Search found 59 matches

by boliston
17 May 2019, 8:25pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: how to hand signal 'straight ahead'?
Replies: 26
Views: 2121

Re: how to hand signal 'straight ahead'?

PDQ Mobile wrote:Those of us of certain age remember a hand held straight forward palm outwards, was the convention. Even in a vehicle!
Maybe it's still in the Highway code.
Though of very limited usefulness in today's frantic traffic, IMHO.
On a bike who would still recognise it as a sign of intention.

Preserve your life.
Keep both hands on the bars and signal left or right as appropriate.IMV.


As the approach to the roundabout is a steep decent i normally have both hands on the brakes and normally only signal left to *leave* the roundabout if it looks like other traffic will be joining the roundabout from the entrance prior to my exit
by boliston
17 May 2019, 7:56pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: how to hand signal 'straight ahead'?
Replies: 26
Views: 2121

how to hand signal 'straight ahead'?

today while cycling home i had someone tell me i 'need to use hand signals' while i was going straight ahead at a roundabout https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0241643 ... 312!8i6656 - the person giving me this advice was turning left and i was going straight ahead and we were on the roundabout at the time - i was in the 'straight ahead' marked lane at the time - just curious if there is a hand signal for 'straight ahead'?
by boliston
13 Jan 2019, 12:08am
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Blood Pressure Monitors
Replies: 25
Views: 2229

Re: Blood Pressure Monitors

doxfords wrote:Ensure that you don't have a caffeinated drink such as coffee within a couple of hours prior to taking a B.P. reading, as this will give a false, high reading.


I'm not sure I would describe it as a 'false' reading if coffee has an effect on blood pressure - if something has an effect on my blood pressure then to me it's useful to be able to record that effect
by boliston
11 Jan 2019, 7:04pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Blood Pressure Monitors
Replies: 25
Views: 2229

Re: Blood Pressure Monitors

omron rs2 (hem-6121-e) seems to work quite well - it's a wrist monitor so quite easy to use, just make sure you keep it level with your heart when doing a reading - been using it about 3 months now - i normally try and and do readings at different times of day eg waking up, after breakfast, before supper, after supper as it can vary a lot during the day - it's normally much lower 1st thing in the morning i find eg 105/65 usually compared with 115/75-145/90 typically at other times - smoking seems to temporarily push it up for example, or a particularly stressful day
by boliston
20 Oct 2018, 12:44am
Forum: On the road
Topic: City centre cycling ban
Replies: 67
Views: 4096

Re: City centre cycling ban

these types of cycling ban seem pointless as you often see motorised vehicles using the areas with a cycling ban - my local high street is pedestrianised with 'no cycling' but motor vehicles often use it to access parking for shops and offices which makes a mockery of having a cycling ban (which is generally ignored)
by boliston
28 Jul 2018, 9:08pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: How to you take roadworks?
Replies: 21
Views: 1393

Re: How to you take roadworks?

always best to make sure you take primary so there is some traffic behind you as this will usually make oncoming traffic wait even if it means they miss their own green cycle
by boliston
30 Jun 2018, 10:15pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Bristol Centre shared-space
Replies: 7
Views: 864

Re: Bristol Centre shared-space

I quite like the idea of shared space in busy city centre areas like bristol - it means that pedestrians get priority but cyclists can still use the area rather than some towns that have a strict 'no cycling' policy in the centre which would normally just be ignored by a lot of cyclists
by boliston
24 Sep 2017, 10:02pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Temporary Traffic Lights and Cyclists
Replies: 107
Views: 7908

Re: Temporary Traffic Lights and Cyclists

a few years ago i was going up a local b road hill climb called corfe hill where there were temp lights but no way of telling how long they were as the road has many bends - when the lights changed to green i was first in the queue so had quite a few cars behind but the one way section was a lot longer than i thought and no way to stop safely to let any cars overtake - some cars started coming down the other way and luckily they had to slow down as there were cars behind me coming up and once the vehicles had stopped i could just about cycle past them but i seem to remember quite a lot of horn tooting - nothing overtook me for the next couple of miles so i'd imagine the cars following behind me had to reverse back down
by boliston
5 Aug 2017, 11:24pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Narrowly avoided being knocked off my bicycle by a dangerous pick-up truck
Replies: 46
Views: 3873

Re: Narrowly avoided being knocked off my bicycle by a dangerous pick-up truck

always best to "take the lane" when it is narrow an overtakes would be dangerous - i was just looking at a video yesterday of a cyclist nearly wiped out by a double decker passing ultra close as he did not "take the lane" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMeJxAlMbek
by boliston
5 Aug 2017, 8:55pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The Cyclist Strikes Back
Replies: 21
Views: 3096

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

i'm amazed by the sheer number of general anti cycling comments in a local paper for what is supposed to be a "cycling city".
people saying things like the cyclist was not wearing hi-vis, not using the cycle lane (there isn't one), jumping a red light (nothing to indicate the happened), some are saying he should have checked for cars coming out of side roads and even someone saying he should have been using the cycle path on the other side of the river.
by boliston
4 Aug 2017, 10:53pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The Cyclist Strikes Back
Replies: 21
Views: 3096

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

there was a similar one in bristol today
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/brist ... ing-279266
by boliston
4 Aug 2017, 10:42pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Why no enclosed bicycles?
Replies: 23
Views: 3548

Re: Why no enclosed bicycles?

mercalia wrote:wouldnt be able to get it up the stairs to my flat. One of the advantages of bikes can be easy to move around when not being used?


I would be worried about leaving something like that parked outside as it would soon get vandalised - in fact the only bike i would ever now consider would be a folder for easy storage at both work and at home
by boliston
25 Jul 2017, 9:02pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: The safest way to cross a roundabout?
Replies: 36
Views: 3067

Re: The safest way to cross a roundabout?

the thing to remember on roundabouts is that almost ALL danger comes from traffic joining on your left - the key is to take a lane as it holds up traffic behind you which actually acts as a protective buffer - avoid at all costs riding on a lane line as this means traffic overtaking fast on both sides. Always better to delay traffic for a few seconds and stay alive!
by boliston
21 Jul 2017, 8:37pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Pedestrians that think they're the path police (rant)
Replies: 42
Views: 5826

Re: Pedestrians that think they're the path police (rant)

Bez wrote:Don't forget that the media in Bristol have been publicly shaming people riding bikes on bridges, which of course helps foment an atmosphere of conflict.

https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-fea ... ing-signs/


This is a bit silly as it is safer to cycle on this bridge rather than dismount as you take up double the space when dismounted. It would be more sensible to say "cyclists give way to pedestrians".
by boliston
21 Jul 2017, 8:10pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Another nasty hit-and-run in Leicester - RLJ?
Replies: 10
Views: 1586

Re: Another nasty hit-and-run in Leicester - RLJ?

the worst thing appeared to be the motorist attempting to deliberately try to run over and crush the cyclist AFTER hitting them before finally deciding to take a different route