What is it with women cyclists?

Jay dubbleU

Cafewanda wrote:

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Cafewanda wrote:

I reckon those wimmen would have been more successful in 'dangerous' filtering if they'd been on racers

Hybrids clearly ain't made for this manoeuvre!

Ah - I think I can see your problem Wanda - what you need is a bright yellow SS with the bars cut down to around 15" :twisted:

Lissen up Jay, I love my hybrid (with pitchfork) , besides which I'm still on 'probation' cycle-wise so not eligible for bright red SS just yet

Wanda as a hybrid rider myself far be it from me to dis your bike - besides the pitchfork is really scary

artaxerxes

Its a bit morbid, but how do people end up underneath a lorry turning left?

I can't imagine how it would happen, surely one can get out of the way if one absolutely has to?

Not if there are barriers on the pavement (to stop cars going onto the pavement)

Soul Boy

I dunno what it is, but 5 out of 6 fatalities this year, something is up!

Saw a very, very slow female yesterday just south of Borough High St. I pulled up behind a bus, nowhere to go on the inside and couldn't be bothered going round the outside of the second lane of traffic to get to the front, but she trundles up, shakily snakes through the cars in the second lane and around the front of the bus. Lights go green, bus is stuck behind her, has to wait to get out and overtake after about 2 metres.

Knowing she isn't a fast rider, why couldn't she have waiting a few secs? She wouldn't have had to be overtaken by the bus, not irritated the driver, passengers and ME and surely had a more pleasant journey.

OK, not the greatest crime, just an example of no thought other than, must keep going forward (very, very slowly) :?

I'm not sure I buy the "women are more cautious/less assertive" argument. I think a lot of them are just not aware of dangers or what is happening around them. Sorry, if that offends. :oops:

biondino

must keep going forward

I think this may be it. Not sure the psychology behind it, though perhaps female commuters are more worried about losing momentum, or are less confident about the stopping/starting aspect of commuting.

benno68

There really needs to be a "hard hitting" ad campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of people cycling along the inside of large vehicles.

As we all know, there are adverts about speeding, drink driving and looking out for motorbikes already, so a campaign on how to stay safe when cycling wouldn't go amiss, even if it is limited to London initially.

Maybe good old Gordon :roll: could sort out some jerseys with a decent strapline on the back to give away, all you guys in the big smoke could go along to collect your jersey and help him get some positive press for a change.

here's a starter for 10

Dear Gordon.......

To help divert the attention of the general public away from the current misery that your government has forced upon us..........

Mine's an XL by the way

sarajoy

I would say it'll be the ladies asserting themselves.

"Must stick to where I'm supposed to be, can't let the traffic get the better of me, must carry on."

Even if the little voice is telling them it seems a bit dodgy or scary, they'll carry on, assuming they're just being silly, and plough on anyway not wanting to be walk-overs.

Sadly, it might mean they're run-overs.

Yes, awareness would help, I think. It'd tell these timid people (female or otherwise) who are just trying to do the Right Thing, that hanging back in fear of their safety is also often the Right Thing to do.

woodyonthebeach

soy_sauce wrote:

Cafewanda wrote:

Oh stop :roll: :roll: , that's (one of) the reasons she has you around

I don't suppose your suggestion of weight training to ensure handling of said bike would go down well?

Between running and cycling, I can't afford gym fees also - that's my excuse anyway 8)

since she is having a personal trainer to plan her trainning, i might just contact her trainer to suggest that idea and add that in her trainning plan. :twisted:

evil and genius at the same time

medicbiker

I was driving across tower bridge this morning at around 8.40am. I had a long Lorry in front of me and we were both very close to the kerb. About halfway across we were stopped for quite a long time and about 9 cyclists came up 5 of which left filtered past my ambulance and then left filtered through the even smaller gap between the lorry and kerb. 2 right filtered me and then left filtered the lorry and the remained right filtered both myself and the lorry. 7 of these were male and only 2 of the men right filtered all the others left filtered. It is definitly not a female only thing

lost_in_thought

No, Medicbiker, you're right, it's not only the girls by any means.

I am mystified by the very disproportionate amount of women killed or seriously injured in altercations with large vehicles - I just can't quite understand why it's seemingly always women when I see men do all the things I think are perhaps the reason.

The only niggling thought at the back of my mind is that as a rule, women are slower. I can't, however, convert this into a valid theory about the aforementioned accidents.

medicbiker

I think it proportionaly happens more often to women due to more men being 'proper cyclists' and more women using it as a means to get somewhere. It takes a bit of experience to know where is best to position yourself on the road. Possily due to the being slower thing as well.

Joycie

Funnily enough one of the ways I use cyling is to "properly" get home on my 19 mile commute, although you could say that I was using the bike as a means to get there...

As for the awareness campaign there are already a few lorries on the road which display stickers (about cyclists head hight and on the left hand side) which specifically read something along the lines of "Don't cycle up the left/inside of me as it's damn dangerous in there"

lost_in_thought

Hmmm, I can't really agree with the fact that it's because women are less aware or proficient on a bike than men.

For every woman I see doing something daft on a bike, I must see 4 men doing something equally daft, and that's not really a huge surprise, seeing as us girls can't make up a huge percentage of people on a bike.

And Joycie is right, a fair few vehicles do display those stickers.

Maybe it's just coincidence, but it does seem rather odd.

medicbiker

What I meant was more men who cycle for commuting seem to also do road riding in their spare time or mountain biking, most of the ladies I know only ride a bike to get to places or for a leisurly pootle. I don't think women are less proficient just that at the moment there seems to be a higher percent of inexpierenced new to cycling women in the overall numer of female cyclists than in men. Anyone know if women have always been statistically more likely to have an accident with a hgv or if it is a new phenonomen? I haven't heard of it happening much outside of London.

ellieb

I don't think it is just coincidence. The disproportionate number of women killed by HGVs has been known of for some time. It hasn't just happened this year.

doog442

ellieb wrote:

I don't think it is just coincidence. The disproportionate number of women killed by HGVs has been known of for some time. It hasn't just happened this year.

what you saying then

Bassjunkieuk

I was witness to some dire cycling by a women cyclist the other day and you want to know the worst part.........it was my mother :-( She has recently got a bike via the C2W scheme so she doesn't have to rely on her car to do the 1.5 mile journey (yes I did mean to put that decimal point there..........) to work. As a treat for my eldest I'd suggested that we go for a ride to a local supermarket to pick up bits for lunch. I was on my roadie at the rear playing guard with my eldest, 9 years old, in between with her up front setting the "pace".

I was cringing and actually had to yell instructions at one point as she tried to navigate between the tram tracks and the platform which was rapidly narrowing.........she has 28C tyres and had already had an off along there after getting her wheels stuck in the track when she "tried to avoid a pothole" - one which I've never encountered I might add, but then I wouldn't even have tried to ride on that side of the tracks. I put this down to primarily my experience having been commuting for a couple of years now and the fact that I have to be even more careful as my 25C tyres are the PERFECT size to slot in the tracks.

As for riding in town there have been a few times that I have cringed as I've seen riders do some completely dimwitted things but as one of the other posters stated it didn't really seem to be a specific gender but rather the FWC who seem to think that the space between the kerb and the yellow line is the only part of the road they are allowed to use.

benborp

A lot of what's being said in this thread chimes with what I once saw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lZPeAWye4

doog442

benborp wrote:

A lot of what's being said in this thread chimes with what I once saw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lZPeAWye4

and from that link ive seen this :roll:

the cyclist head butting a bus :shock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyeJU6U0 ... re=related

benborp

It is true that if you are going to filter you should choose one side or the other. There is no middle way.

tardington

That's in edinburgh! I do that corner quite a lot :shock: :shock:

Oddjob62

doog442 wrote:

the cyclist head butting a bus :shock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyeJU6U0 ... re=related

Classic!

jedster

For every woman I see doing something daft on a bike, I must see 4 men doing something equally daft, and that's not really a huge surprise, seeing as us girls can't make up a huge percentage of people on a bike.

I tend to agree with you LiT. Men generally display more risk seeking behaviour and are more aggressive - this can tip over into stupid risk taking on the road. My theory (which I have bored people with before) is that in the particularly case of being squeezed inside HGVs there is a paradox - what SEEMS risky to lots of people is leaving the comfort blanket of the gutter and heading to the middle of the road. This means that you need to overcome your caution to be safe. This doesn't mean that men are safer riders in general - far from it IMO.

Sewinman

This is the latest one to go (RIP)...she sounds like an experienced cyclist so maybe just very very bad luck.

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/thelondon ... a-cockburn

DonDaddyD

lost_in_thought wrote:

Hmmm, I can't really agree with the fact that it's because women are less aware or proficient on a bike than men.

For every woman I see doing something daft on a bike, I must see 4 men doing something equally daft, and that's not really a huge surprise, seeing as us girls can't make up a huge percentage of people on a bike.

And Joycie is right, a fair few vehicles do display those stickers.

Maybe it's just coincidence, but it does seem rather odd.

Couldn't agree more.

Personally I think I notice it more if a women is in an accident because I don't see many female cyclists on my commute. This is strengthend by the fact that I notice female cyclists more on my commute because they're not as common as male cyclists.

biondino

LiT is definitely not as common as most male cyclists

Cafewanda

I should hope not :shock: :shock:

She's a very refined lady 8)

rhext

jedster wrote:

For every woman I see doing something daft on a bike, I must see 4 men doing something equally daft, and that's not really a huge surprise, seeing as us girls can't make up a huge percentage of people on a bike.

I tend to agree with you LiT. Men generally display more risk seeking behaviour and are more aggressive - this can tip over into stupid risk taking on the road. My theory (which I have bored people with before) is that in the particularly case of being squeezed inside HGVs there is a paradox - what SEEMS risky to lots of people is leaving the comfort blanket of the gutter and heading to the middle of the road. This means that you need to overcome your caution to be safe. This doesn't mean that men are safer riders in general - far from it IMO.

There might be something in this: the people who are likely to get caught are the ones who go up the left of the lorry and those overtaken by a left-turning lorry (either because the driver didn't spot them or misjudged the manoeuvre). A more confident/arrogant/risk-taking cyclist would tend to stick themselves in the middle of the lane at a junction, therefore not affording the driver an opportunity to misjudge an overtake, or go up the right of the lorry.

Chewy Cheeks

Sewinman wrote:

This is the latest one to go (RIP)...she sounds like an experienced cyclist so maybe just very very bad luck.

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/thelondon ... a-cockburn

I went past the Oval after this incident on Monday - It really left me cold, even though at the time I did not know what had happened, the atmosphere around was indicative of the seriousness.

This is the first time I have passed so close to an incident where someone has died.

Lets be careful friends.

Spawn of Cabbie

I'm going to make a sweeping genralisation and say that when men go into a risky/dangerous/stupid situation they have at least half an idea that it is a stupid thing to do and are ready to take action if necessary.

Women on the other hand may be telling themselves not to be so silly and not ready for the situation developing into a potentailly fatal one.

dilemna

Let's hope several CCTVs have captured the incident.

Tragically sad. RIP Catriona.

Obviously the circumstances she found herself in are those that many of us try to avoid and for the most part do so succesfully, but I can't help feel, in the round of all the risks cyclists face as a group of road users on the roads that "But for the grace of God there go I"

IMHO the need is now compelling for a main stream TV current affairs programme such as Panorama or the ITV Tonight programme with Trevor McD to cover this issue. I shouldn't think Dispatches would but one could live in hope.

I take the points that some cyclists are contenders for Darwin Awards. I have been pushed aside and sworn at by other cyclists, male and female alike, trying to get around me to get down the inside of a bus or articulated lorry that is close to the kerb or indicating to turn :shock: .

How about this warning sign:

http://www.kiwicycles.com/links.htm