The idiot in Regents Park at 10.45 am this morning (6th Feb)

[Slaav]

Here goes - and possibly in danger of getting this very wrong....

A) Please don't wobble quite so much. 3-4ft wobbles (I kid you not) at random times does you nor other cyclists any favours at all. And it may possibly kill you at some point....

B) I can understand you avoiding the 'door zone' when passing parked cars.... but do you really need to stay in the same position in the road when there are NO parked cars? 100 yards to the next parked car and you staying quite so far out in the road will lead to an awful lot of grief.

C) When you think a car is too close, if you have to swing markedly out from secondary position to try and tap on his/her roof to make a point - and nearly fall off as you are swerving madly with one hand on the bars - then you are not in danger and they are not too close!!!

D) Taking primary at the little islands / calming islands, does make some sense; BUT COME ON.... there is more than enough room to pass at many of them and the one I witnessed will just p1ss car drivers off and achieve nothing - it may even rile people enough to put you in danger!!! (Not that I agree with that one jot.)

E) If someone politely suggests that you should not give chase to someone who you think was too close - he was nowhere near you - then maybe you need to look in the mirror a bit more? At least you didn't bite my head off I suppose!

 

[MikeW-71]

Regarding A and C - He was probably drunk.

 

[Cuchilo]

No I wasn't

 

[Feastie]

Lots of weird and wonderful cycling witnessed over the days of the tube strike.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

...... and breathe

 

[Slaav]

Regarding A and C - He was probably drunk.

It was around 10.45 am and I was in the car! Driving to work yes, I know.....

But he might have been

 

[Kookas]

D) Taking primary at the little islands / calming islands, does make some sense; BUT COME ON.... there is more than enough room to pass at many of them and the one I witnessed will just p1ss car drivers off and achieve nothing - it may even rile people enough to put you in danger!!! (Not that I agree with that one jot.)

Can't be very effective as traffic calming if it's that wide.

 

[adscrim]

It's maybe there as the road is so wide it warrants an island for peds.

 

[Kookas]

It's maybe there as the road is so wide it warrants an island for peds.

Oh, more of a pedestrian refuge then. Fair enough. It just struck me as a bit 'get out the way' since most traffic calmed roads are narrow here in Birmingham.

 

[Slaav]

Oh, more of a pedestrian refuge then. Fair enough. It just struck me as a bit 'get out the way' since most traffic calmed roads are narrow here in Birmingham.

Yes, it is probably more of a refuge for peds as stated. WIll try and grab a screen shot from Google STreet View.
If there were lines of parked cars, then there is an argument for sitting at or beyond primary at one or two of them but not in this instance. IN fact, it would probably have made me laugh at one point if someone had DRIVEN up his inside it was sooo stupid a position.

The Northbound islands on the Eastern side though.... now that is a completely different situation

 

[TheJDog]

the islands in Regent's park all have easily enough room for a bike in the marked cycle lane and a car.

 

[Twelve Spokes]

D) one I witnessed will just p1ss car drivers off and achieve nothing - !

Don't worry,they are already p1553d off with us,being there.

 

[Buddfox]

the islands in Regent's park all have easily enough room for a bike in the marked cycle lane and a car.

No they don't - specifically the one closest to the US Ambassador's residence, and the one on the easternmost road (southbound and in particular northbound). In my experience at least, any pass by a car through those, even if the cycle is hugging the pavement, leaves the car typically between 20 and 50cm away from the handlebars - too close (especially since a good number of cars using Regents Park tend to be executive or wider cars, e.g. BMWs, Audis, Mercedes). The two on the west side are OK, the one up near London Zoo borderline.

I always take primary through the first two I mention and have never had any issues with cars waiting behind - they recognise it is too narrow to pass safely.