London Commuters

Gilbie

Just spent the last few days at a training course nr Euston - amazed at the amount of cyclists! On my 10 min walk, I probably spot more cyclists than I do in a month of my normal commute. Having the luxury of a yokel / rural ride to work its quite an eye opener to see soo much traffic - bikes and cars all fighting for that inch of road. That must take some serious confidence to fly around the streets, I feel nervous just crossing roads with all the cars about.

Kudos to all you nutters! 8)

spasypaddy

seriously its looks worse than it is

snakehips

Whenever I have to go in to the centre of London I enjoy seeing all the cyclists whizzing around. I used to do it myself , a long time ago , so it brings back great memories.

biondino

Gilbie wrote:

That must take some serious confidence to fly around the streets

You identify the potential issues, you minimise the risks, and you go as fast and efficiently as you safely can. There are no special skills, just bike competence and self-belief.

But thanks

Clever Pun

you get used to it and as Biondino said identify risks (everyone )

riding with confidence helps as does avoiding the left side of big lorries and buses etc

cjcp

IMO, much of it is down to familiarity. When I go home to just outside Cardiff, there are some roads where I really don't feel very comfortable riding on my own - fast, exposed, some drivers look at bikes as if they were from objects from a distant planet etc. It's around the lanes there I feel better.

But, cheers anyway.

artaxerxes

Don't know what its like in other cities/towns but the state of the road surface in central London is appalling. I've seen better in so called 3rd world countries.

greg66_tri_v2.0

I believe (perversely, perhaps), that it's safer in London than in plenty of provincial towns, precisely because there are so many cyclists: the motoring commuters are far more used to having them around, and (generally) react accordingly.

artaxerxes

There are more dozy tourists stepping out into the road though.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

IMO, much of it is down to familiarity. When I go home to just outside Cardiff, there are some roads where I really don't feel very comfortable riding on

Is that because they don't have tarmac on them? And because the people who live on these roads throw their sewage out the windows? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Cardiff. :roll: Honestly. What do you expect? The 17th century?

Greg T

Greg66 wrote:

[And because the people who live on these roads throw their sewage out the windows?

This is offset by the illumination provided by burning holiday cottages and wicker men.

Toasty.

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

IMO, much of it is down to familiarity. When I go home to just outside Cardiff, there are some roads where I really don't feel very comfortable riding on

Is that because they don't have tarmac on them? And because the people who live on these roads throw their sewage out the windows? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Cardiff. :roll: Honestly. What do you expect? The 17th century?

How true. And to quote Twin Town, "I've been picking fcuking leeks all day, too." :twisted:

biondino

Drivers in central London are easily the most competent drivers I've cycled around. The downside is that there are so many of them there are still plenty of idiots.

iain_j

+1

Only ever been to London as a tourist but impressed with the amount of cyclists about. What is it, is there a higher proportion of people cycling than in other places, or does it just seem more cos there's more people there? Is it to beat the congestion, or the congestion charge?

And do any of you here ride those rickshaw things? Go on, own up :P (what's their FCN by the way?)

biondino

Anyone who drives a car out of choice in central London is a lunatic anyway, considering the transport options even if you don't cycle. There may be pockets of public transport-unfriendly locations but 95% of it is well catered for.

Rich158

Greg66 wrote:

I believe (perversely, perhaps), that it's safer in London than in plenty of provincial towns, precisely because there are so many cyclists: the motoring commuters are far more used to having them around, and (generally) react accordingly.

I quite agree, I feel far safer rider in and out of Greenwich every day than I do when I get home. Generally speaking motorists in London are used to bikes travelling at speed, not so when I get home to Gravesend, where the drivers have no idea what to do when presented with a bike travellign at 20mph plus (the usual course of action seems to be to wait at the junction until I've just gone past the spot where I can safely brake and then pull out on me :roll: )

GEPC

I agree with the point that London is probably a safer place to ride than other city centres where there are less cyclists and therefore drivers are less aware and less acomodating to us. We also have lots of bus lanes which are car free and until recently (thank you Borris) belonged only to us and the busses.

Like commuters everywhere most of us probably have a set route or a couple of routes that we take all the time, so it also helps when you know the roads really well, and know the dangerous bits and where to position yourself on the road. You do need to be confident, and you do need to impose yourself on cars from time to time and claim the whole lane, but that's probably the case everrywhere. The inside of lorries and buses is the place never to go and it always amazes me when practically every day I see someone put themselves in a position that would be really dangerous if the traffic lights changed quicker than they expected. It usually is the more inexperiences looking commuters doing it. Hopefully they learn quickly.

If you haven't tried it, give it ago as its the best way to get around London. I cycle over Waterloo bridge most morning and evenings and can't help but enjoy one of the best views in London and if you have never turned the speed on down the Mal or tried the race track which is the road around Regents park then you are missing out.

the_hundredth_idiot

linoue wrote:

Don't know what its like in other cities/towns but the state of the road surface in central London is appalling. I've seen better in so called 3rd world countries.

+1

I've actually been using the old MTB for the last couple of weeks. Ostensibly because I didn't want to get the steel-framed road bike all covered in salt. But those fat low pressure tyres and front-suspension forks make it so much more comfortable. Reminded me just how appalling the roads are in south-east London. Pot-holes, speed bumps, one place where the raod surface has virtually come away and it's like a tarmac version of cobbles for a couple of hundred yards.

DonDaddyD

I don't think you can say London as a whole is safe to ride around.

From experience Dulwich is safer to cycle around than Norwood.

Wimbledon is safer to cycle around than Tooting.

Its safer because of the mentality of other road users.

Yes I agree that there is safety in numbers, but I also feel that (like the difference between motorway driving and inner city driving) the dangers faced by the inner-city cyclists is different to the provincial town cyclists and in someways not comparable.

That said I love cycling in London, it is more fun and safer - in and of itself - with more cyclists on the road (but with more cyclists comes its own dangers like pulling out wide to overtake). But I loved cycling in London before it was cool!

jimmypippa

Greg66 wrote:

I believe (perversely, perhaps), that it's safer in London than in plenty of provincial towns, precisely because there are so many cyclists: the motoring commuters are far more used to having them around, and (generally) react accordingly.

I recall seeing someone( possibly Ben Goldacre in the Guardian) quoting some statistics where the number of injuries rose when compulsory cycle-helmets were introduced in ustralia, (Victoria?).

The reason attributed to this was precicely that, the number of journeys fell, and a big influence on accident rates is the amount of cyclists that car drivers see, raising their awareness.

Total numbers of injuries rose, and rates per cycle kilometer rose far more (obviously).

my google-fu was too weak to find the article...

Gilbie

Interesting comments, I suppose it looks scarier than it actually is. A friend at work used to be a cycle courier in London and said - because you travel the same speed / if not faster than cars then it doesn't feel that threatening. A Valid points about knowing your routes and holding primary, if drivers expect to see cyclists everywhere then it must make things safer. I'll be getting my SS commute bike shortly and when next up in London I may just bring it with me! :shock:

jimmypippa

My google-fu is weak, but by coincidence, the CTC supports the view that increasing numbers of cyclists reduce the number of accidents involving cyclists:

Bikeradar story, "Car insurer's cycle stats branded ‘Mickey Mouse’" here:

CTC said the accident rate quoted was something like nine times higher than official figures. Police data shows there were only 16,208 reported cycle casualties (most of them slight) in the year to June 2008 – a two percent reduction on the previous year.

Roger Geffen, CTC’s campaigns and policy manager, said: “This is Mickey Mouse research and flies in the face of all official published statistics on cycling. There is plenty of evidence showing that cycling gets safer the more cyclists there are.

"In London there has been a 91 percent increase in cycle use on the capital’s main roads since 2000 and a 33 percent reduction in cycle casualties in roughly the same period.”

spasypaddy

tried the race track which is the road around Regents park then you are missing out.

This is part of my route home and is my favourite part as well. Its about a mile out of the office and is where i really open my legs and purr down there on my fixed. Love it!