Boris Bikes - the Janus face of cycling.

[will golden]

Boris Johnson remains one of my favourite politicians, in fact maybe the only one I grudgingly endorse. It is not his politics in general, it is because he is an avid cyclist who champions the cause and also because he sided with us in oppositioon to the third runway at Heathrow. Good on yer, Boz!

then he went one further, attempting to turn London into an ersatz Amsterdam. He invented the "Boris Bike". This was a chain of public bicycles unlockable on payment with a charge card for general hire by the capital public. Good on yer, again, Boz! .....or maybe not!

Basically I do not like such a socially conscious project being sponsored by such an abject tax-evader as Barclays Bank. It stinks of hypocricy. But that is my personal grief.

More importantly is that Boris Bikes encourage unsafe use of the road.

Is there a helmet available with each bike to be unlocked with the vehicle itself for the user's benefit? No there is not! Boris Bikes encourage cycling without a helmet through the most dangerous city streets in Europe. Bad on yer, Boz!

What is C.C.'s position on this?

Hugz Will

 

[Pottsy]

I can't be certain, but you may have missed just one or two contentious subjects there.

 

[ianrauk]

Boris bikes encourage cycling without a helmet.... sez the man who encourages cycling without clothes.

 

[Norm]

Moved to the correct forum. And...

Is there a helmet available with each bike to be unlocked with the vehicle itself for the user's benefit? No there is not! Boris Bikes encourage cycling without a helmet through the most dangerous city streets in Europe. Bad on yer, Boz!

... what a senseless creature you are.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Boris bikes encourage cycling without a helmet.... sez the man who encourages cycling without clothes.

Ha ha, unbeatable: no wonder you are a mod, quicker than a flash!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Boris Bikes encourage cycling without a helmet through the most dangerous city streets in Europe. Bad on yer, Boz!

What is C.C.'s position on this?

Hugz Will

You'll soon find out, make sure to protect all sensitive bits!

 

[Red Light]

Just to put the facts in here. Over 10 million Boris Bike journeys completed to date without helmets without a single serious injury. That's a damn site better safety record than cycling in general in London - you would have expected about 12-15 serious injuries from 10 million journeys by non-Boris Bikers.

Of course we could have a requirement for a helmet as you suggest. Apart from the big questions of how you are going to prevent the transfer of head lice, ring worm and other scalp infections and how you are going to provide helmets that fit everybody there is the small fact that elsewhere where they have required helmets with Boris-like bikes, the schemes have been abject failures and they are rapidly looking at repealing helmet laws to save the day. Mexico, Israel and Hungary already have, Australia is discussing it.

 

[will golden]

Boris bikes encourage cycling without a helmet.... sez the man who encourages cycling without clothes.

Please don't be petty, Ian. This is a helmet thread. What has nudity to do with that except as a device for bitching at people? Better still, as we are discussing helmets here , not shirts and shorts .........please, Ian, what is your actual opinion on official encouragement to ride without helmets?

For the sake of clarity......
If I am hit by a motorized vehicle near the speed limit of 30mph without a helmet, it increases manifold the risk of serious or fatal injury.
If I am naked instead of wearing clothes when hit at the same speed..... it makes no difference whatsoever.

 

[Andy84]

"For the sake of clarity......
If I am hit by a motorized vehicle at a speed of up to 12mph without a helmet, it increases manifold the risk of serious or fatal injury."

FTFY.

 

[ianrauk]

Please don't be petty, Ian. This is a helmet thread. What has nudity to do with that except as a device for bitching at people? Better still, as we are discussing helmets here , not shirts and shorts .........please, Ian, what is your actual opinion on official encouragement to ride without helmets?

For the sake of clarity......
If I am hit by a motorized vehicle near the speed limit of 30mph without a helmet, it increases manifold the risk of serious or fatal injury.
If I am naked instead of wearing clothes when hit at the same speed..... it makes no difference whatsoever.

Where is this official encouragement as you put it?

My opinion? Choice... that is my opinion.
Yours is obviously not.
You want people to ride on your naked cycle ride, presumably quite happily including those who ride sans helmet on the same roads that Boris Bikes use, yet bitch that Boris Bike users should be forced to wear a helmet.
You sir are a hypocrite of the highest order.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

[QUOTE 1861197, member: 45"]Can we shut will and RL in a room together? Please please please?[/quote]
I think in this instance I'd feel sorry for RL!

 

[Norm]

what is your actual opinion on official encouragement to ride without helmets?

There's no official encouragement but, even if there was, anything which encourages riding is a good thing. Helmets are personal choice and, despite your ramblings, are entirely irrelevant in relation to the risk and severity of cyclists' injuries.

You sir are a hypocrite of the highest order.

Hypocrite wasn't the first word I thought of... although it does rhyme with the first word I thought of.

 

[TheDoctor]

Don't be so daft, Will. If a car hits you, 4 ounces of expanded polystyrene isn't going to save your bacon.

 

[Red Light]

Its so cute. I've got my own personal stalker hanging on my every post.

 

[Boris Bajic]

The title of this thread casts an interesting, dappled light on the OP's true thinking.

Is the reference to Janus made in the commonly understood sense of deliberate deceit, or in the sense of a minor deity whose two faces look both upon the past and the future - who acts almost as a portal in times of transition?

If the former, we might assume that the OP has some issue with the non-provision of protective headgear on municipally-provided rental bicycles.

If the latter, is the mention of Janus some sort of message to the reader that the hegemony of the death-dealing motor vehicle draws to a close and the dawn of a new, greener, less pernicious age of pedal power awaits us?

I cannot answer this question, but please be aware that when I read (as I thought I did through a haze of armagnac fumes) a thread title containing the word Boris and the epithet 'anus face', I felt slightly hurt.

On which note, I bid you all good night.