My screwed logic...

fnegroni

Am I the only one thinking of other people safety's as well as my own?

I keep getting comments at work about commuting by bike.

At different times of year the comments vary, but they all gravitate around my personal safety.

Too hot, too cold, what about drunks, it's dark.

I am not too bothered, and accept they can make a joke out of it, but I started to get a bit frustrated.

Especially since these comments come from unhealthy non cyclists. Which makes it somehow even more irritating.

On top of that, they don't really set the mood for a nice enjoyable ride back home in the evening now do they?

So, after several attempts, I have nearly given up any hope of actually giving an answer that is not met with contempt, surprise or horror.

The latest was today: a colleague who claims to cycle (must be very occasionally...), from whom I have been receiving several ironic comments in the past, insisted I should not cycle now. It's way too dangerous, what with all the drunks and the dark. Better be safe in a box of metal he says.

I didn't know what else to say, so I played a wildcard: I think of other people's safety on top of my own. After seeing two cars in a ditch due to ice on the roads, I thought I would do the decent thing and spare the public a potential accident. I have studded tyres on my bike after all.

Essentially my reply was received as a joke, and eventually people just concluded I was a retard (or something).

Sure I know around the Xmas period there is a higher chance of people on the road who pay more attention to their radio than to the road ahead... but I also travel more than 4,000 miles a year by bike.

Am I the only one who thinks that safety is not only personal?

Am I really that stupid?

I guess the only reason I posted this is because it really frustrates me that there is this opinion of cycling as being extremely unsafe and dangerous, it started to get to my nerves!

BTW, I have alternative off-the-road routes I can follow on my way to-back from work which allow me to avoid traffic, if I feel I need to.

asprilla

You're a cyclist; you are better than them and they are jealous because they lack the will. Accept this simple truth and their comments will be like water off a duck's back.

dhope

I've adopted blasé responses.

Too cold? Yeah, bit at first, just means to go a bit quicker.
Too dark? (not an issue in central London)
Too dangerous? Guess so, it did hurt when I got hit by that car but I guess it'll happen sooner or later. Next
London busy/traffic? Alternative is standing under someones armpit on public transport.
Too icy? Yeah, it was a bit hairy on a fixed with 23mm slicks, maybe I should buy another bike.


Decided to take it all as admiration for how manly I must be for braving the elements.

fnegroni

These comments made me feel better already :-)
Thank you!

Keep them coming!

Kieran_Burns

I second dhope's comments, but from a countryside commuter

Too cold? No - no such thing as bad weather, just bad kit. Besides I've got to work / home sweating even in the coldest weather when I've cycled

Too dark? I have VERY bright lights on my bike and find it is BETTER riding on a dark night, cars give you MORE room

Too dangerous? I just don't see this - I'm healthier than I would be, I have a better quality of life than I would have, cycling is inherently safer than driving and it's FUN.

On top of that - how many times when commuting in a car do you have the opportunity to just stop and admire the scenery? There have been some days I've wanted to skive off work and just keep riding.

Nah, I like driving, but cycling to work - every time I complete the 12 miles it's an achievement.

Clever Pun

or maybe start looking at others safety

ohh that biscuit, dangerous for your heart etc especially at this time of year/your complection/your waist size etc go as far as you're willing, probably best not to make them angry or weepy though

When they complain about you picking on them let them know that's how you feel about their misguided comments (even if they are well intended)

fnegroni

I am sure some comments are somehow well intended, but I get the feeling there is something else to it.
After all, you wouldn't walk up to someone about to parachute jump and remind them their parachute might not open up in time, unless you take pleasure in doing so...

hatbeard

I think when people see others doing something that's well within their means to do themselves and they know they would benefit from doing it too they often try to make themselves feel better about not doing so by picking holes in it.

they're not so much criticising you or your choices rather they're justifying to themselves why they're not doing the positive things you are.

W1

Embrace the fact that others think you are heroic for doing what you do. You tweak the testes of fear and danger. In addition, you're not a fat useless weazing lump.

Encourage the comments - the more dangerous people think it is, the more heroic you are.

See if you can get them to worship you.

notsoblue

I don't see cycling as any more dangerous than walking or running, but yet I too get the spiel about how brave I must be to cycling in London.

This morning I saw a group of mothers all walking along NKR (on the pavement) with their kids to school, they were wearing HI-VIZ bibs with "Something School Walking Bus"

Hi-viz? To walk on the pavement and cross roads with children in Fulham/Chelsea? Its pretty shocking how scared people are of the outside world.

Edit:
This is it here: http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Transp ... ervice.asp

A number of safety checks are used in the walking bus scheme, for example;

Staff and children are provided with high visibilty reflective jackets
The route is carefully and regularly checked for safety by project managers
A ratio of at least one member of staff to eight children is applied with a minimum of two adults present on each journey
Staff ensure that children are aware of road safety guidelines
All staff are police checked
The service is covered by public liaibility insurance
Staff carry mobile phones and a first aid kit
Staff walk at the front and the rear of the walking bus

To walk to school?!?! When I were a lad....

fnegroni

notsoblue wrote:

Hi-viz? To walk on the pavement and cross roads with children in Fulham/Chelsea? Its pretty shocking how scared people are of the outside world.

Indeed.

Although, my thought in that case is:

- not necessary to wear hi-viz, but certainly can't harm. It is useful for the adult to spot a child veering off route, which when you have many children can be an issue, and also ensures visibility at junctions for pedestrians with limited understanding of danger.

I am therefore glad that instead of simply denying those children the joy of walking to school, they were clever enough to find a way to reassure their parents.

Having said that, I agree it is a sign that danger perception is prevalent in our society, whether based on a real fact or not.

bails87

notsoblue
Better than every single one of those kids being ferried there in a car.

And to the OP, how about:

"The dark/cold/'danger' isn't actually a problem, and anyway, all that exercise is why I look so much better than people who drive"
Look them up and down disapprovingly during the awkward silence that follows....

CiB

I used to get bored with the regular 'you must be mad' comments when I rolled up on the bike in all weathers after the 20+ mile run in. When I bounced it straight back, pointing out how great it is, how I get to work all fizzed up, happy, alert, awake, all the usual stuff in fact, it soon stopped. The reality is that people who wouldn't even consider riding a bike for anything other than a trip to shops or a family bimble genuinely don't get it. Their loss...

shouldbeinbed

its water off a ducks back TBH, I either like the people and its easy to let the odd jibe/misguided comments between friends slide or I think they're a tool and why care what those people think of what I do.

tx14

ask them how much they weigh or what size trousers they wear.

Initialised

Every time they moan about their cars, traffic, servicing, fuel, insurance costs, snow, PT etc... look smug and say "get a bike"

mudcovered

Initialised wrote:

Every time they moan about their cars, traffic, servicing, fuel, insurance costs, snow, PT etc... look smug and say "get a bike"

That worked for me until I started to add up how much I spent on bike parts and gear every year. I worked out that I spent more money buying parts to service my bike than I spent on insuring and servicing my car. :shock: Oh well at least the bike does more miles in a year and I'm still saving loads on fuel costs.

Mike

bails87

CiB wrote:

The reality is that people who wouldn't even consider riding a bike for anything other than a trip to shops....genuinely don't get it. Their loss...

I think the problem is that most people wouldn't even consider riding a bike to go to the shops. Once they start to see it as a viable method of transport, rather than something for kids, or to use if you can't afford a car, the mindset becomes very different. IMHO

vorsprung

fnegroni wrote:

There is this opinion of cycling as being extremely unsafe and dangerous, it started to get to my nerves!

There is a view of bikes

1) bikes are for kids
2) roads are too dangerous for kids on bikes
3) therefore all cyclist should be not on the roads - which are for cars

But the reality is

1) not true, as a mode of transport they are perfectly ok for adults
2) not true, cycle carefully and the road isn't particularly dangerous
3) not true, cycles have every right to be on the road

lastant

tx14 wrote:

ask them how much they weigh or what size trousers they wear.

I'd try that one, but it'd only backfire...

Jay dubbleU

Asprilla wrote:

You're a cyclist; you are better than them and they are jealous because they lack the will. Accept this simple truth and their comments will be like water off a duck's back.

Wot he said 8)

welkman

Where I work I have been told that I am 'mad' 'crazy' and 'foolish', but most people are fairly ok about it. There are a couple of people though that have really wound me up, one said that 'I was very likely to die' and my head teacher had a go at me at a recent parents evening for being 'irresponsible' because if I get injured I will let the kids and the school down I guess. Mind you the woman was the same one that said I was likley to die because I knocked myself out at home and didn’t go to the doctors. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two people that give me the most grief both started weightwatchers at the same time as me last year and are now currently larger than they were when they started, and I have managed to lose nearly 5 stone and am now fighting fit!

MrChuck

welkman wrote:

Where I work I have been told that I am 'mad' 'crazy' and 'foolish', but most people are fairly ok about it. There are a couple of people though that have really wound me up, one said that 'I was very likely to die' and my head teacher had a go at me at a recent parents evening for being 'irresponsible' because if I get injured I will let the kids and the school down I guess. Mind you the woman was the same one that said I was likley to die because I knocked myself out at home and didn’t go to the doctors. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two people that give me the most grief both started weightwatchers at the same time as me last year and are now currently larger than they were when they started, and I have managed to lose nearly 5 stone and am now fighting fit!

All just goes to show how the car is immune from any sort of critical thinking. People just don't hold cars and a car-centric society to the same standards as everythign else, which is a bit sad really.