A cycle trip to England



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David Off

Guest
I've spent the last couple of weeks in Bournemouth in England. I took a
bike with me to get around the place, a single speed clunker which I
pulled out of a rubbish dump about 10 years ago:

http://membres.lycos.fr/vadidfilm/images/david.jpg

not everyone's idea of a good cycle but on the flat but theft prone
streets of Paris it is ideal. So is cycling in England as dangerous as
it seems?

Well road users tend to pass very close compared to drivers in France
and don't really leave them, or you, much chance if they get things
wrong. Some drivers will overtake and take left turns forcing you to
brake. Oncoming drivers often seem unaware that they are crossing into
your path, especially if you are in the middle of the road turning
right. Drivers go too fast where there are no speed cameras, 40mph seems
to be normal in town. The most polite driver was a tatooed SUV pilot.

Cycle paths... lots of little stretches that seem to serve little
purpose except maybe to fill the council's quota for 'cycle friendly'
schemes. I went to the new Castlepoint shopping center one day. This is
a big mall that is passed by a cycle lane but seems to have no cycle
access, or at least it wasn't obvious, so you have to cycle through the
multistorey car-park to get to the shops. There was no cycle parking at
the center.

The purpose of cycle paths seems to be to get cycles out of car's way
rather than make life easier for cyclists. If you took all the paths
you'd add a lot of time to your journey.

Lots of cyclists on the footpaths beside roads, I guess they figure it
is too dangerous to go on the roads. Quite a lot of young women on bikes
but not many kids.

South-West trains were announcing more restrictions for taking bicycles
on trains while I was there.

Overall I would say it is slightly more dangerous to cycle in
Bournemouth than Paris despite the fact that there, on the surface, more
cycle schemes.
 
David Off wrote:

> I've spent the last couple of weeks in Bournemouth in England. I took a
> bike with me to get around the place, a single speed clunker which I
> pulled out of a rubbish dump about 10 years ago:
>
> http://membres.lycos.fr/vadidfilm/images/david.jpg
>
> not everyone's idea of a good cycle but on the flat but theft prone
> streets of Paris it is ideal. So is cycling in England as dangerous as
> it seems?


It *seems* dangerous, the roads are awful, drivers regard us as mad, but
statistically it's not all *that* dangerous.
 

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