Drivers, what is going on?
- Thread starter I like Skol
- Start date
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Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
And now it seems more people are taking drugs and getting into a car without Any forethought. This woman was jailed after mowing down a cyclist and leaving him with life changing injuries;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ove-kids-home-six-times-drug-drive-limit.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ove-kids-home-six-times-drug-drive-limit.html
Here are some statistics to be going on with. Yes, you can argue about measurement protocols, underreporting or data sources, but this is about as close as you'll get to a robust survey and is certainly a step up from "it's forners an druggies, innit".
https://assets.publishing.service.g...ta/file/686969/pedal-cycle-factsheet-2017.pdf
https://assets.publishing.service.g...ta/file/686969/pedal-cycle-factsheet-2017.pdf
Nigel-YZ1
Guru
- Location
- Somewhere else... maybe soon.
Mobile phone use is up massively in my area. Barnsley is chronic for the 'guilty eyes' to the lap in all slow moving traffic.
In general I think a new layer of cruelty is developing. It's a 'me first', 'I'm bigger' sort of thing.
As well as on the bike, I drive a small car and the tailgating, cutting up and head-on incidents are chronic.
On sunday I was passing parked cars with no gaps to pull in, but the SUV driver coming the other way, on seeing me from over 100m away decided to drive head on at speed rather than just lift off and let me clear the last two cars. I'd already started braking, he hit the kerb.
Cars coming the other way where their side is blocked are more likely to try and move over to reserve your side of the road.
There's no fear of being caught. They now know there are no police available for traffic.
In general I think a new layer of cruelty is developing. It's a 'me first', 'I'm bigger' sort of thing.
As well as on the bike, I drive a small car and the tailgating, cutting up and head-on incidents are chronic.
On sunday I was passing parked cars with no gaps to pull in, but the SUV driver coming the other way, on seeing me from over 100m away decided to drive head on at speed rather than just lift off and let me clear the last two cars. I'd already started braking, he hit the kerb.
Cars coming the other way where their side is blocked are more likely to try and move over to reserve your side of the road.
There's no fear of being caught. They now know there are no police available for traffic.
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
Of course you can look at statistics like that as you so cleverly point out but they don't tell you about why they are being committed and what are the causes.
The OP asks 'what is going on' and your survey doesn't tell us that, only the figures.
classic33
Leg End Member
Thought that amber meant stop.That's been the situation in King's Lynn pretty much forever. Lots of traffic lights here (used to be 13 sets in the 2 miles before my old home) and few traffic police, so it would be surprising if I ever drove through on just-amber and didn't have at least two cars follow me. As I mentioned elsewhere, the last year or so, I've seen some motorists treating red lights as a sort of give-way where they merely slow right down, creep across the stop line (usually blocking any pelican/toucan/puffin crossing), check if another motorist can hit them before they clear the junction and then boot the accelerator if not. RLJ and yellow box cameras would be very profitable but we don't have any AFAIK.
For now, when cycling through traffic lights, please check that either all conflicting lanes are blocked by vehicles or that nothing's approaching fast enough to hit you before you ride out, even on green. It probably annoys following drivers but the ones who queue behind you seem less likely to hit you than RLJers.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Copy and pasted from HC
AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident
And thats often the case, you're approaching on green, then it turns amber If youve already passed the stop line, then proceed OR you can proceed if you were very close to the stop line and stopping suddenly could cause an accident.
Nigel-YZ1
Guru
- Location
- Somewhere else... maybe soon.
These days you have to wait at green for a few seconds for the red light runners to clear the junctions. Amber is seen by many as the 'floor it' signal.
classic33
Leg End Member
The "Amber Gambler" returns.
And we have a winner!
I've got every sympathy with Skolly, but he actually asks....
And I've answered his question directly by providing evidence over a 10-15 period that the risks have, for the cycling population as a whole, reduced.
is therefore the likely explanation, so coming up with explanations for why something is getting worse when best evidence says it's not actually getting worse seems a bit futile.
Crankarm
Guru
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
The amended Highway Code could have some thing to do with it. Rule 160 (g) - might is right.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Oh dear, have we really resorted to quoting the DoT as a credible source now?
OP
OP
I like Skol
A Minging Manc...
- Location
- Sunny Ashton-under-Lyne
A useful report, but annoyingly from a skim through appears to be missing the stats that actually matter.
This chart shows a steady decrease in deaths and incidents since the early 1980s until around 10yrs ago when slight & serious incidents began to rise. This may not be a relevant increase as the amount on cycling (traffic) appears to rise too, although this line does hint at a worrying trend....
So from this data what can we conclude? Unless I am mistaken, the death/incident data is taken from a change in the 'actual' occurrence figures rather than the rate of events? This makes the data difficult to evaluate as it appears to be set against a varying level of 'traffic' whether this be miles ridden or hours spent riding?
A more useful figure, and one that may be more indicative of an individuals actual risk, would be the deaths/incidents per mile or hour. This is used here, but only for a single defined period rather than year on year....
Fortunately, the data I want does appear to be included in the report and when I have some spare time later I am going to mess around graphing it in a way that might help reveal if things are getting better/worse for an individual cyclist.
OP
OP
I like Skol
A Minging Manc...
- Location
- Sunny Ashton-under-Lyne
Have you got any better sources?
