Do you feel that cycling is getting more dangerous

[Kingfisher101]

I feel safer the more assertively I ride. Improving my positioning, early and clear signals, lights on seems to have made a big difference to being seen and treated with respect.

I wear normal clothes and a woolly hat when out. Don't know if that makes a difference to the way I am perceived.

I agree, If you ride well away from the gutter and are assertive, there's less P taking from cars. Worse I've found is being a pedestrian at busy junctions when there's no pedestrian crossing and lights. You are taking your life in your hands because they wont stop to let you cross over. The motorists are supposed to give way but good luck with that one.

 

[johnnyb47]

Its difficult to answer really.Roads I would cycle along years ago I would not go anywhere near today.Are they actually more dangerous, or am I just losing my bottle now that I'm getting older.. When your young,you don't seem to see the dangers that present them selves but the older you get you naturally become more aware of them.

 

[craigwend]

As we get older our perception of danger increases and as none of us are getting any younger...

 

[ColinJ]

Maybe round you're neck of the woods, but up here, there isn't the respect. If I tried to ride assertively round here I'd either be knocked off to told to **** off fatty.
As I said above, plenty of people do respect cyclists but the ones I feel most at risk from, or I'm the most wary of, are youngish females.

This is what happened to me on one ride from Todmorden to Littleborough and back last week...!

Some spectacularly bad driving was inflicted on me today...

• Very early in my ride I was going straight on at the mini-roundabout in the centre of Todmorden when I saw that a car coming from the Halifax Rd on my left was not giving way. It would have sideswiped me at speed had I not done a violent swerve to my right to get out of the way. I am sure that the driver was unaware of me being there. I think I was in a blind spot because he hadn't looked properly. Scary!
• About 2 minutes later, a van overtook me stupidly fast, frighteningly close.
• It was one of those days... Traffic had stopped to allow pedestrians to cross at a crossing ahead. I stopped pedalling and was coasting up behind when in my mirror I saw a car approaching at high speed - MUST...OVERTAKE...SLOW...CYCLIST...AHEAD!!! The car shot past me, cut in, and only then did the driver notice that the vehicles ahead of him were stationary! He braked as hard as he could and only just avoided tail-ending the vehicle in front. I had to brake hard not to run into the back of his car.
• This couldn't go on. But it DID...! I was doing a reasonable pace. Once more, in my mirror I spotted a vehicle coming up at high speed, obviously the driver's intention being to overtake me. Which was great, except for the fact that I was coming up to a pedestrian refuge in the centre of the road, and there was a stream of oncoming traffic approaching the refuge... The van drew alongside me and then the driver realised that there was no room to get by when obeying the Keep Left signs. So he didn't! He swerved round the righthand side of the refuge, headed straight at the lead car ahead, then swerved back to my side of the road, almost taking me out there. What fun!
• There were a few more examples of iffy driving, but things seemed to be settling down. I had another hour or so without feeling like some idiot driver would kill me!
• But then... A car with taxi stickers on overtook me way too fast, way too close, got past me, and only then swerved violently to the right. The only way that makes sense is that the driver had been distracted... USING A PHONE PERHAPS??? , was doing the dangerous overtake, and saw me so late that his reaction came after the car had already passed me?

 

[night cycler]

Two kinds of people ride bikes, "cyclists" and "pedallers".
We are the sensible cyclists, and the pedallers are not..

A pedaller in action-
View attachment 717110

A pedllar in a hoodie, hope the staffi that ran off was unharmed.

 

[Moodyman]

Moodyman, I suppose it very much depends on where you live,

I live in Bradford. A city with one of the worst reputations for driving. Yet, I, and many others happily ride the local roads.

As I said, how we interact with other road users can massively shape our perspective.

A thumbs up or a thank you wave can do a lot to persuade motorists to act better.

 

[night cycler]

I feel safer the more assertively I ride. Improving my positioning, early and clear signals, lights on seems to have made a big difference to being seen and treated with respect.

I wear normal clothes and a woolly hat when out. Don't know if that makes a difference to the way I am perceived.

And with some kind of Hi Viz over the normal clothes?

 

[night cycler]

This is what happened to me on one ride from Todmorden to Littleborough and back last week...!

I've never endured that much in one day. Makes me think about getting another bike cam.

 

[All uphill]

And with some kind of Hi Viz over the normal clothes?

No

 

[ColinJ]

I've never endured that much in one day. Makes me think about getting another bike cam.

It isn't usually as bad as that. Maybe that many incidents over a week or two, but not all in a single ride!

The roads are definitely getting much busier than they used to be, and therefore more stressful to ride on. When I started cycling as a child in the mid-1960s there were less than 10 million cars on British roads. By 1994 there were 21 million. In 2022 there were 32 million! It isn't just the number of vehicles... The performance of the cars is much better than it was so many motorists tend to drive faster and brake later, which makes them scarier to share the roads with.

There are roads in Coventry that I was happy to cycle on as a 10 year old which I would now want to avoid because of increased traffic levels.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

but they agree that the MIB follow the Highway Code

Men in Black, are aliens running red lights?

 

[albion]

As already said, school run!

I had a luck escape by a father in a rush entering the road on my right. I was turning the way he came and trundled over his bonnet trying to not hit him.
Smartphones, video screens, map devices , the era of the pothole and SUV etc etc certainly make things more dangerous.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

In 2022 there were 32 million!

More than that according to DFT

• there were 41.3 million licensed vehicles in the UK, an increase of 1.4% compared to the end of September 2022

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Two kinds of people ride bikes, "cyclists" and "pedallers".
We are the sensible cyclists, and the pedallers are not..

A pedaller in action-
View attachment 717110

As some posters would have it, the only reason that happened is because he’s dressed in black.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As above, ride assertively and not in the gutter. Particularly at traffic islands where someone will try and push through if you’re in the gutter. Be assertive but don’t get into shouting / slanging matches. No good comes of the latter exchanges. If you use cameras report close passes, but don’t let it ruin your day. Let it ruin their day.

It certainly changed since the 70s and 80s when I would ride the A roads regularly but that’s simply that the planners have engineered them in every upgrade since to prioritise the motor vehicle. Plus as Colin says the number of motorised vehicles continues to climb year on year with significantly more trips being made by car in the UK than in history. Plus the school run is now a thing that it wasn’t when most of us went to school (on foot, bike or bus).

In terms of the last decade I would not say it’s any more dangerous round here. I mostly ride quiet lanes or B roads. But even in towns most drivers realise they need to wait till it’s safe to overtake. The sooner we see 20 mph on built up roads the better in terms of calming down those who think they can ignore what they were taught about how to behave around vulnerable users on the road. The vast majority are fine, if impatient and distracted.