Why do some cyclists seem so hopelessly unaware of other traffic?

[Wheeledweenie]

Christ everyone seems right up themselves in this thread.

That was unnecessary, no one's saying they're perfect but it is weird that quite a few people seem willing to nestle up to enormous lorries that are indicating left while the media screams about cycling fatalities. It's just silly.

I saw a cycle trainer taking someone out on the road near my house the other day. I wish I'd known about them when I started out. I look back at the way I cycled when I first went on the roads and I shudder. I was asking for death on a couple of occasions. That's why I bike buddy with someone at work, and pass on what I've learned. We often see people doing death-defying stunts when we commute together and she often says she's glad I made mistakes so she doesn't have to.

 

[hackbike 666]

That was unnecessary, no one's saying they're perfect but it is weird that quite a few people seem willing to nestle up to enormous lorries that are indicating left while the media screams about cycling fatalities. It's just silly.

So if there is a problem with this shouldn't something be done?

All very well coming onto a thread shouting blue murder but the problem here is people still do it?

Is it best to leave them to it or do something about it?

Plus I commuted via Hackney last night for the first time in years and apart from the crap driving (which I expected) there were numerous cyclists without lights and also dressed in black so it seems to me like they just don't care...but that's their choice not mine.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Plus I commuted via Hackney last night for the first time in years and apart from the crap driving (which I expected) there were numerous cyclists without lights and also dressed in black so it seems to me like they just don't care...but that's their choice not mine.

So if there is a problem with this shouldn't something be done?

All very well coming onto a thread shouting blue murder but the problem here is people still do it?

 

[hackbike 666]

So if there is a problem with this shouldn't something be done?

All very well coming onto a thread shouting blue murder but the problem here is people still do it?

Nothing will be done though will it?

Same with mobile phone use.Ditto.

All very well coming onto a thread shouting blue murder but the problem here is people still do it?

I made a statement...I wasn't screaming blue murder.

 

[ManiaMuse]

Having thought about it a bit I wonder if it's just instinctive for some cyclists to feel safer tucked up on the inside of a slow moving/stationary bus or HGV, regardless of whether it puts them in a dangerous position if it stops/turns left, than to be in the path of faster traffic from behind. Since some cyclists do very few shoulder checks, if any, they may be worrying about the traffic coming from behind more than the risks from their own cycling actions.

Anyway I never meant for this thread to descend into an argument about posters being up themselves or whatever. I mean there have been quite a few high profile undertaking left turning lorry accidents in recent years - in my opinion undertaking stopping buses is a similar thing but doesn't get as much mention because it doesn't prompt an argument about whether RLJ is safer or not.

Obviously some cyclists aren't aware of the risks and might benefit from advice, and others would probably continue cycling as they do even if someone tells them that it is dangerous. And there are only so many resources for education and as some people have said, some people may be 'morons'/just not care. But is just ignoring the fact and just accepting that some cyclists are going to be involved in preventable accidents through their own bad judgment/situational awareness the best approach?

 

[hackbike 666]

Sorry Mania my fault.It just seems to come across like that sometimes.

It seems like there is a lot more reporting on this sort of stuff....must be the internet I guess....They did have big lorries in the 1980's as far as I remember but you obviously wouldn't hear so much about accidents.

One thing is RLJing/Mobile Phones hadn't been invented.Those were the days.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Nothing will be done though will it?

Same with mobile phone use.Ditto.



I made a statement...I wasn't screaming blue murder.

I see you have your irony detectors switched off today.

 

[hackbike 666]

I see you have your irony detectors switched off today.

Definitely.

 

[Wheeledweenie]

Ah but by bike buddying I feel I'm doing something, however small. As I said, my bike buddy has said several times that she feels like she cycles more safely for a bit of guidance. I don't preach but I give her honest answers when she asks why I cycle the way I do, for example why I hang back from lorries at junctions rather than fight to the front.