Goldfish effect

Tags: city cycling, commuting, Cycling, traffic

I hope that you do as I do and others do “ride wide”, Charlotte puts it better than I so I hope that she don’t mind that I quote her, in her post I ride wide.

Apparently, the consensus of opinion amongst today’s Bikeability instructors is that you should never ride less than a metre from the kerb and that if you’re approaching a hazard of any kind, you should consider moving out to the “primary” position in the middle of your lane.

There are a lot of good reasons for this. Firstly, you need to be seen. If you’re approaching a junction, assuming a more prominent road position gives other road users a better chance to see you – it also gives you more room to react if they don’t.

Riding wide and moving into primary position is a very good idea and does help. Just remember before you moved out to look where you are going.

Picture this you are riding up the road, see a place where the road narrows in and you move out into primary. All good and safe. But I bet you that the person in the vehicle behind you will moan something along these lines ” blooming cyclist taking up all the road and I now have to slow down for them since I can’t pass them”

For then only to go “oh thank you” when you 5 second later move into secondary position and make room for them to pass.

I call this the goldfish effect, for some reason especially the car users have a short attention span and don’t look and plan far enough ahead. And therefore the more reason why you should ride wide, in a position where you will be seen.

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