Central London -includes cyclists using phones.
I cycle using a Santander (Boris) bike. Well not one bike, many bikes, there are tens of thousands of them around central London and many have had my bum on them.
Bicycles are a problem to motorists, pedestrians and to bicyclists and those problems are becoming more obvious as the number of cyclists increase.
Ludgate Hill this morning. One light change. C.130 cyclists. 5 cars. We need even greater reallocation of road space. New Mayor take note! @willnorman pic.twitter.com/msYEmfN3NF
— Peter Murray OBE (@PGSMurray) May 1, 2024
That video was shot 300 yards from where I live and within 50 yards of one of my local Santander bike stands.
Increasingly there are too many bikes for the junctions and Ludgate Circus, Bank and Blackfriars Bridge fill me with dread, not for cars but for the weight of cyclists.
I’ve cycled in London for 20 years and the three biggest trends I’ve seen have been
- The increase in dedicated cycle lanes
- The increase in cyclist numbers
- The increase in speed of cycling
- The use of phones when cycling
This third point is perhaps the most worrying. Take a look at the following two videos, both on lanes I’ve used recently. This is outside St Thomas’ hospital, an area where pedestrians are often in failing health
WARNING We’ve been filming the chaotic & downright dangerous situation at the Westminster Bridge floating bus stop at St Thomas’ hospital. Clip includes a speeding cyclist crashing into an elderly person. These designs are not safe & they need to be urgently halted @Mark_J_Harper pic.twitter.com/MrScNnWLs7
— NFBUK (@NFBUK) May 5, 2024
Some lanes aren’t built for speed. The advent of electric bikes and the insistence of some cyclists to use cycling as a training exercise, makes for pedestrian problems.
This video shows that even where cyclists are on open roads, speed is a danger to them
A308 Hampton Court Road today. Scary to see the cyclist ahead of me hit this Mini who’d cut across him. The driver denied it was his fault. Any thoughts anyone? And please @lbrut make this road safer for cyclists. @metpoliceuk @roadcc @KingstonCycling pic.twitter.com/u0JkoOvhPX
— Piggy Stardust (@EnemyCoastAhead) May 5, 2024
My thoughts (Piggy) are that the more open the road, the greater the peril for the cyclist. I was hit in exactly this manner when moving at speed in Chiswick. I still worry about undertaking ( a good worry).
And I worry about the animosity between pedestrians and cyclists which has been brought to a head by a recent death
Shared pedestrian and cyclist spaces just do not work. Trying to walk to work down Regent’s Canal was made not just miserable but hazardous by cyclists – not least because of a widespread belief that a pedestrian can instantly become insubstantial upon hearing a bell. https://t.co/xWU29XEIAX
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) May 5, 2024
There needs to be greater tolerance and understanding. Posts like this aren’t helpful -infact they’re a hate-crime. The passive aggression of the cyclists in the video doesn’t help, but the naked aggression of the post sent a shiver down my spine .
You don’t hate cyclists enough. You think you do, but you don’t.
— 9mmSMG (@9mm_smg) May 1, 2024
London is changing so fast that many of the cycle lanes installed ten years ago are no longer fit for purpose. The City of London corporation acknowledges this and the Farringdon Road intersection with Shoe Lane and Fleet Street (where the top video was shot) is being reviewed.
For now, cyclists need to think carefully about speed – especially where the bike is electric and commercial. Cyclists need to be more careful in highly pedestrianised areas and pedestrians need to take cycle lanes more seriously. I have problems with cycle lanes used for undertaking stationary traffic, they are not freeways for cyclists, motorists are often blind-sided and we cyclists have a duty of care.
Phones and cycles are a bad combination. Cyclists need to use their ears as well as their eyes to keep safe and phones are increasingly a means to blot out extraneous noise with podcasts and other forms of streaming. It’s not a good plan to chat while cycling either!
Finally, I have issues with traffic lights and in particular left hand turns for cyclists. In France, cyclists can take a left turn at a red light if the way is clear, we should be thinking more about such measures, rather than simply slowing cyclists down.
