Recently people complained there were too many crash reports on here.
However, I've been on this group for over a year now, and amongst all the other stuff people had
*always* posted reports of crashes -either their own or ones they had read about in their local
press and its only *now* people have made a fuss about the amount of these!
I regularly read Police force press releases for all SE forces (usually on the force website)- its
perhaps a hangover from my days in the rave scene when I *needed* to see how the old bill reported
upon our scene (sometimes in a legal grey area). I don't go raving any more, but being a cyclist and
now concerned about road safety I decided to keep reading the coppers' pressreleases.
And yes - I did read a LOT of road crash reports. And guess what? 98% of these involved cagers
either striking *another car*, or an *inanimate object*.
This does not in any way diminish the real and present danger bad driving presents to us cyclists;
and I am worried that there *has* recently been a spate of nasty incidents and in issue of bad
driving in the Hull area which could even be a "reprisal" against speed control measures deployed in
that area (it *must* be bad if an experienced cyclist like Simon M was getting worried).
Perhaps the Police in Hull should be informed (do they have any of their number patrolling
on bikes?)
However, despite a years monitoring of accident reports in my area (Thames Valley), I do not find
any particular trend that would make cycling in any way more unsafe than any other outdoor activity
on the roads - and (if you can avoid crashes with vehicles) it may even have a net gain in health
and fitness!
In fact I think I can count the cycling incidents on the fingers on one hand, whilst I would lose
count of the number of car RTCs I have read about in my area.
There *are* some scum, psychos and bad drivers out there - but certainly not enough to frighten me
off cycling, nor should it really deter any others (and I do not consider myself to be particularly
"brave" or "macho"😉. At the same time, I do not find any reason to "censor" posts to keep "good news
only" on here. That is the sort of destructive spin that devalues an otherwise good message.
Be careful out there, but keep riding!
Alex