Carnage

[Sittingduck]

Recon report for this AM:

All quiet (ish)... Saw just 1 confirmed sighting of an additional POB. Managed to ride in all the way in 1 gear (in a MacBludgeon stylee experiment) Traffic is up by about 31% though but not as bad as yesterday!

SD

 

[Evilcat]

Just got into the office (usual time) after one of the more unpleasant commutes. POB took out my front wheel on Kensington High Street as he dived across me down the inside of a slowing/indicating bus (!) then shouted at by a cretinous driver for the temerity of taking primary through a pinch point in Bloomsbury. Ended up sandwiched between to morons on MTBs refusing to let me get past down Old Street. Final annoyance of the local copshop near the office parking their vans along the double red lines causing gridlock.

I think that self preservation dictates that I will (a) leave early and ( find a route other than Euston/Marylebone/Notting Hill/Holland Park to go home.

EC

 

[Jake]

yikes

 

[fossyant]

I wondered why they just didn't walk!

Easy........Lazyitus.......seems to affect 90% of the population.

 

[Bigtwin]

Me 'n' some mates took the Humvee up to the City this morning - well worth the congestion charge for the entertainment.


As I heard someone saying during the last transport strike.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Easy........Lazyitus.......seems to affect 90% of the population.

Right enough. Mrs-LC sometimes goes into the Little-LCs (primary) school to hear the little 'uns read. She's amazed to see other parents parked outside the school up to an hour before chuck out time (sat in the car, engine running (to keep the aircon going), reading a magazine / book) presumably to get a space nice and close to the gates to avoid walking 100 yards down the road.

 

[Jake]

lol

 

[skwerl]

Well, an early post said it was, i glad i got a puncture this morning and took the bike into shop. But just walking the 4miles, i could not belive what i saw!!! Traffic lights, they seem to mean nothing to drivers and cyclists. Pavements, well the ammount of jump on jump off the pavements was crazy. Businessmen on bromptons squeezing between buses then catching themselves on pavements and falling off. Madness, Darwin, come save us!

Then when i got the bike and rode the few miles home, my god I thought i was going to die. The ammount of badm SERIOUSLY bad driving i saw and had near misses with was amazing. Cyclists just going through red on a crossroad without even seeing if the lights were red on the other side. I could not belive my eyes. Oh, then there was one cyclist who seemed to have his whole desk boxed up ballancing on handlebars and frame!

What have you lot seen which makes your heart stop?

I experienced pretty much the ssame on the way home yesterday. Heading in wasn't as bad. Home was chaos and quite slow going - a lot of gridlocked junctions

 

[joebe]

Going home seemed pretty much gridlocked from Tower Hill to Chiswick. I had great fun ducking and diving in and out. I must have been really annoying for all those stuck in cars and buses, and for motorbike too unable to squeeze through the miniscule gaps I could.

 

[aj82]

I work in the suburbs and live towards central London, so I'm always going the other way, but have enjoyed watching the carnage on the other side of the A24.

 

[Jake]

Going home seemed pretty much gridlocked from Tower Hill to Chiswick. I had great fun ducking and diving in and out. I must have been really annoying for all those stuck in cars and buses, and for motorbike too unable to squeeze through the miniscule gaps I could.

long ride, is it nice or can it be a bit chaotic?

another danger are peds who just walk out into the road or between cars without looking, have to be so alert for them and not cycle too fast

 

[Arch]

One long line of stationary traffic.

People packed like sardines in the buses. Not moving. I wondered why they just didn't walk!

I wonder if it just doesn't occur to some people that it would be quicker. There's this assumption (blown apart every year in multiple commuter races, even on Top Gear) that a motor vehicle of any sort is fast, and definitely faster than walking or cycling. I bet those people on buses would be amazed if it was actually demonstrated to their faces...

When I was a kid in Leicester, I walked to school along a main road, with queuing city bound traffic, and generally, on a wet day (why does rain create more jams?) the cars had very little advantage over my 14 year old legs. I guess those who've grown up being driven to school have never learned that lesson.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

I wonder if it just doesn't occur to some people that it would be quicker. There's this assumption (blown apart every year in multiple commuter races, even on Top Gear) that a motor vehicle of any sort is fast, and definitely faster than walking or cycling. I bet those people on buses would be amazed if it was actually demonstrated to their faces...

When I was a kid in Leicester, I walked to school along a main road, with queuing city bound traffic, and generally, on a wet day (why does rain create more jams?) the cars had very little advantage over my 14 year old legs. I guess those who've grown up being driven to school have never learned that lesson.

Think you're right, Arch.

Earlier this week I passed someone waiting to pull out of a cul-de-sac on an estate on my way to work. I know this person works in the Leisure Centre that I use to shower in on my way to work (they have a distinctive car and number plate).

The cul-de-sac would be about a mile and a bit from the centre using my route on the bike or 3-4 miles round by car - it's a tortuous route. I assume they live in that area as they were only person in the car and it was doing that white smoke out of the exhaust just started thing.

I'd locked the bike up, removed helmet, gloves and luggage from the bike plus fished out my membership card and was walking into the building as they drove into the car park. It's not the first time either.

 

[joebe]

long ride, is it nice or can it be a bit chaotic?

another danger are peds who just walk out into the road or between cars without looking, have to be so alert for them and not cycle too fast

I wouldn't call it nice, it's the A4 after all. Chaos only adds to the fun.

 

[Jake]

i guess so, still its right through london and out the other side