In reply to Toby S:
This is a brilliant reply - he makes the same point I did in another thread, which someone took objection to, that day glo is crap under street lights, and the contrast (as we have learned in yachting) is what works.
OH DEAR
14.11.12, 10:46am
It's another ill-informed diatribe by someone posting only to gain advertising revenue for her employer.
1. Lycra isn't ludicrous, it's comfortable. Try riding 60 miles in a pair of jeans and see how you feel.
2. A minority of cyclists run red lights and cycle on the pavement. But then again, a minority of motorists also run red lights, and most motorists will happily drive on the pavement. Don't believe me? Look at just about any side street you can find, cars parked on the pavement.
3. Bradley Wiggins was on the road and therefore had priority. The van driver did not. Seems pretty clear cut to me.
4. Generally, it isn't the cyclist's fault, because most accidents are the fault of the motorist.
5. Helmets are for low-speed impacts only, they're largely useless. A helmet won't save you from a bus.
6. Of course Boris bikes don't come with helmets, you don't need a helmet to ride safely. Do you wear a helmet as a pedestrian? What about a crash helmet when you're in a car?
7. London could easily be more like its neighbour, unless, that is, you'd prefer London to be full of stinking diesel vehicles rather than harmless bicycles? Noise and filth versus silence and cleanliness?
8. Fluorescent yellow clothing is useless under sodium lights. And I see cars driving around with faulty lights all the time.
9. I wear black. Black coated with retroreflective strips. So actually, at night, I'm brighter than just about anything on the road. In black.
10. Sitting on a machine in a gym is not cycling.
11. Paying to use a stationary bicycle in a gym is about the most stupid use of time, ever.
12. Riding in the middle of the lane is perfectly legal and recommended practice for many situations.
13. Beeping your horn at cyclists - please see HC rule 92 - never sound your horn aggressively. There's no need to use your horn to alert cyclists to your presence, believe me, having wonderful things called ears, they know full well you're there.
14. Cyclists have a common-law right to use the roads. Motorists do not. Motorists have an entitlement, granted by a licence. Behave like an idiot and that licence may be revoked. Cyclists cannot be banned from the roads, much like pedestrians, so deal with it.
15. Cyclists already assume equal responsibility for their safety - if you make a mistake while cycling, you're going to be seriously injured or killed. Make the same mistake in a car and it's a minor scuff or dented panel. Equal, eh?
16. Cyclists don't require a test because their impact on road transport doesn't warrant it. Unlike motorists, they don't kill people. They don't need helmets or reflective clothing because the former is useless and the latter is common sense. They don't need an MOT because a non-roadworthy car can kill one or more people, a non-roadworthy bike will injure or kill only the person riding it. And that happens so rarely it's a waste of time.
17. Please read the 2009 TRL report, "Collisions involving pedal cyclists on Britain's roads: establishing the causes" - the motorist is usually at fault. Therefore your claim that cyclists need to "change gear" is patent nonsense, as is also true for the rest of your sorry piece of "journalism". I'd stick to sitting on the Daybreak sofa if I were you.
• Posted by: tomjeffs • Report Comment