Changing the behaviour of cyclists

[sheddy]

We shall see how one sided tonights 'Drivers in the Dock' will be. ITV 13th Nov 8pm

On the UK's roads the car is king, but with thousands of collisions between cars and bicycles each year, is it time cyclists were better protected? Fiona Foster reports on calls for new safety measures, including a controversial idea to make motorists' insurers automatically responsible for a smash, regardless of who is to blame.

 

[I am Spartacus]

With cars even more evolved into luxury safety cages, the connection between 1500kgs or whatever of metal against flesh and bone has become even more tenuous in the vast majority of drivers' perception.
As I walk even along the High street on the pavement, I am but 1 small step from a painful death as vehicles flash past at over 40 mph and more to get through those lights......................................

 

[totallyfixed]

Somewhen, between the end of WW2 and now, we in Britain got obsessed with having a car, and the idea that if you don't, you're a failure. That's the problem.

Agreed, we did what we always do and followed the USA, and what's worrying about that is they have lower cycling rates than we do,

A couple of things occur to me, a motorist who is a also a cyclist will [I hope] always give a bike plenty of room. So, the more people we can get to ride a bike, the safer it gets. Even if a car driver doesn't ride they will get used to being around a lot of cyclists. This was a case in point when I lived outside Cambridge, yes ok you had a lot of numpty students on bikes but cars always seemed less impatient there. Where I live now there are far fewer cyclists and cars drive faster and come a lot closer. The number of journeys to work by bike here, from observation, I suspect is woefully few.

The other important point is that cycling as a sport is broadcast and followed on mainstream tv in most countries on the continent. Go to virtually any Western European country and joe public knows the names of the top cyclists. In other words these guys and girls who compete on a bike are looked up to and are as well known as footballers are here.
So long as the media in general ignore our sport [not all but most] with the exception of the Olympics and World Championships, [and then only on the track] we don't have a hope. Well perhaps one, high profile celebs riding bikes, as a celebrity obsessed nation it's something the media can hardly ignore, to see one on a bike has an effect out of all proportion to the action.
Phew! wasn't going to write much

 

[sheddy]

I always wonder why there isn't a regular magazine style TV prog on cycling ?

 

[ComedyPilot]

I always wonder why there isn't a regular magazine style TV prog on cycling ?

Good idea, and given the number of people taking it up, coupled with Olympic and TDF sporting success it certainly must have appeal.

 

[snorri]

I always wonder why there isn't a regular magazine style TV prog on cycling ?

For the same reason there are no Cycling pull out supplemements in the weekend papers with test reports of the latest commuter bikes and reviews of new fangled dog baskets to fit your bicycle handlebars.
There just is not the interest in the UK.

I think there is a lack of patience in the average Brit and as road users we tend to have a rather casual attitude to road laws.
Has anyone been to Germany and stood on the edge of a traffic free road waiting for the green man to appear? It happens a lot over there, but attempting to cross on the red is almost accepted as the norm over here.

 

[Over The Hill]

I always wonder why there isn't a regular magazine style TV prog on cycling ?

"Tonight someone has cycled from a to b and someone else has gone for a bike ride to get some exercise.

More next week when another person will cycle from a to b and someone else go for a bike ride bike ride to get some exercise.

Bike news- Frames are changing from aluminimum to carbon fibre but look the same. Not much else has changed in the last 30 years. Well be keeping up with that story next week......"

 

[Over The Hill]

This is why people used to be taught to slow down and take more care where there weren't pavements, and more generally in poor light/visibility. I live somewhere farily rural, and whilst some drivers follow that rule, far more blat along at the speed limit or above. After all, they have little to fear from anything in the road, or from the law, do they?

I agree about the cars but we also were taught to "wear someting white when dark at night!" Cyclists and peds are often out in all black or dark gear. That does not help the problem of being seen.
The car speed is a fair point but if they dont see you at all they can still run you down at whatever speed they are travelling at.

 

[theclaud]

attempting to cross on the red is almost accepted as the norm over here.

And long may it continue. The fact that pedestrians refuse to be disciplined and corralled is one of the few heartening things about the traffic situation in this country.

 

[Arch]

With cars even more evolved into luxury safety cages, the connection between 1500kgs or whatever of metal against flesh and bone has become even more tenuous in the vast majority of drivers' perception.
As I walk even along the High street on the pavement, I am but 1 small step from a painful death as vehicles flash past at over 40 mph and more to get through those lights......................................

True, and I suggest a few things to address this:

1. Everyone should be made to drive a car from pre-1980 or so. 2CVs, and Minis will be especially promoted. There's no way you can feel cossetted and over-protected in a car with bare metal panels on the inside.

2. (not my original idea) Replace driver air bags with a fixed metal spike in the centre of the steering wheel.

3. Seatbelts to be compulsory for passengers, but illegal for drivers.

4. Engine noise, while remaining quiet to the outside, to be amplified inside the car.

5. And borrowing from Top Gear, perhaps a colander of eggs could be suspended over the driver's head to encourage smooth driving and careful negociation of potholes and speed humps...

 

[GrasB]

1. Everyone should be made to drive a car from pre-1980 or so. 2CVs, and Minis will be especially promoted. There's no way you can feel cossetted and over-protected in a car with bare metal panels on the inside.

I don't think this really works my self, some of the craziest drivers I know have cars which as a design feature have exposed metal panels!

 

[Arch]

I don't think this really works my self, some of the craziest drivers I know have cars which as a design feature have exposed metal panels!

Ah, but I bet they are nice and strong. I'm thinking of that 'rattling round in a tin can' effect you get in an old car.

I think there is something in the fact that people are cocooned in modern cars, it's easy to have little idea of your speed, the weather, other people...

 

[GrasB]

You've not been in late-80s fiats then

 

[snorri]

Not much else has changed in the last 30 years. Well be keeping up with that story next week......"[/I]

That applies to cars as well, but every week I get a "Motoring" supplement in my newspaper. They should chuck mine in the recycling box at the printers and reduce their freight charges.

 

[Arch]

You've not been in late-80s fiats then :?:

Actually I have, and that's just the feeling I was thinking of - I plucked a date at random since I haven't ever had a new car so don't know quite when they started to be all nicely padded inside.

And another thing. When did it become a good idea to make the edges of vehicles all curvy and bulgy so that you can't judge where they are properly when you look in the mirrors?