Oxford Street shoppers, please listen up:

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joebingo

Über Member
Location
London, England
Roads contain fast things. Recommended practice is to check road for said fast things before stepping into their path, frightening the living daylights out of their operators and almost sending them flying over their handlebars head first onto aforementioned road.

1 near miss and 3 low speed avoiding actions with peds in the space of 100m today. What's worse, is that it seems the only thing that makes these walking counter-theories to natural selection look for traffic is the sound of skidding tyres.

Other than that though, had a fantastic commute in ;). Taxi drivers are seemingly getting a lot better around cyclists!
 

gaz

Cycle Camera TV
Location
South Croydon
Avoid oxford street like the plague.
 

HaloJ

Rabid cycle nut
Location
Watford
Jump a block North onto Eastcastle/Margaret if heading west.

More difficult when heading East as South isn't a straight path and is full of peds. Maybe jump a few blocks North and use Wigmore/Cavendish/Mortimer/Goodge

I tend to stay North of Oxford Street although had to drop a laptop off in Soho the other day and was mildly surprised about the closure of the South side of Oxford Street at the East end.
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
East of Oxford Circus it's not so bad, it's when you get down towards Bond St that it all starts getting really silly.
 

gaz

Cycle Camera TV
Location
South Croydon
coruskate said:
East of Oxford Circus it's not so bad, it's when you get down towards Bond St that it all starts getting really silly.

Aye, but the road surface isn't great on the east side of Oxford circus
 

HaloJ

Rabid cycle nut
Location
Watford
gaz said:
Aye, but the road surface isn't great on the east side of Oxford circus

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.
 
BentMikey said:
It's pedestrian city, and rightly so. Why not just slow down and be more careful?

+1
 

StuartG

slower but further
Location
SE London
joebingo said:
Roads contain fast things. Recommended practice is to check road for said fast things before stepping into their path, frightening the living daylights out of their operators and almost sending them flying over their handlebars head first onto aforementioned road.
If that's true than IMHO you were travelling ridiculously and unsafely fast and is the one to blame - as likely the rest of the cycling fratenity would have unjustly shared the blame if you had demolished a previously upright citizen.

What is it about a bike that makes one forget what how we behave as pedestrians? Oxford Street is primarily an extremely crowded walking street with shops on both sides so making crossing the restricted road a continuing activity. The only other occupants are slow moving buses and taxis. They are really easy to spot unlike cyclists who are the same height and passing appearance of another pedestrian. Oh and obscured often by pedestrians, buses and taxis.

Hence even alert pedestrians come into conflict and many have other things on their mind (that bargain!).

As a road user you have to take into consideration the likely behaviour of other road users - even if they are in the wrong. Looks like you didn't which would be a FAIL in my book.

Sorry.
 

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
When cycling down Oxford Street, watch out for peds. Make sure that you don't hit any, even in the road. Even if they're being dozy. If necessary, slow down.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Have to say I tend to the 'assume the worst, slow down' tendency...my route takes me thru' Covent Garden every day, and you have to come down to walking pace or even stop sometimes, with all the numpties ambling around in the middle of the road. But it would help if the peds would try to be a little less dumb - some of them simply don't seem to see anything that's not motorised.

Also, the one time I went down Oxford Street recently, I was appalled at the state of the road surface - it's hard enough looking out for numpties; looking out for numpties and bloody great holes in the road at the same time can be a bit trying.
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
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?
 
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