Guardian article(with links) about why female cyclists are more vulnerable to lorries

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gaz

Cycle Camera TV
Location
South Croydon
Interesting article, can't say i disagree. Women are generally slower than men on a bicycle, and seem to hug the gutter more. They also take more risks in slow moving or stationary traffic. The reason why? who knows, this is also just a general observation of mine and doesn't reflect how women in general cycle.
 

NigC

New Member
Location
Surrey
I rarely see more than a few cyclists each day and it's even rarer to see women cycling, so I can't really say if I've noticed any trend where women look more vulnerable :sad:

But I will say that those figure could easily be a statistical blip rather than an indication of trend. Let's hope that the statistics never reach sufficient quantities to rule out a blip :smile:
 

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
"Some experts believe that behaviour like mine is the reason that far more female cyclists are killed in HGV accidents than men."

Who are these experts and what research of any kind has been done to test this hypothesis?
It seems to me that it was just a guess which gets repeated a lot. I certainly have not noticed any big difference in the way men and women position themselves on the road or whether or not they jump the lights.
 

J4CKO

New Member
So its one situation where being polite and considerate is not the way to go, being a competitive assertive bloke is safer.

Being flippant aside, it does kind of make sense, it needs explaining and now we have an explanation of sorts publicising.
 
I believe she was referring to cowering in the gutter rather than controlling her space, which as most of us know encourages pushy driving and closer passes.

Although I don't believe it is a gender issue, rather, one of experience and confidence.
 

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
J4CKO said:
So its one situation where being polite and considerate is not the way to go, being a competitive assertive bloke is safer.

Being flippant aside, it does kind of make sense, it needs explaining and now we have an explanation of sorts publicising.

This explanation should not be publicised as being a proven fact when it is simply a theory.
 

Bandini

Guest
The idea of training is excellent. I found I clung to the edge when confronted by traffic (seems almost instinctive), until I went for a 40 mile ride with Comedy Pilot, who basically gave me a great potted Cycle Craft course.
 

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
2Loose said:
like evolution? ;)

It is established good practice though, is it not?

The reasons why lorry drivers kill more women than men should be investigated. Guesses should not be presented as facts.
It has given rise to the popular urban myth that jumping red lights is safer than stopping. Now it's likely to give rise to a new one that cycling in front of lorries is safer than keeping out of their way.
Safe positioning is something that cyclists need to understand for themselves rather than mindlessly believing unproven generalisations.
 
dondare said:
Safe positioning is something that cyclists need to understand for themselves

Now that, I agree with.

Although I do feel that the explanation in the article of why positioning is important was graphic and well illustrated for all of the readers to cogitate, the article really did nothing to explain why females should be worse at it than males...if indeed they are.
 

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
User3143 said:
The articles not that good, basic assumptions regarding view point from the cab and mentality of the overtaking party. I really don't know what the purpose of that article is when most cyclists bring it on themselves. That comes from my own experience and the instances/vids that have been posted on here.

Do all the mangled railings, demolished pedestrian refuges, dislodged kerbstones, knocked-down signposts and re-aligned traffic lights bring it upon themselves too?
Lorry drivers can't see where they're going or tell what they're destroying. Lorries are not safe to use in towns.
 

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
User3143 said:
Most of the above I have seen in towns comes from accidents involving cars - does this mean that cars are not in safe to use in towns either?

Actually, yes it does (and no they're not) but lorries are much more massive and unwieldy and are capable of causing much more damage. Cars don't displace kerbstones and leave them in the road or rip up a pedestrian barrier without the driver realizing that they've done it.
And, of course, lorries really do kill more women cyclists than cars.

I appreciate that our civilized lifestyle requires bulk movement of freight on the road and society accepts that this means the occasional squished cyclist but there's no point in denying the problem because we don't want to change the way we shop or share the responsibility.
 
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