How many incidents in a mile??

[Ian Cooper]

LOL, that's much what I thought. Never ridden in London.

Actually, I lived in London in the 1980s, and I have ridden a bike there quite a bit. I've ridden extensively in southern and central England and commuted by bike in Birmingham for 5 years.

Come on Ian, let's see some footage of your rides.

I don't take camera footage of my rides, because nothing worth recording ever happens on them. And I certainly don't think the distraction of looking after a camera and calling out offending licence plates (as some do) would do anything to increase my safety on the road. On the contrary, I think it would be a potential added danger.

If people can't stand criticism of their videos, I think they make a pretty strange choice by uploading them to the internet.

I suspect you're doing one or more of the following:
Drawing the line at what you describe as an incident very differently to the rest of us.

Well, there's no way to judge, is there? What I can say is that I've never once been knocked off my bike while cycling on the road.

Not riding much mileage.

I've probably cycled about 20,000 miles in the last 30 years. That may not be as much as some, but it's probably more than most. My current daily commute is only a couple of miles. My longest commute (in terms of both distance and length of time spent doing it) was about 7 miles.

Not encountering much traffic at all.

I certainly don't seek it out, but as I've said elsewhere, my current commute involves cycling on a six-lane highway. They tend not to widen roads that much unless there's plenty of traffic to go around.

So you can speculate all you want, calling into question every aspect of my character and my cycling experience. But it doesn't really impact the arguments I'm making.

 

[BentMikey]

Ah yes, can't stand criticism of your ride?

 

[Ian Cooper]

Ah yes, can't stand criticism of your ride?

Eh?

 

[steveoo]

I have a near miss every day going to and from work a round trip of 11 miles unfortunatly i am used to it now.
However this morning i had 4 in the space of 1 mile i must have changed into the invisible man (must learn to control those powers)!

 

[Sandra6]

I wonder if the power of invisibility is at the heart of my problem.
I do have a high number of incidents where motorists don't see me on zebra and pelican crossings too.
Today's cycles to and from work were mostly incident free - apart from the old man coming up the hill just as I came over the top from my side - the right side! I felt sure he'd see me and realise he was on the wrong side of the road but he kept merrily pedalling away and just laughed when I pointed out his error and kept on going.

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

Be cause he was a pedestrian and unconfined by boundaries, in my time I've seen peds do weird things (for example, one suddenly started to run on the pavement and jumped of in to the side of a double decker bus! ), all you can really do is expect the unexpected Good Luck

I seem to remember in 1997 I ran after a bus to catch it,straight across the road without looking and nearly got killed by a speeding car,that car did everything to avoid me,I will never forget it.

Im hopefully much more tolerant towards peds now,more than I ever have been,not only due to that incident but also due to what I have read on here also.

Yes I have my bad days also and generally when a ped makes a mistake they do sometimes apologise.

 

[Tynan]

a modern very bright front light really does help, even in daylight, I really noticed the difference when I started using one every ride, it's bright/intense enough to catch drivers' eyes

 

[gaz]

If people can't stand criticism of their videos, I think they make a pretty strange choice by uploading them to the internet.

Most of us are more than happy to take criticism, but if the criticism isn't great, what do you expect us to do?

You showed from criticism of my video that you know little of bus lanes, cycle lanes and road widths in the UK. Most of the time where you suggest I should take a different position, it would have either caused more issues or slowed other traffic down unnecessarily.

 

[BentMikey]

So you can speculate all you want, calling into question every aspect of my character and my cycling experience. But it doesn't really impact the arguments I'm making.

Actually, I was the one defending you earlier. I do question your comments rather than you personally, as they sometimes seem rather off kilter and not matched to reality.

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

I had an incident yesterday at Bethnal Green where a car crossed from the other side of the road and stopped about ten yards short of me,boy racer driving.

Does having an incident which probably wasn't my fault make me a crap cyclist Ian,as you never have incidents due to your superb lane positioning?

 

[Sandra6]

Well the only thing to jump out on me yesterday was a nettle bush.
Oh, and a bird pooed on me. Didn't like that much!

 

[Crankarm]

Well the only thing to jump out on me yesterday was a nettle bush.
Oh, and a bird pooed on me. Didn't like that much!

Sh1t happens .

 

[Crankarm]

I only cycle a mile to work but I am constantly amazed at the number of attempts that can be made on my life in such a short space of time! The record was six - and four of those were on the carpark!
Today's idiot driver almost took me out on a round-a-bout. Having right of way and with no traffic to the right I set out over the road only to have a van driver decide not to wait in the queue of traffic, instead he came down the wrong side of the road and straight at me!
I had to stop sharply - not easy in the wet and on my little metis - while he and the boy racers in the next car laughed loudly at my profanities!
Jammy git had his licence plate obscured by a trailer or I'd have been straight on to the police.
I can happily do 20 or so miles around and about the country lanes with nothing more than a deer leaping out on me but that one mile to work is treacherous.

Airzound is your friend ...

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

Well the only thing to jump out on me yesterday was a nettle bush.
Oh, and a bird pooed on me. Didn't like that much!

That's your fault.looks like you got your lane positioning wrong.

 

[Boris Bajic]

That's your fault.looks like you got your lane positioning wrong.

There you go, blaming the victim again!

Your callous finger-pointing leaves me lost for words.

Oh no... I doesn't...

No wonder our jails are so full!