So today I was involved in the first crash I've ever had involving a bicycle after 3 years of cycling around central London... and I wasn't even on my bike.
I got mown down suddenly from behind as I jogged along a no-bikes-permitted path in Regent's Park, by a gang of teenage boys on Boris Bikes who said they "didn't see" me. It is often hard to see people when they're running in an open area along a pedestrian pathway in broad daylight, so obviously I stopped a while to empathise.
Apart from a sore back in the shape of a Barclay's front basket, having to check behind myself in paranoia and a general sense of outrage, I'm fine. I feel I've generously added to statistics proving it is more dangerous to be a pedestrian than a cyclist.
Despite the fact I think Boris Bikes are in principle a great idea and things I've used in the past, sometimes I wonder if giving them to dippy tourists, teenagers and anybody with a bank card isn't as much massive stupidity as also a stroke of genius.
I got mown down suddenly from behind as I jogged along a no-bikes-permitted path in Regent's Park, by a gang of teenage boys on Boris Bikes who said they "didn't see" me. It is often hard to see people when they're running in an open area along a pedestrian pathway in broad daylight, so obviously I stopped a while to empathise.
Apart from a sore back in the shape of a Barclay's front basket, having to check behind myself in paranoia and a general sense of outrage, I'm fine. I feel I've generously added to statistics proving it is more dangerous to be a pedestrian than a cyclist.
Despite the fact I think Boris Bikes are in principle a great idea and things I've used in the past, sometimes I wonder if giving them to dippy tourists, teenagers and anybody with a bank card isn't as much massive stupidity as also a stroke of genius.
