"Burning_Ranger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Richard Goodman said:always felt safer in inner city traffic than on country
lanes!
(!)
I live in London. It's dangerous enough as a pedestrian
trying to cross
the
Quoted message said:road due to stupid and lazy drivers (e.g. don't indicate
when turning) but in a bike you'd need nerves of some sort
of strong metal to ride regularly there. Only last month,
I saw some guy in a road bike get hit when a
moronic
Quoted message said:driver didn't look as he was getting out of his car. The
guy didn't seem
to
Quoted message said:badly hurt but his bike was completely trashed.
So you would take one incident and use that to draw general
conclusions on a matter in which you clearly, from another
posting, have little experience. Yes, accidents do happen,
but remember:
- in inner London's heavy traffic speeds, are generally low
- the relative difference in speed between bikes and cars is
also generally small
- traffic is often forced to travel at a speed which
means it can stop within the distance it can see to be
clear ahead.
- the above factors mean it is generally not so difficult to
negotiate your way with other traffic, and in the event of
any accident, there is at least some chance it will be
survivable.
- good roadcraft minimises the risk of accident. 'Accidents'
are often not simply the result of random chance, and to a
large extent - possibly larger than on the open road - are
within your power to prevent.
Country lanes, on the other hand, may seem to be quiet -
until you encounter motor traffic travelling at or above the
national speed limit along roads which are barely wide
enough for two cars to pass in opposite directions, around
bends with sight lines obscured by hedges, traffic pulling
at speed out of intersections with similarly restricted
sight lines having only checked for motor-vehicle sized
conflicting traffic etc.
As others have said, buy the Highway Code and Cyclecraft.
The only thing to be aware of is that in London the Highway
Code is modified slightly: for motor traffic, green means
'go', orange means 'go', red means 'go as long as the car in
front is still going'; for cyclists green means 'go with
caution', orange means 'go with caution', and red means
'treat as a give-way sign and go when the way is clear'; for
peds green, orange and red all mean 'cross - so long as the
motor traffic is stuck in a queue, and don't bother looking
out for cyclists who aren't stuck because they have to look
out for you' 😉.
Rich
