How do people ride in Cities without getting killed?

[trustysteed]

i've been living in bristol for 18 years, been seriously commuting into the centre for 10 years and i don't feel it is particularly dangerous, even in the centre. i come down Gloucester Road which has numerous traffic lights, some of them blind junctions. I go through the St James Barton roundabout every day, in and out, no problems (You're right about the approach summerdays, it's a great downhill stretch!) I find that the key is anticipation, looking 100m or ahead to see what traffic, lights and pedestrains are doing or about to do and riding accordingly.

I do occasionally RLJ, not as much as I used to, but only at junctions where I can clearly see all approaches and only when there's nothing coming on any of them. And when my light goes green, and the junction's blind, I always start slowly to make absolutely sure a car isn't running their red-light before i pick up speed and proceed.

 

[GrasB]

In all honesty snorri, I have far far fewer incidents on rural roads than on urban ones. If I exclude riding on busy A roads such as the A10, A505, A428 for close passes though I ride 100s of miles worth of rural roads & maybe 100 miles worth of urban roads I can think of far more potential incidents & many more situations where I've had to take avoiding action on urban roads than rural. All my 'accidents', apposed to the one deliberately initiated incident, have taken place in an urban or semi-urban environment.

 

[BentMikey]

It might be fairer to measure incidents not by mile, but by vehicle encounters?

Snorri is right though, rural collisions tend to have far more serious consequences than urban ones.

 

[snorri]

. All my 'accidents',

The urban 'accidents' are more likely to be survivable, your presence on the foum is proof of this.

 

[BentMikey]

Let's not be calling them 'accidents' even with the quotes. Collisions please.

 

[GrasB]

BM, never argued they weren't. Just there are far fewer of them, we tend to concentrate on the road deaths end but getting knocked off the bike & breaking an arm/leg or just being bruised badly enough that you can't walk more than 100m or so (interestingly enough that ISN'T classed as a serious injury despite being bad enough to warrant occupational health barring me from certain duties for 3 months!).

snorri, most accidents have been with mammalian quadrupeds. Then there was the woman who clipped the kerb on a pinch point (semi-urban) & finally the f**kwhit who threw a fag end at me when I was doing something like 30mph (rural but I'd call that a deliberate attack not an accident)

 

[snorri]

Just there are far fewer of them, we tend to concentrate on the road deaths end

Errrr.... Aren't the deaths incidents more serious, therefore more worthy of our concentration?


BentMikey, re accidents/collisions, Fair Cop officer

 

[Ben M]

I ride and drive in Bristol, I much prefer riding. I get less stressed, find it easier etc. etc.

 

[snailracer]

"Almost half of cyclist fatalities occurred on rural roads":

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme1/ppr445.pdf

Given that there are very few cyclists on rural roads compared to urban roads, the OP's assumption seems entirely mistaken.

 

[GrasB]

Errrr.... Aren't the deaths incidents more serious, therefore more worthy of our concentration?

But KSI isn't the be all & end all of safety. From a RoSPA 2007 data summery 16% of incidents are KSI & <1% are deaths, that leaves 84% of the injuries in the slight category. Having experience what a 'slight' injury can be those statistics don't tell the full story of injuries.

One phrase sticks in my mind "Any RTC with injuries should be considered a fatal incident, the only difference is there is no next of kin to be informed"

 

[snailracer]

But KSI isn't the be all & end all of safety. From a RoSPA 2007 data summery 16% of incidents are KSI & <1% are deaths, that leaves 84% of the injuries in the slight category. Having experience what a 'slight' injury can be those statistics don't tell the full story of injuries.

One phrase sticks in my mind "Any RTC with injuries should be considered a fatal incident, the only difference is there is no next of kin to be informed"

Good point, however you are still 3x more likely to be KSI on rural roads, and the OP's ghoulish thread was about being actually killed:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/162469/221412/221549/227755/328843/pedalcyclistfsheet07.pdf

 

[GrasB]

However I don't rate the KSI system very highly after being left barely able to walk for several days, in pain for 6-7 weeks & unable to fully discharge my full job role, which is mainly a desk job(!), for 3 months & yet I only had a 'slight' injury.

As for the OP I read that as an exaggerated question rather than a literal one.

 

[GrasB]

"Urban/rural.
The majority (82 per cent) of pedal cycle accidents happened in urban areas; these accidents account for 73 per cent of all pedal cyclist KSI casualties. This is explained by the fact that 77 per cent of cycle traffic was on urban roads in 2007. In comparison, 62 per cent of all accidents and 52 per cent of all KSI casualties occurred in urban areas."

Maybe I'm reading that differently to you but I read that as 62% of all RTCs are in urban areas but for cyclist RTCs that's 82%.

 

[snailracer]

"Urban/rural.
The majority (82 per cent) of pedal cycle accidents happened in urban areas; these accidents account for 73 per cent of all pedal cyclist KSI casualties. This is explained by the fact that 77 per cent of cycle traffic was on urban roads in 2007. In comparison, 62 per cent of all accidents and 52 per cent of all KSI casualties occurred in urban areas."

Maybe I'm reading that differently to you but I read that as 62% of all RTCs are in urban areas but for cyclist RTCs that's 82%.

Apologies, I think you are right - I got confused between pedal cycle & all RTCs. In which case, you would only be 23% more likely to be KSI on rural roads than urban (I might have got that wrong, too).

 

[trustysteed]

i've been living in bristol for 18 years, been seriously commuting into the centre for 10 years and i don't feel it is particularly dangerous, even in the centre.

i might have to revise this statement in light of an incident i had yesterday morning.

was heading into the city centre down the gloucester road and was passing a girl's school on the left. i was in the bus lane as per normal and there was a queue of stationary traffic backed up from a junction about 200m in the normal car lane to my right. there is a pedestrain crossing opposite the school which was green as i approached it.

suddenly from a car in the queue that was just before the pedestrian crossing, a schoolgirl jumped out and ran straight across the bus lane without warninglooking. i hit her at about 25kmh and we both went flying. i had a couple of grazed knees and a gash on my right shin, she had a cut on her finger. she'll probably have some very bruised ribs today as well!

bike seemed knackered, the handlebars were bent downwards, the front wheel was very slightly kinked and the bar tape was a bit scratched on one side. managed to put the bars back to normal once i got into work and will get the wheel and bar tape fixed next week at the Giant shop i bought it from. apart from that, the bike's fine, quite sturdy but then i guess cross-bikes are meant to be!

the girl was in shock and very upset and apologised several times for causing the accident. the girl's mother who was driving admitted it was her fault as she said he'd told the girl it was safe to exit the car as she'd checked for the bus and other motor vehicles. she also said she would pay for the repairs to the bike.

like most cyclists, i was more worried about my bike than me!

still, lessons learned all round, she won't do it again, her mom won't let her out in the middle of traffic, they'll both check properly before crossing roads and i will be more on guard than normal for the unexpected!