Medics call for measures to protect cyclists in London

Living outside of London (in the Midlands), I've noticed how much drivers respect have improved in recent years - particularly on country lanes, where they are much more likely to wait before passing and give plenty of room. There are still plenty of oafs (especially in towns and cities), but the trend definitely seems to be positive.

Relying on their personal experiences , these people offered sensible advice to ALL & Sundry !

Belittling their efforts , shows the level of intelligence that some lack !

Would YOU be happy to go to their workplace knowing that YOU Would like to make a difference but were not allowed ?

Avoid sharing roads with buses and HGV’s
Remember large vehicles are bigger than you and you will definitely come off worse - so give them a wide berth

Well I guess that rules out cycling in Britain then, not the brightest bulbs in the box this lot are they.

Oh no....

'And while the doctors write that wearing a helmet will go some way towards minimising brain injury...'

Seconds out! Round One!

I cycle into central London every day and my experience is that most cyclists do need to be told the basic s of cycling safely. Given the appalling recklessness of many cyclist I am astonish there are not more deaths on the roads. Recently when a cyclist ran into the back of me at lights I was told it was my fault because I’d stopped – yes I had as the traffic lights where red. Whist long term infrastructure changes will obvious help, if done well, in the short term moving away from a them and us mentality would be a positive move.

on my commute in London i find that it is normally quite easy to spot a driver who cycles. They give more space when passing, look for cycles before turning etc. and know where bikes are likely to come from. I also find that busses and taxis along with other 'professional' drivers are the least likely to do these things. They consider (or so it seems) the road to be there's and they will try and pass as close to possible to show that. A change in behaviour won't come about until these people have some experience on a bike when abus or hgv gives 3 inches of clearance pasing at 30 mph. It seems for the most part to be a lack of understanding of just how intimidating and scary that can be, and a lack of knowledge/experience tha causes a lot of the problems.

Being driven around Holland I am aware of how often the driver is looking out for cyclists, this is not a natural act that I see much in London drivers. Hearing the cursing cabbie about a cyclist is normal, whereas the dutch taxi driver is much more relaxed about the cyclists and being part of the road community. I don't know exactly what it is, perhaps the Dutch taxi driver is much more likely to be a cyclist too (along with their families) and better understand what it is like on the otherside.

What needs to change is how we educate drivers.

I remember very clearly when learning to drive, the emphasis being on "making progress". Safety of vulnerable road users didn't come into it.
I can see this attitude in practice every day, drivers will unthinkingly pass dangerously close in order to "make progress" even if they only progress to the end of a queue of traffic or a red traffic light a few yards ahead.

I think the vast majority of close passes, left hooks etc are not intentional, just that the majority or drivers don't have a clue how stupidly dangerous these manoeuvres are - and how pointless in a lot of cases.

We need a massive sea-change in driver culture and education. Sadly, these attitudes are so entrenched in our society, I can't see it happening and practically speaking if we want ordinary people to take up cycling regularly for transport then the govt are going to have to put their money where their mouth is and provide high quality separated infrastructure for cyclists.

As far as I am concerned, it's all pretty sensible stuff. Sure, defensive cycling is open to interpretation but ultimately "flesh yields to steel". No point asserting a right of way and ending up "dead wrong" to borrow from the old mariners saying.
Yes the law is ridiculously stacked against cyclists and offers close to nil deterrence for vehicle drivers.
They are also right about the dangerously misleading infrastructure we have in London as some of those blue paint routes are ridiculously dangerous.
So anything that puts pressure on political parties to change the law and put in proper infrastructure is a good thing.

Defensive cycling - yeah will someone please explain this to TFL's bus drivers then? One tried to overtake me turning south off Waterloo Roundabout, almost hit me, then (I assume since I couldn't hear a word he was screaming) shouted and gestured at me for an age about how I was... er... riding in the road?

I have no faith in anyone who doesn't know how to use an apostrophe.

Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s Cycling Commissioner, said: “... We are moving as quickly as we can, but instant changes rushed on to the road without adequate thought could easily be counterproductive, or worse.”

How could it be worse than counterproductive?

Yet again the onus is on the cyclists to 'avoid getting into trouble'

The 'safety in numbers' axiom only applies when there are really large numbers of cyclists and they are in the majority, or when people cycle in groups or clusters and the size of the group forces a change in driver behaviour.

Until vehicular traffic is tamed and cyclists' needs properly catered for, then each cyclist will have to consider the things they can control, such as route choice and defensive riding.

Defensive riding!......... like the defensive driving formula 1 drivers go in for, it works for me. The advice is as sound as it always has been, and it's good to repeat it often; to get it ingrained into everyone, including those new to cycling.

The big change will come when legislation and sentencing make driving to the endangerment of non car users the subject of much more serious consequences. For a start very long driving bans, including lifetime bans for those found guilty of very dangerous / careless driving. Once anyone driving a moter vehicle really "feels threatened" by the consequences of getting caught dangerous or careless driving then things will change.

Constantly reinforcing the safe cycling message, although important, will not in itself reduce the problem because it's careless and dangerous drivers who are the root cause of this problem.

Rant over

The suggestion that people should cycle "defensively" is wide open to misinterpretion and not really very useful without clarification.

Encouraging "defensive" behaviour without defining may even be irresponsible in the context of cycling in London, where women's typically more cautious approach to cycling in traffic has placed them in harm's way disproportionately often.

Avoid buses and HGV's , in an ideal world or virtual world yes. The reality is that for commuting cyclists that is impossible because at some point in the journey one will share the road with the tipper trucks and buses. Just have to be very careful!

Being a doctor doesn't make anyone an expert on complex issues of traffic safety.

Critical mass (which you don't have a clue if it's been reached or not) isn't just about numbers of cyclists on streets but number of... voters using two wheels who at one point politicians and local authorities will need to start taking seriously.

"avoid sharing roads with buses and HGV’s, remember large vehicles are bigger than you and you will definitely come off worse so give them a wide berth, defensive riding, wear a helmet, use all your senses (don’t wear headphones), make your own decision about how ‘safe’ a cycle route is"

If you want to use your titles and positions to make a difference then stop patronising cyclists by offering this obvious advice and instead educate drivers about how not to kill or injure people.