Erik Sandblom <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Den 2007-02-16 20:28:30 skrev Brian G <[email protected]>:
>> I don't know if it's coincidence or the insidious march of the safety
>> culture, but virtually every cyclist I see round here nowadays is
>> wearing some sort of bright yellow jacket or jersey.
> Me too. Doesn't it just contribute to visibility inflation? If your bike
> is properly equipped with lights and reflectors, you can't miss it unless
> you're not looking.
> If that equipment is not enough, perhaps it would be better to write a
> letter to the editor pointing out that you could get a reflective vest,
> though it might be better if road users would pay attention.
> I noticed I became more confident after getting a driver's license, so
> some kind of training might be a good alternative to the Christmas Tree
> school of bike safety.
I got my car driving training as soon as I was old enough for it to be
legal, and that did improve my cycling safety a bit. The thing which
improved my cycling safety far more than anything else however was
many years later when I had my first (and last) serious motorcycle
accident. Up to that point I had taken the common attitude that
there's no point going overboard about road safety; if you took all
the precautions you're supposed to you'd creep along taking ages and
probably causing accidents by holding everyone else up.
I had plenty of time painfully immobilised in a hospital bed to
reflect upon that attitude, and I decided I might have erred a bit on
the risky side. I carefully read all the advanced driving stuff I
could get my hinds on, and tried to train myslef to ride a motorcycle
defensively and safely. I was pretty timid and slow to begin with, but
as I learned the necessary skills I recovered speed, but this time
with added safety. For example, I didn't assume there was nothing
round a blind corner.
The point is that on a motorcycle I've learned skills of traffic
behaviour prediction and hazard avoidance appropriate to riding on two
wheels at far higher speeds than a bicycle is capable of. Those skills
have carried over onto pedal cycling, and oddly enough, despite all
the research that's been done by fast car drivers to prove that speed
isn't dangerous, the combination of motorcycling defensive skills at
pedestrian bicycle speeds seems to be a very safe combination.
It was motorcycling too which taught me how to command traffic flow
round roundabouts by making my intentions clear by position and
signals, while not necessarily expecting my commands to be obeyed, a
specific example of the general virtues of what I think is sometimes
called vehicular cycling, where you take negotiate to take possession
of the road space you need.
I couldn't have learned that stuff nearly so well in a car. Cars have
such restricted sight lines and mobility in heavy traffic you can't
develop skills based on the much superior sight lines and mobility you
have on two wheels.
--
Chris Malcolm
[email protected] DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[
http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]
