwards. For me the advantages are that there's less exposure to close overtakes, less irritated drivers that have to repeatedly and unnecessarily overtake you, and it's calmer and safer. Plus bonj would only have lost 20-30 seconds over the whole trip, I would guess.

 

[Arch]

Yes, I thought the beep for the no-right turn turn was quite justified, assuming that was what caused it.

He was lucky to just get a beep. Turning onto the wrong side of the road like that, with a roundabout just ahead, he's lucky not to get flattened, and I'd be a witness on the side of the driver on that one...

I'd like to know what his reaction would be, if he was driving his van and suddenly saw a cyclist coming the wrong way down the road at him..

 

[bonj2]

You got tooted at because you took a right turn where you weren't allowed to take a right turn. There is a dirty big sign that says so! You are obviously a RLJer as well . Come on Bonj, didn't you see the discussions with the bus drivers and how RLJing cyclists give us all a bad name. You also appear to be hugging the curb and filtering down the left too much. No use of primary road position....

I do use primary road position when necessary. Cycling in primary position is often a precautionary measure, that unwary cyclists take on roads they don't know.
I often take it on particular junctions and roundabouts, but there's no point in using it for the sake of it/for militance purposes. I only do it when there's a good chance it will improve my progress or safety.
And as regards filtering, I always choose to filter, I don't just simply do it out of habit. The choice is always 'is there more room to the left, or to the right', and if there's just as much room at the left, then I don't see a problem in filtering. If there's slightly more room to the right, but enough at the left, and there's only say two or three vehicles that I can overtake, then I'll also filter, maybe just one or two of them - because there's not actually any point overtaking on the right if there's only say a couple of vehicles because chances are they'll make the ground back again when the lights change anyway so I won't actually get past them and I'll just have to make the effort to pull in again.

 

[bonj2]

I got as far as the bit about a minute and twenty seconds in where he turned right against a 'no right turn' sign, a one way arrow and a 'turn left only' road arrow and entered a roundabout from the wrong side of the road and then called the driver who beeped him for it a twunt, and decided I couldn't stand the tension...

You got tooted at because you took a right turn where you weren't allowed to take a right turn. There is a dirty big sign that says so! You are obviously a RLJer as well

I called him a twunt because he beeped me for the wrong reason. The horn is meant to be used as an audible warning of your presence, not as a telling-off - "you're a smaller road user than me, bow down unto me!" What a clever driver you must be if you feel the need to demonstrate how big you are by using your horn to reprimand people.
I was well aware of his presence, otherwise I would have been taking the racing line onto the roundabout which would involve a backwards "S" shape, right into the space about where the red car was.

 

[bonj2]

Do you really always cycle like this?

As regards the turning right against the sign, no, I don't. I won't need to, because the road won't always be like this. It's only a temporary thing - that road I came out of probably eventually won't be there, and the road parallel to it and to the side of it will be resurfaced into a proper road.
If it was like that permanently then it would be bad road design, because everyone would be tempted to do what I do - but eventually they won't need to as they will just use the proper road that isn't yet open.

 

[bonj2]

You are obviously a RLJer as well . Come on Bonj, didn't you see the discussions with the bus drivers and how RLJing cyclists give us all a bad name.

Oh come on. Don't pretend all cyclists don't do it.

 

[bonj2]

I agree that a debate would just be going over old ground, but any time I put up a video it gets every point picked at (and rightly so), so I think bonj should at least explain why he does it.

I do it because there's literally no point in not.
For motons, they've got two reasons not to do it - safety, and the law. We've only got safety. So if I come across a red light, and it's perfectly safe to go through it, there's literally no reason not to trundle on through, providing I make sure it's safe all the way and from all angles. Of course, there's some red lights that I will always stop at, because you can't always be sure that it's completely safe to go through unless it is on green. Some of these I'm sure you saw in the video, which proves I'm a completely safe cyclist so therefore there isn't really any problem with me RLJing. And don't pull the 'it gives cyclists a bad name' card. Cyclists will always have a bad name with some people, especially bus drivers - the RLjing is just an excuse. If it's not RLJing, it'd be filtering, or going too slow, going too fast, (getting through gridlocked traffic faster than they are, say) or something else.