Cycling UK Forum

Discussed on the Andrew Peach show of BBC Radio Berkshire this morning. The idea is from the parents of a schoolchild, Stephen Millington, who died cycling in 2007. About 40 mins into the show
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lsln2

Thirdcrank,
It absolutely was not your post that prompted me to take down the video and I did not perceive any attack on my integrity. I did think though on reflection that I was responsible for a unjustified invasion of another's privacy. I have no such qualms about people who are responsible for endangering others. I have no objection whatever to drawing safety lessons from what happened when the cyclist got into that position either. Similar has happened to me before and I always hope to learn from it.

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OK that didn't work but look at 0:26/0:29. But look fast, I did not have the permission of the cyclist to put his actions up to such scrutiny and frankly I now regret it.

I suppose I should be impressed that as a group we are so enthusiastically law abiding. Compare eg motorists giving each other endless advice on how to get off a speeding or traffic light ticket on their boards. In contrast, and contrary to the Daily Mail image, here we are agonising over what a cyclist, who has come close to being squashed by a large vehicle pulling into his lane, does when he gets to the traffic light. No, I did not look away, so as not to record him going through a light. I actually tried to catch the driver's eye and make him aware how close he had got to him. If you look frame by frame you will see that when I look back at the lights they are green and he is doing a track stand before the line of studs that delineate the pedestrain crossing. There is not a scrap of evidence, just prejudice, to support any suggestion that he inconvenienced or endangered any pedestrain. OK he is not supposed to go over the white line but either there was no ASL there or it was blocked. I found myself this morning numerous times passing the actual stop line to make myself visible to traffic. That was technically a breach of the law but it is, in my view, very different from going through a junction or crossing on red. Indeed I would ask for, and expect to get, an absolute discharge if prosecuted.
I have cycled with this cyclist over significant distances. In my opinion he is a careful and considerate rider but he rides too close to the kerb. He probably does that to avoid the antagonism and threats like the one I got yesterday. We can learn from seeing him ride up the inside of a vehicle on a narrow cycle lane but believe me it was not fast (this could be prejudcie against people in lycra I don't know) but this obsession about whether he went past a stop line on red does surprise me, as does the implication that if he did he foreits the right to protection from the law.

Because I was there, I have only just realised what a misleading impression this video might give about the speed and flow of traffic. It was stop/start bumper to bumper. The reason you see a space behind the lorry is only because I am there in the primary position. The lorry had been able to move forward a bit due to the lights ahead being green for a bit before the junction got congested again. Neither cyclist nor lorry was at any point travelling at anything like 20 mph. We were negotiating our way past stop start traffic. Any suggestion of a pointless overtake is misfounded, we both legitimately desired to get past the lorry and other traffic until we finally hit a bus lane further down the road.

Re 2 way street.
I have a lot of respect for Paul Kitson who I suspect lies behind the ten tips and I think they offer sound general advice. However I do not always follow them. For instance I undertake lorries if I am in a buslane away from a junction and I do not cover the brakes if I am pulling on the bars to sprint down a dual carriageway with no discernible hazard ahead. As a cyclist I believe there is a balance between doing every last thing to guard against the risks presented by others and convenience. Different people may draw the line differently. However as a lawyer I would defend to the hilt the cyclist who is accused of contributory negligence where bad design and bad driving have got him/her into a accident. It appears to me self-evident that not following the ten tips is far short of carelessness (with the exception of course of lights at night).
I have spoken out in the past and will continue to speak out agsint blaming the victim.

I am surprised that some of these posts focus on the actions of the cyclist. When he began the 'undertake' the cycle lane was clear, he was nowhere near a junction and the central refuge was not visible. If a cycle lane means anything at all (other of course than 'you belong in the gutter'), it means that manoevure is not only authorised but encouraged. I did not follow him, but I have a bit of an obsession about not riding in the gutter. However I sensed no risk or danger until the lorry started to move left. When that happened the cyclist immediately dropped back relative to the lorry. A less experienced/skilled cyclist may well have tried to get through with horrible consequences. I am critical of the road layout; I remain critical of the lorry driver who could see the central island but made no attempt to slow or stop if necessary until the lane he was about to block was clear. Yes, there may be lessons we can all learn as to how to survive incompetent highway engineers and drivers but putting blame on the cyclist for this woeful state of affairs, makes me rather regret making the blog post.

I left a comment on you-tube (givecyclistsroom which tells you where I am coming from). I think the perhaps incautious undertake is past history and the (second) passing with inches to spare at the pinchpoint is clearly careless driving. This kind of thing does happen to me on an infrequent yet regular basis. It is difficult to read the minds of drivers but I suspect some get as close as possible to give us a scare and if tragically it goes wrong they call it an accident. I have reported close calls to the police before but they have never managed to serve a Notice of Intended Prosecution within the 14 days required. As I say, I would like to see provate prosecutions so as to tackle bad driving before there is an accident.

This was an awful awful tragedy. I was at the inquest and will never forget it. I wish I could have done more. I have recently written on the subject of the shortcomings of our criminal justice system.
http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2009 ... lture.html