Oxford Street shoppers, please listen up:

[hackbike 666]

None of it is North/South of Oxford street East of Oxford Circus through to Charring Cross Road/Tottenham Court Road. The whole of Soho and Noho (Fitzrovia) needs to be resurfaced. I'm sure they will once they finish smashing the place up for crossrail.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....Don't start that...there are enough bloody roadworks which seem to go on forever.

Southwark Bridge/Waterloo Bridge/Stratford/Leyton/Blackfirars...no change I notice...

 

[gaz]

Er, Gaz? I didn't say that or anything else with the word "necessary" in it. Maybe you were confusing my post with dondare's?

I have no idea what happened, i clicked quote on dondare's post, and now your name is there :S

 

[Tynan]

you're supposed to ride/drive at a safe speed for the conditions

 

[joebingo]

I probably was going slightly too fast for the conditions, though no faster than 15mph and I did have enough time and space to stop. I was certainly going slower than the Taxi in front of me. Ultimately, aren't we all responsible for our own personal safety, which includes things like not unpredictably straying into the path of oncoming traffic. I understand my duty of care to other road users, but don't forget that they also have a duty of care unto themselves.

I've always hated the road as a pedestrian, a bizarre thing happens to people on it - mega slow subconscious open to and oblivious of anything but advertising zombie mode. Suppose I should know better.

 

[John the Monkey]

joe, the difference is that you're likely to end up losing skin (at best) too in a collision, so an element of self interest should be factored as well.

where you know things like this are likely, slow down, cover the brakes.

i'd expect the same from a car on a residential street with vehicles parked on it, sadly that's rarer.

 

[Arch]

I probably was going slightly too fast for the conditions, though no faster than 15mph and I did have enough time and space to stop. I was certainly going slower than the Taxi in front of me. Ultimately, aren't we all responsible for our own personal safety, which includes things like not unpredictably straying into the path of oncoming traffic. I understand my duty of care to other road users, but don't forget that they also have a duty of care unto themselves.

15mph is too fast for a crowded area like that - the fact that you had to stop so suddenly shows you were going too fast. In an area where peds might step out any minute, I'd be going at less than 10.

We don't have an Oxford Street in York, but we do have a cyclepath that goes right past the Minster south door. Middle of a summer Saturday it's heaving with tourists, posing, or stepping back and back in the quest for the perfect photo. There's a painted cyclepath on the tarmac, but it's not clear and even if it was, they aren't thinking about looking down, they are all looking up at the Rose Window. 15mph through there would be barmy.

So I slow down, and make copious use of my bell.

Do you have a bell?

 

[John the Monkey]

It's Whitworth Park & then Oxford Rd through Rusholme for me - always very busy.

Realised long ago that I can either do it at speed, brakig heavily quite often & getting cross, or take it easy and keep my blood pressure at a reasonable level.

A proper bell (like the Crane Bell Suzu) makes a huge difference too.

 

[hackbike 666]

Ultimately, aren't we all responsible for our own personal safety, which includes things like not unpredictably straying into the path of oncoming traffic. I understand my duty of care to other road users, but don't forget that they also have a duty of care unto themselves.

In the real world that doesn't happen.

 

[Arch]

Also, in an area as crowded as that, there are things you just can't predict. Someone turns their ankle on the kerb edge and stumbles into the road. Someone barges into someone else and pushes them off the kerb. Someone sees a shop suddenly and steps across in front of someone else, who has to take evading action. Sometimes as a pedestrian, you find yourself put in a position you didn't choose.

 

[jonny jeez]

We don't have an Oxford Street in York,

oh no, dont tell the people that live here?

they be looking to stay at your place.

 

[Arch]

Yeah, it's not quite the West End, is it?

I can't see the Apple store... Unless there's a greengrocers round the corner.