Incident and police response



Tim Woodall wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:16:09 +0000,
> Tom Crispin <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:10:33 +0000, Paul Boyd <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 24/02/2008 11:55, Tim Woodall said,
>>>
>>>> No, this is London. I've now got it on a CD to take to the police. I'm a
>>>> bit annoyed I didn't get the buses registration. I assumed the camera
>>>> would have got it. :-(
>>> I've just looked at the taxi one again, and again, and I would swear I
>>> know exactly where that is in Bristol!!!!!!

>> No, it's City Road heading towards The City.
>>
>> (I hope I'm right!)

> Yes. I've stopped it just before Old Street roundabout.
>
> Tim.
>


I used to do that route for a bit last year. I gave up on it as it
seemed a bit dangerous, I cut though the side roads to down towards
Bishopsgate instead.
 
On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:32:39 +0000, Nick <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Tim Woodall wrote:
>> On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:16:09 +0000,
>> Tom Crispin <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:10:33 +0000, Paul Boyd <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 24/02/2008 11:55, Tim Woodall said,
>>>>
>>>>> No, this is London. I've now got it on a CD to take to the police. I'm a
>>>>> bit annoyed I didn't get the buses registration. I assumed the camera
>>>>> would have got it. :-(
>>>> I've just looked at the taxi one again, and again, and I would swear I
>>>> know exactly where that is in Bristol!!!!!!
>>> No, it's City Road heading towards The City.
>>>
>>> (I hope I'm right!)

>> Yes. I've stopped it just before Old Street roundabout.
>>
>> Tim.
>>

>
>I used to do that route for a bit last year. I gave up on it as it
>seemed a bit dangerous, I cut though the side roads to down towards
>Bishopsgate instead.


In recent months I have been shocked at the way some bus and taxi
drivers behave towards cyclists riding in bus/cycle/taxi lanes. There
must be a strong argument for converting the lanes into bus and cycles
only, though personally I have no problem with motorcyclists using the
lanes also.
 
Tom Crispin wrote:

>
> In recent months I have been shocked at the way some bus and taxi
> drivers behave towards cyclists riding in bus/cycle/taxi lanes. There
> must be a strong argument for converting the lanes into bus and cycles
> only, though personally I have no problem with motorcyclists using the
> lanes also.


Well I think bus drivers have got a lot worse over the 25 years I have
been riding in London. I'm sure something has happened to their training
in that time.

I think Taxi drivers particularly black cab drivers are the only group
of road users I truly despise. Yes I know some of them are OK but so
many are so dangerous.

I ride smack in the middle of bus lanes now and this tends to stop problems.
 
Alex Potter <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:52:06 +0000, Ekul Namsob wrote in
> news:1ics9xs.hjf1zobml416NEkul
> [email protected]:
>
> > My German car is regularly overtaken by Fords, Renaults, Vauxhalls, etc.

>
> Trabant? :)


No, strangely enough. Mine is rather better made than one of those.

Cheers,
Luke


--
Red Rose Ramblings, the diary of an Essex boy in
exile in Lancashire <http://www.shrimper.org.uk>
 
On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:17:46 +0000, Nick <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Tom Crispin wrote:
>
>>
>> In recent months I have been shocked at the way some bus and taxi
>> drivers behave towards cyclists riding in bus/cycle/taxi lanes. There
>> must be a strong argument for converting the lanes into bus and cycles
>> only, though personally I have no problem with motorcyclists using the
>> lanes also.

>
>Well I think bus drivers have got a lot worse over the 25 years I have
>been riding in London. I'm sure something has happened to their training
>in that time.
>
>I think Taxi drivers particularly black cab drivers are the only group
>of road users I truly despise. Yes I know some of them are OK but so
>many are so dangerous.


It's the discourtesy that annoys me. They deliberately set out to
intimidate cyclists.

>I ride smack in the middle of bus lanes now and this tends to stop problems.


I try to do that too. It helps if I'm hauling a wide trailer:
www.flickr.com/photos/carryfreedom/1577231367/
 
On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:30:49 +0000, Paul Boyd <[email protected]>
wrote:

>> Trabant? :)

>
>Doesn't really count as German :)


<http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant_%28Pkw%29>
 
Tom Crispin wrote:
> It's the discourtesy that annoys me. [Taxi drivers] deliberately set out to
> intimidate cyclists.


Taxi drivers deliberately set out to intimidate *everybody*. In general
cyclists are not getting special treatment here.


-dan
 
In article <[email protected]>, Tim
Woodall
[email protected] says...

> And the bus one shows one of the limitations of the camera. The buses
> numerplate lights are out and there isn't a single frame where I can
> make it out.


Fit a stills camera with flash? Might be amusing where there are speed
cameras, too. :)
 
On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:08:57 GMT, "NigelM"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Rog" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>> Horses and bikes need to be kept away from heavy traffic, and in my case I
>> don't begrudge paying taxes to build cycle paths and use them if possible.
>> Get stuffed
>> Rog
>>

>
>My own opinion is that the people comrpising the heavy traffic should be
>taught to keep away from cyclists and horses. As the years go by there's
>going to be a hell of a lot more of us out there and no government will ever
>see the profit in catering specifically for us.


Agreed.

>Cycle provision in this country is an incompetent joke. If someone can
>justify to me that a ten foot long two foot wide piece of red tarmac with
>dismount signs and a tree in the middle is anything other than an exercise
>in tree hugging quota meeting then I'll be persuaded.


If you're not paying attention you _will_ be hugging that tree ;-)

>The road is there, whether I'm riding a bike or driving a car, and I've paid
>enough cash to be on it, and to be treated with the same respect as anyone
>else. Anyone who is going to stop and threaten me because they can't spare
>the 3 seconds it takes to hang back then pass should have that right removed
>for life.


Hear hear!

M.
 
On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:34:07 +0000 (UTC), MJ Ray <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Dylan Smith <[email protected]> wrote: [...]
>> You assert that the cycle track was "expensive" - what is this based on?
>> Last time I went to the UK, the cycle facilities I saw were anything but
>> expensive, in the main they were shared with pedestrians and marked with
>> cheap paint.

>
>Well, that's probably missing the costs of the legal orders that have been
>filed to convert the roadside footpath into shared use, move signs and
>barriers (if you're lucky) and put in drop kerbs and give way markings at
>every piddling access that crosses the path. However, in general, most of
>the expensive facilities are ****. I think the best facilities are those
>where dead-ended roads are kept open or reopened for cyclists.
>
>> The original poster indicated he was travelling at some speed, over 30
>> mph. Is the appropriate place for a cyclist travelling at this speed
>> mixing with pedestrians moving at 10% of this speed? The shared pavement
>> is not suitable for cycle speeds more than about 5mph, which makes the
>> bike pretty useless for transport.

>
>Officially (government draft code of conduct for cyclists), even
>purpose-built cycle tracks are not suitable for speeds above 18mph unladen.
>http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/archive/2004/ltnwc/annexdcodeofconductnoticefor1688


"... if you want to cycle quickly, say in excess of 18 mph/30 kph,
then you should be riding on the road ... "

That's interesting reading. Finally it says in "black and white" that
cycle paths shared with pedestrians are useless for cyclists.

>Roads are the only suitable surface for fully-laden and high-speed cyclists.
>Directing such traffic onto off-road tracks is like directing HGVs up single
>track country lanes (hi sat-nav!).


M.
 
On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:31:46 +0000, Paul Boyd <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On 24/02/2008 09:59, Roger Merriman said,
>
>> normally better the narrower the lane is, the wider lanes do seem to get
>> get folk who think that the higher speeds can be justified.

>
>Not here - they seem to use the hedges as if it was a bob-sleigh run.


4x4s regularly run smaller cars completely off the (single lane) roads
into ditches around here.

M.
 
On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:54:38 -0800 (PST), "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>> The way the bus driver pulled over in the 20080225 clip suggests that
>> he realised he'd been a **** and had left enough room up his inside
>> for you to pass before pulling in completely to the kerb. However,
>> you sensibly decided to pass him on the inside, not knowing his
>> intentions.
>>

>Yes. I think he would have let me pass on the inside. But I passed on
>the outside - that would only be the inside in America ;-)


Woops! Yes I meant you passed hin on the *outside*.

Perhaps I'll use the terms port and starboad next time to avoid
confusion.
 
Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:31:46 +0000, Paul Boyd <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >On 24/02/2008 09:59, Roger Merriman said,
> >
> >> normally better the narrower the lane is, the wider lanes do seem to get
> >> get folk who think that the higher speeds can be justified.

> >
> >Not here - they seem to use the hedges as if it was a bob-sleigh run.

>
> 4x4s regularly run smaller cars completely off the (single lane) roads
> into ditches around here.
>
> M.


ah too narrow for that sort of things here, or there rather. so some one
has to reverse. don't tend to get many 4x4's bar the odd farmers landie.

get more big beefy stuff in the towns near by where you don't have to
naviagte the lanes home.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com
 
Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, Tim
> Woodall
> [email protected] says...
>
> > And the bus one shows one of the limitations of the camera. The buses
> > numerplate lights are out and there isn't a single frame where I can
> > make it out.

>
> Fit a stills camera with flash? Might be amusing where there are speed
> cameras, too. :)


for that matter a old flash gun would work well.

probably very naughty in all sorts of way!

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com
 
In article <[email protected]>, Mark
[email protected] says...
> On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:31:46 +0000, Paul Boyd <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >On 24/02/2008 09:59, Roger Merriman said,
> >
> >> normally better the narrower the lane is, the wider lanes do seem to get
> >> get folk who think that the higher speeds can be justified.

> >
> >Not here - they seem to use the hedges as if it was a bob-sleigh run.

>
> 4x4s regularly run smaller cars completely off the (single lane) roads
> into ditches around here.
>

Seems a bit ironic when it's the 4x4s that are supposedly designed to
leave the road.