The Lo Fidelity Bicycle Club have written a rather fun blog but still serious post about the highway code for cyclist.

69 You MUST obey all traffic signs and traffic light signals. That means NOT breaking red lights. The wearing of a replica professional team kit does NOT make you immune from all traffic laws. You know you are doing wrong because of the self-righteous yet furtive look you always have when you’re doing it. FAILURE to comply means ALL OTHER ROAD USERS INCLUDING LAW ABIDING CYCLISTS and SOME OTHER PEOPLE I’VE JUST THOUGHT OF have the right to abuse you. [Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD reg 10(1)

72 On the left. When approaching a junction on the left, vehicles will turn in front of you, out of or into the side road. Just before you turn, check for undertaking cyclists or motorcyclists. Do not ride on the inside of vehicles signalling or slowing down to turn left despite the fact they just overtook you at speed.

73 Pay particular attention to long vehicles which need a lot of room to manoeuvre at corners. Be aware that drivers may not see you. They may have to move over to the right before turning left. Wait until they have completed the manoeuvre because the rear wheels come very close to the kerb while turning. Do not be tempted to ride in the space between them and the kerb. In fact, if you see a lorry indicating or making a turn just STOP for goodness sake. The World is a brighter place with you still in it.

74 On the right. If you are turning right, check the traffic to ensure it is safe, then signal and move to the centre of the road. Allow for BMW drivers that will still overtake you even in the middle of your manoeuvre. Wait until there is a safe gap in the oncoming traffic and give a final look before completing the turn. It may be safer to wait on the left until there is a safe gap or to dismount and push your cycle across the road. No-one is going to stop as motorists are always in a terrible hurry for some reason.

Do click here to read the rest of this post over on Lo Fidelity Bicycle club, it is rather amusing but ever so correct.

LINK : Direct.gov.uk – Highwaycode – Cyclists

Related posts:

1. RLJ
2. SillyCyclist IX
3. SillyDriver III

Anywho, there I was cycling in front of my partner who is 2-3 metres behind me. We are coming to a hill where there is parked cars on the left hand side. We both started too pull out away from the door zone after we have checked that it is clear to do so. A black sedan was behind us and as we cleared of the brow of the hill and we all can see clearly down the road, the black sedan overtook us with plenty of space.

Behind my partner there is now a 4×4 driven by a lady, how do you know that I hear you ask, well I look back regularly :) I had even spotted it when I saw the black sedan. If the driver of said 4×4 had bothered to look a little bit further than the bonnet of the vehicle she is in, she would have seen …

- That the black sedan, had come to a halt at a T-junction and is getting ready to turn right into the side road.
- That the reason for it to coming to a halt is that a grey sedan is coming out of the side road and that the black sedan is waiting so that there is room for it to continue into the side road.
- That the grey sedan is turning left up the hill where we all are coming down from.

In that situation I would have hoped that she would stayed behind as there is clearly no room to overtake and that there is no benefit to do such manoeuvre. But I was wrong …

She then overtook my partner with plenty of space on the other side of the road. But as she was overtaking me she then figured out that there was no room for said manoeuvre. The silver sedan had to hold back as the 4×4 was in the wrong lane, she the driver of the 4×4 stared to pull into the left. Have a wild guess who would have been to her left at that point ?

Me, and I would have been pushed of my bicycle if I haven’t I had foreseen all this. So as she was over taking me, I hit the brakes to give her room to do her numpty manoeuvre. I said out loud “who is the numpty now” which she heard. She then pulled over to her left and stopped. We passed her again while she was trying to say something.

She then overtook us again and pulled up next to me while she was on the wrong side of the road and said “I did nothing wrong there” and continued to pull further into the left into my space as there was on coming traffic. To which I said you are doing it again …

Sorry me duck, you are still a SillyDriver.

Related posts:

1. SillyDriver II
2. SillyCyclist part II
3. The highway code

Make full Bikeability cycle training compulsory before anyone can pass their driving test.

It would need to be current, like the drivers’ theory test, which must be passed up to 3 years before the licence can be granted, so a school playground session aged 7 will not suffice.

The reasons are several:

One – if all drivers have first qualified as cyclists, they will be more aware of cyclists on the road, why they’re positioning themselves assertively, how much room to give etc and roads will be safer for all users.

Two – the age when most children stop cycling (often due to peer pressure) is the mid-teens, and this is also the age when they start wanting to learn to drive. Making cycle training a part of this formative experience will normalise cycling and remind young people just how much they enjoyed it. Planting the seeds of healthy and environmentally-friendly travel at this age can only be a good thing.

Three – once people are trained to ride bikes easily, they will see the attraction of cycling more, they’ll be more confident and are much more likely to use their bikes on a day-to-day basis, rather than taking the car on short journeys, thus reducing traffic and pollution on local streets.

Absolutely splendid idea and spot on to the idea I had.

The chicken and egg situation is that we need to be road aware/wise before we go out on the road but we can’t become that without using the roads. But cycling is a great way as Bryony write in her post to get everyone prepared to use a bigger and more powerful vehicle. Like when you take your motorbike license you have to gain experience before you can use a higher cc’ed motorbike.

And of course if you learn to drive an motor vehicle you need to be retested every say five years. It is simply wrong that you as a 17 year old can take your driving licence but don’t need to check your skills before you are well into your 60′s. So you can not touch a car for say 20 years but you are totally legal to drive one, how much history, maths or physics can you remember from your school days ?

LINK : Idea to revolutionise cyclist/driver interaction?

Related posts:

1. LGV Cycle Safety – epetition response
2. Children should be encouraged to ride to school
3. The highway code

This film is Copenhagen seen through North American eyes, as they say it took a long time in CPH to get there but they did. And we (yes even London) can do it but we do not have 30-40 years to get to the same place that CPH are at right now. As the people in the films say we can do it and they are from America ( sorry just a little joke) we here in London can do it too. We just need to educate road users would that be the fella on a BSO or racer or that massive 4×4 and then the rest will come.

While Streetfilms was in Copenhagen for the Velo-City 2010 conference, of course we wanted to showcase its biking greatness. But we were also looking to take a different perspective then all the myriad other videos out there. Since there were an abundance of advocates, planners, and city transportation officials attending from the U.S. and Canada, we thought it’d be awesome to get their reactions to the city’s built environment and compare to bicycling conditions in their own cities.

Wonderful film isn’t it ? So lets us get out there on our bicycles and make this happen, it can only become a win win for us all.

EDIT : Was just shown this this tourist information film (TravelTalks) from 1937, nothing much have changed since eh :)

LINK : Velo-City 2010
LINK : Cycling in Copenhagen – through North American eyes

Related posts:

1. VELO-CITY GLOBAL 2010
2. New York New York
3. 37% of People Commute by Bike.

Half of all children want to cycle to school but just two per cent do. A third of children are now driven to school, many for journeys of less than one mile.

Quite a sad quote, ain’t it ?

I have often talked to children at the schools where I train Bikeability and they are simply shocked that I cycled there. And then I find out that they live pretty much down the road, no more than a mile and a half away. They know it is not that far away because it only takes 5min in a car to drive. Knowing the area they live, many children could cycle safely to school on the road. And even on the journeys where they have to cross a busy road, there are pedestrian crossings for them to use.

Just a little training is needed. E.g. walk with the child the journey a few times and talk them through the route, junctions etc, and then let them walk ahead of you a few times so that they are doing the crossings by themselves, with you supervising from a distance. I bet you that within a week little Jr. is walking to school just fine alone. With some cycle training that many schools are doing or through companies like cycletraining.co.uk your child will get to know all there is to know about cycling on the road. Then with some support from you, the parent, they will be cycling to school in no time.

The more kids that cycle to school, the fewer cars doing the rat run there will be and therefore quieter roads to cycle on. A “win win” I would say.

In the time that I have lived over here, I have only seen three families teach their young ones how to cross the roads. One of them was a German family who clearly spend time explaining how the little green man works. The most popular ways I see people train their little loved ones are either …

1/ Dragging the little loved one across a dual carriageway where there was no pedestrian crossing. Well there is, but it’s about 25m down the road. These things are magical: other road users will stop and give way for you while you are crossing. You do not have to play dodge ball with the other road users.

2/ Throw little Jr. into the Chelsea tractor and drive less than a mile to the school. I was at a junction doing some training and a lady and her daughter across the way climbed into the car and drove away only to arrive two and a half minutes later without her daughter. That distance you would be able to walk in ten minutes and it would be good for you.

LINK : Sustrans children should be encouraged to ride to school not prohibited
LINK : Couple warned over allowing children to cycle to school alone

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1. A good idea, there Bryony.
2. Reclaim the Road women’s bike ride
3. Creative cycling

We ride to work and we love it. We reckon the best way to help people get the same joy from riding to work is by supporting the companies they work for.

Check out our services for how we can support (or start!) your company’s cycle campaign:

Free consultancy to help companies become more cycle friendly. We advise on cycle storage solutions, setting up “tax free” bike schemes and support company bike-to-work weeks.

We also do onsite servicing – yup, where we service your bike, at your work, while you work. Sounds good, eh?

Perhaps you’d like to bike to work, but the thought of riding at rush hour makes you want to run for the underground. We offer Bikeability training to help build the confidence you need to take control of your commute.

And much much more, honestly I haven’t used them or seen them work but from what I read on the website and learnt from Jarnis, they do know what they are doing.

LINK : www.havebike.co.uk

Related posts:

1. oybike
2. East 2010, 4-9th of March
3. How we as cyclist are seen

We’re a completely voluntary group with a passion for bicycles. Part of the Ealing Cycling Campaign who run social rides, campaign for better facilities for cyclists and run a host of events around the borough. Rather than clutter the main website we spun off the Bike Hub.

They do also Doctor Bike safety checks at school fairs and run regular maintenance sessions. My man inside tells me that they are already book until August and you are more than welcome to come and join in the fun even though you don’t live in W13

LINK : http://www.ealingbikehub.co.uk/

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1. Skyrides dates
2. Free E-books from London cyclist
3. Have Bike

Just as we were setting off from the light she came up on my inside. There were not enough room for either her or me to manoeuvre a little bit. So told her “please not on the inside, it is dangerous” and as she was clearly gunning ahead and looked like she would have tried overtake on the inside of my partner, who was closer to the kerb than I was.

Guess who got told to f*beep*k off and that it was ok since she did it all the time.

Then when we go home I saw this lovely video from my friend Mikey, off London skaters who spotted SillyCyclist number XII yesterday. Sorry for the language in this clip but honestly in this situation I would use colourful language too.

I have talked about this before, SillyCyclist IX and Sillycyclist vs SillyCyclelanes, when watching the video it is very hard to just blame the HGV’s for the cycle fatalities in London. Especially when someone is such numpty as this, having been told about the danger and nodded in agreement. To do it again is just plain foolish, when there is clearly not enough room as you can see. He had one leg on the kerb as he was scooting past the HVG, which can start to drive again at any moment.

Related posts:

1. SillyCyclist vs SillyCycleLanes
2. SillyCyclist IX
3. SillyCyclist IV

Anyway I had a quick look over and found …

- The head set was very loose.
- The steerer was loose, I could turn it very easily.
- Front left break pad was rubbing on the rim.
- The front break lever went all the way to the handle bar and still didn’t stop the bicycle.
- Front and rear tyres not pumped up.
- Front inner tube valve was at an angle.
- Rear suspension was that loose that it was very close to falling apart if I lifted the bicycle up.
- The saddle was loose.
- Rear left break pad was fitted upside down and VERY loose.
- Read left and right break pads rubbing against the rear tyre.

Oh and some good news: the indexing was spot on. When I was fixing all these things I asked my trainee again did this bicycle get checked in the shop. Yes, she said, Toy’s R Us checked it over before we got it. It took all my strength to keep my jaw in place but I think she spotted the shock/horror/anger in my eyes, since she kept asking if this bicycle would be ok to ride after I had worked on it.

Please parents, a toy store ain’t a bicycle shop! Yes, they might be selling bicycles but it is not a bicycle shop, where you will get GREAT service by someone who KNOWS what they are doing in a shop that is DEDICATED to bicycles and is not selling milk and tea etc.

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1. BSOs please don’t.
2. A plea to parents
3. Lock your bike right

TfL have also come up with the Cycle Safety Action Plan, there is a .pdf and it is a good read. There are some good facts and good information and it looks like there are a few good ideas that can help to make road users safe in London. Though these SillyCycleLanes aka “cycle super high ways” are not the answer. Yes, it is a start but just like the green lines, these blue lines are going to be ignored by other road users, unless they are clearly told what they mean and there is some policing.

I cycle around 25miles a day in around London every day, both for commuting and part of my job as an Cycle Instructor. I do see lots of SillyCyclists on the road every day. Honestly it surprises me that there aren’t more fatalities here in London.

Don’t get me wrong, I do feel for the families of the ones we have lost, any loss of life is sad and should be avoided. We really need to do much more to cut down on these fatalities. Though it does just seem to me with that every death we’ve seen, we are blaming the HGV driver. Everyday I see cyclists jump red lights, turn right out in front of me and others and worst of all going on the inside of a big vehicle and even when it is clearly turning across their path. These manoeuvres I see make me wince, and cross my fingers in hope that I will see the cyclist on the other side of the junction. So therefore it surprises me that every time that we have a cyclist fatality and there is a HGV involved it is the HGV driver that gets all the blame. From what I see every day, it simply can’t always be the HGV’s fault.

This is gratefully nicked from road.cc’s article, Cyclist killed by HGV as London Mayor launches Cycle
Safety Action Plan. In Issue 7 of its Keltbray Live newsletter published earlier this year, the company highlights on page 5 the steps it has taken to improve cyclists’ safety including the use of sensors on its vehicles, which are also featured on a video on YouTube.

Yes, this is a great idea to add to the HGV’s but seeing how other cyclists already are cycling on the roads of London I do not think this is the answer, though it might help and teach some, how and where to ride in London.

I have been working on this blog for some time and still don’t have a end to it. Today I found a blog on ibikelondon – A call for action on cycle safety and HGVs, which does tell it much better than I ever could a very interesting article. We clearly need to do something, but the cycle lanes we are putting in here in the UK are not the answer. We also need to give bigger fines and someone out there to do something about it. When I lived in Denmark you will be stopped if you cycled without light at night, you will be stopped if you jumped the red light, you will be stopped if you cycled on the pavement etc. That goes too for other road users, life will be so much safer and easier if we all think, look and take care out there and d/ride to the highway code.

Related posts:

1. SillyCyclist IV
2. LGV Cycle Safety – epetition response
3. SillyCyclist V