Health and Safety Bulletin... oh dear oh dear....

[bikingdad90]

Just had a health and safetyt bulletin at work about riding safely in winter. It's terrible....

Taken from Rules for Cyclists Gov.uk You should wear :
•a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulations, is the correct size and securely fastened - Not legislation and highly debatable
•appropriate clothes for cycling - avoid clothes which may get tangled in the chain, or in a wheel or may obscure your lights - OK
•light-coloured or fluorescent clothing which helps other road users to see you in daylight and poor light
reflective clothing and/or accessories (belt, arm or ankle bands) in the dark - Debatable

Think about safety when turning right, If you want to turn right, it is more difficult and dangerous to move to the middle of the road when it's dark. Stop on the left hand side and wait for a gap in the traffic before you turn - NO NO NO. OWN the road and hold the traffic back until you are safely through the junction!!!!

•It is important to have lights on your bike if you are cycling in the dark. It will put you at risk if you cannot be seen and you will be breaking the law. - Fair point
•You should have a white light at the front of your bike and a red light at the rear. Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp. - Wrongish. 1 steady red light at the back is required in addittion to any flashing ones
•Even if there are street lights and you can see easily without lights drivers will find if difficult to see you as a cyclist if you do not have lights at night - Debateable

•Lights for your bike should meet national standards - What are they ha ha?

 

[Twelve Spokes]

Car drivers should not text while driving.

 

[I like Skol]

Just had a health and safetyt bulletin at work about riding safely in winter. It's terrible....
........ ha ha?

I don't quite see what your major gripe is here? Obviously not all of it applies to a know it all well informed cyclist like you, but to a large section of the population, especially those that are turning to cycles as a commuting tool for the obvious health and financial benefits, there is some sensible advice contained there-in.

Even the bit about turning right isn't necessarily bad advice. Not everyone has the speed, confidence and experience to 'own the lane' like you suggest. I would even be happy for my competent cycling 11yr old son to do this if he wasn't sure of the situation. Much better for him to pull into a safe spot and assess the conditions rather than making a bad and possibly dangerous manoeuvre because it's what he 'should' do!

As you say in your OP most, if not all, of these points are open to debate but that doesn't mean it is wrong, just that it differs from your opinion.

Would you rather your employer stood back and covered their eyes to a possible danger, or tried to do something about it? Why don't you do something constructive and get in touch with the issuing office/person to point out any actual mistakes (not differences of opinion) rather than rubbishing the commendable effort they are making behind their back?

 

[Tommy2]

Strange that the employer feels the need to put up things like this for staff commuting by bike..
Even more strange that they don't feel the need to put up a sign to staff commuting by car telling hem how to drive as well.

 

[potsy]

Like the op says, they have only copy and pasted advice from the government site, it's not like they have made this advice up themselves.
Aimed more at the beginners range of cycle commuters rather than the more experienced, nothing too outrageous in there imo.

 

[MisterStan]

Strange that the employer feels the need to put up things like this for staff commuting by bike..
Even more strange that they don't feel the need to put up a sign to staff commuting by car telling hem how to drive as well.

Our whole office had to undertake a 'commit to drive safely pledge' recently.

 

[Profpointy]

Strange that the employer feels the need to put up things like this for staff commuting by bike..
Even more strange that they don't feel the need to put up a sign to staff commuting by car telling hem how to drive as well.

my company sends out regular "safe driving" bulletins - at least to the company car folk, A particularly good phrase in the winter advice about scraping the windscreen properly was " don't drive off like a tank commander" Much more to the point and imaginative than the usual platitudes

 

[martinclive]

Our whole office had to undertake a 'commit to drive safely pledge' recently.

If you are not cycling - do you have to make sure the driver of the bus you are on complies...........

 

[compo]

I sometimes pull over to the left and stop to wait for a gap in the traffic before turning right, especially on fast moving roads. I understand the "own the road" bit and agree with it but I am not a fast cyclist, can't always turn round enough to get a good view of what's happening behind me (old age) and I can be a little slow pulling away. Owning the road is fine but I also own my life and want to keep it a bit longer. One has to use common sense.

 

[Arjimlad]

I agree with Compo, there's a right turn on my ride home where I often pull over on the left. Traffic is doing a steady 30mph and can be very heavy at this point, so it can be very difficult to safely pull out to turn right.

You never know when the driver behind is too busy on the internet, applying makeup or just having a quick nap, or has otherwise developed an inability to move their right foot to ease off a little for you to pull out safely.

 

[bikingdad90]

Would you rather your employer stood back and covered their eyes to a possible danger, or tried to do something about it? Why don't you do something constructive and get in touch with the issuing office/person to point out any actual mistakes (not differences of opinion) rather than rubbishing the commendable effort they are making behind their back?

I've raised with the issuing office and they are going to issue a notice on how drivers should deal with cyclists. We've got a group set up to discuss what should and shouldn't go in.

 

[mangid]

Just had a health and safetyt bulletin at work about riding safely in winter. It's terrible....

•You should have a white light at the front of your bike and a red light at the rear. Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp. - Wrongish. 1 steady red light at the back is required in addittion to any flashing ones

I thought 1 flashing light was fine (it's all I use, an Exposure Blaze), and the CTC seem to agree

http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/regulations/lighting-regulations

Rear Lamp
One is required, to show a red light, positioned centrally or offside, between 350mm and 1500mm from the ground, at or near the rear, aligned towards and visible from behind. If capable of emitting a steady light it must be marked as conforming to BS3648, or BS6102/3, or an equivalent EC standard.

If capable of emitting only a flashing light, it must emit at least 4 candela.

 

[Gasman]

Speaking of BS 6102/3, anyone know where I can find the criteria for bike lights without shelling out £50 odd to the BSI?

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Our whole office had to undertake a 'commit to drive safely pledge' recently.

The problem is: for a lot of motorists, "drive safely" means "ensure your own safety", which isn't necessarily compatible with "don't endanger others" .

If capable of emitting only a flashing light, it must emit at least 4 candela.

Are lights actually sold in the UK with their candela output specified? I've seen lumens commonly used in lights adverts, but never candela.

 

[Schneil]

The problem is: for a lot of motorists, "drive safely" means "ensure your own safety", which isn't necessarily compatible with "don't endanger others" .

Are lights actually sold in the UK with their candela output specified? I've seen lumens commonly used in lights adverts, but never candela.

IIRC lumens is the unit of luminous flux. So it's the total amount of visible light* emitted in all directions.
Candela is the unit of luminous intensity. This is the amount of visible light* in a given direction.

*by visible light I mean light we can see, which is the narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum between 400 and 700nm. It's also worth bearing in mind that our eyes are not equally sensitive to all wavelengths of light. The peak sensitivity of the human eye is at 555nm (yellow sodium type light), the sensitivity falls off above and below this wavelength.
So an infra red LED might be pumping out a lot of radiant infra red, but as we can't see it it would be rated 0 lumens.