Don't go up there!

[anothersam]

it's pretty obvious they just weren't thinking through the possible consequences of their actions.

How do we know? Unless you mean anybody who thought about it wouldn't have done it in the first place.

The lack of escape route would probably have deterred me (and I understand why some don't even like the idea of putting themselves in a position to possibly need one), but there was room to go there, and time to pass before the light turned and traffic got started moving again, so the video provokes neither tsk nor tut.

My own risk assessment is informed by 20 years of swimming with the whales in London. I'll admit I probably do things that would scare the bejesus out of some people, or at the very least have them invoking Darwin, but such is the rich tapestry of life.

 

[jarlrmai]

I made this mistake once and got away lightly with a friction burn on my elbow, a sprinter van stopped in a queue of traffic, ped lights on red and then more queue and cross road lights on red.

I filtered on the inside of the van, when I was halfway down he decided to jump the red pedestrian crossing lights to get to a gap in the back of the queue for the other lights.

As he took off the way his wheels were angled mean the gap closed by a few inches or so and he made contact with my right arm.

There was no where to go on the left for me (railings) and stopping would have meant more scraping so I had to let myself get sort of dragged along by the van till we got to the crossing and I could escape onto the pavement.

I was lucky I didn't get killed or seriously injured.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

How do we know? Unless you mean anybody who thought about it wouldn't have done it in the first place.

Well, unsurprisingly we don't 'know', unless someone wants to track them down, show them the video and ask them. Probably why I hedged my bets slightly.

Watch the video again, concentrate on the two bikes, set up, demeanour, riding style, road position (especially the trailing bike on the latter and particularly with regard to vision) then tell me if you think, weighing up the evidence with your 20 years experience of London riding, this was a thought through manoeuvre.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I don't think she means that she gambles her life on it. It's perfectly reasonable, however, to expect drivers to indicate their intentions. As in 'England expects...'

England may expect, but it will be regularly disappointed.

You appear to be buying into a normalisation of poor driving.

Um, poor driving is normal – depressingly so. Until I'm world dictator[1], the best we can do as cyclists is acknowledge that fact and cycle in such a way that we can stay out of other people's accidents.

[1] There's been some kind of administrative holdup on the paperwork, but once I am, something a little harder than the L-test will get you a temporary licence valid for a year or two. You'll need to pass an IAM-level advanced test to convert it to a full licence, then five-yearly retests at that level to keep it.

 

[jarlrmai]

I'm defo Pozzo.

 

[Wobblers]

I don't think she means that she gambles her life on it. It's perfectly reasonable, however, to expect drivers to indicate their intentions. As in 'England expects...'

Absolutely. But until they all do, I'm going to continue to advise people not to filter down the inside of HGVs when there's insufficient room and no escape route. And insist that drivers who do kill or injure are prosecuted to the full extent of the law (and afterwords too, come to think of it).

PS: Surely I must be exempt from this "England expects" stuff?

 

[anothersam]

Watch the video again, concentrate on the two bikes....

I can't concentrate, the orange bike is too ugly.

 

[theclaud]

Absolutely. But until they all do, I'm going to continue to advise people not to filter down the inside of HGVs when there's insufficient room and no escape route. And insist that drivers who do kill or injure are prosecuted to the full extent of the law (and afterwords too, come to think of it).

PS: Surely I must be exempt from this "England expects" stuff?

In Merseyside? I don't think so.

 

[theclaud]

Is it England?

Well we're not having it, if that's what you mean.

 

[Wobblers]

In Merseyside? I don't think so.

Are you dismissing my ethnic cultural identity, you racialist?

 

[Wobblers]

Well we're not having it, if that's what you mean.

Yebbut you took Flint and Connah's Quay, which is all endless Grim.

 

[slowmotion]

You appear to be buying into a normalisation of poor driving.

I'm buying into staying alive. I don't care about whether the driver or the cyclist holds the moral high ground. I want to enjoy my ride and be alive at the end of it. I'll modify my riding to accomodate the real world, utterly imperfect that it is. I'm quite happy with that responsibility for my own safety and taking the consequences if I screw up.

 

[slowmotion]

And your best bet for that is that other road users respect your right to be on the road, accommodate your needs, and take the appropriate responsibility.

I'm not entirely unhappy with the status quo. It's interesting and fun. If my wife or daughter used a bike, I would have a completely different attitude. Yes, that's an entirely selfish attitude. I have a limited supply of indignation and outrage, and it has to be spread about thinly. Like Marmite.

 

[slowmotion]

Adrian, I'm lost with that last post. Can you elaborate?

 

[benb]

Well that's certainly not a manoeuvre I would do.

It is possible though that the first rider at least could see red lights and vehicles stopping the truck from moving, so judged they had time to get through.
But yeah, I'd rather add a few seconds onto my journey than risk that.