London commuting.

[Dec66]

First commute back after my Franco-Belgian soujourn.

Yes, I remembered to ride on the left.

And yes, British drivers really are far less considerate of cyclists than their continental counterparts. Not having a go, it's just the way it is.

 

[User16625]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTLGpWh-RI0


Actually this looks worse than the CS 3 Tower Gateway to Limehouse section.

Not sure if that cyclist nows how a zebra crossing is supposed to work. Basically you stop to let people cross. Plenty of numpty peds aswell tho.

 

[mjr]

Not sure if that cyclist nows how a zebra crossing is supposed to work. Basically you stop to let people cross. Plenty of numpty peds aswell tho.

Not sure if you noticed but that's the USA rather than a civilised country, so they ain't zebra crossings. That's how they mark crosswalks and it's actually an offence to cross against a "DONT WALK" light that they insult as "jaywalking".

Althought the rider does seem to be a bit of a dick with the horn sometimes.

 

[ianrauk]

For Greenwich & Woolwich Foot Tunnel users

Thames foot tunnels to allow cyclists

TWO tunnels under the Thames are set to have cyclists riding through them for the first time in nearly 80 years.

Bylaws governing Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels, which are 498m and 370m long, are due to be updated after being enacted in 1938. They are used by 1.5 million people a year and cyclists must dismount. If they fail to do so they could face a fine of only £1 because it was set so long ago.

Now Greenwich council has voted to erect signs allowing cycling when “considered safe to all users”. Monitoring equipment is being tested to work out how to make it safer for shared use.

 

[damj]

Count 'em...

Absolute nightmare!

 

[Tynan]

blimey, I commute into central London and this reminds me that i ride a route in summer/daylight to avoid routes like that

 

[Tynan]

Not my route for years but my impression is that more and more people are riding after a few mild winters and the new infrastructure, I avoid my most obvious routes due the number of riders, and many of them bad riders too, as soonas you get cycle congestion you get idiots trying to pass and overtake and undertake.

I ride a route with hills and a few nasty sections to avoid that

So in short a qualified no not really I suspect

i used to ride through London from Tottenham to Wimbledon in the mid eighties and hardly anyone rode in London rush hour back then

 

[robjh]

Not my route for years but my impression is that more and more people are riding after a few mild winters and the new infrastructure, I avoid my most obvious routes due the number of riders, and many of them bad riders too, as soonas you get cycle congestion you get idiots trying to pass and overtake and undertake.

I ride a route with hills and a few nasty sections to avoid that

So in short a qualified no not really I suspect

i used to ride through London from Tottenham to Wimbledon in the mid eighties and hardly anyone rode in London rush hour back then

I too used to commute into London in the mid-80s, from Tooting to the City and West End, and until Kennington or Stockwell I was on my own. On a busy morning you might get half a dozen of us going over the bridges together, and that felt like a crowd. I love seeing the numbers riding in London these days, give or take a bit of localised bunching. Some things have improved with time.

 

[mjr]

That was more than a year ago though. Have things settled down at all?

Not ever so. Some kneejerker put a load of barriers on Blackfriars Bridge that create congestion bottlenecks at the ends. Apparently they're "temporary" but I suspect that might be like the "temporary" tin shed at King's Cross that was there 40 years

 

[MichaelO]

Southwark bridge has likewise.

Aren't they on all/most bridges following the London Bridge attack?

 

[velovoice]

That's how they mark crosswalks and it's actually an offence to cross against a "DONT WALK" light that they insult as "jaywalking".

Small point of order as I know how precise and accurate you like to be...
Crossing against a "DON'T WALK" light is, in the US (as that's your context), called "crossing against the light" or similar.
"Jaywalking" is crossing the street where there is no designated crossing, for example mid-block. It's this normal everyday behaviour that the motoring lobby managed to criminalise with the advent of the motor car. Marked crossings came into existence as part of that process to criminalise jaywalking.

 

[mjr]

"Jaywalking" is crossing the street where there is no designated crossing, for example mid-block. It's this normal everyday behaviour that the motoring lobby managed to criminalise with the advent of the motor car. Marked crossings came into existence as part of that process to criminalise jaywalking.

For crossing freely to be an offence, it needs to be within a certain distance of a marked crossing, doesn't it?

 

[velovoice]

For crossing freely to be an offence, it needs to be within a certain distance of a marked crossing, doesn't it?

In the US, you have to be within the lines of the crossing to not be committing the offence. (There may be variances in different states.)

 

[velovoice]

In the US, you have to be within the lines of the crossing to not be committing the offence. (There may be variances in different states.)

In the small town I grew up, crossings were few and far between. Technically, every time we crossed the road virtually anywhere in town, we were jaywalking. But law enforcement didn't give a damn. And we all knew the Justice of the Peace personally.

ETA: Look up the history of jaywalking. It's an offence created so that motorists would have something to throw back, if they hit a pedestrian. Total con.

 

[ianrauk]

Greenwich Foot Tunnel ‘to be full up with cyclists’ by 2025, TfL says

Linky HERE