"He also expressed sympathy with Londoners who were forced to cycle because they couldn’t afford to drive or take public transport."
Where does that say all Londoners are so poor they have to cycle?
It appears all the way through this thread that you have an issue with how the police have behaved but you haven't come up with any sensible alternative.
I may be completely wrong about you. Can't say I care either way.
As to the ASLs I refer to my earlier point about them being almost exactly the same shape and size as the blind spot on your average truck.
I assume you are referring to the feeder lanes?
Well head start traffic lights, ASL's with no feeder lanes, or trucks re-worked to have a lower position, would be my good or bad suggestions as an off the head start.
Go Dutch. I want to see London flooded with people cycling in "normal" attire, like I see in the videos about the place, I don't expect those people to have to "take the lane", especially not 5 year olds.
I want police officers that have been informed by work from scientists, cycling groups, doctors, and I want officers who ride in traffic, and have done national standards bike training, they should be out there advising cyclists.
If they were would they really be telling people to wear Hi Viz because a driver might not be wearing their glasses?
When your interaction with officers is very limited and then you read things like this, is it any wonder I come across as a keyboard warrior or as police bashing?
One cyclist, Harriet Lamb, told us in an email of her experience of being stopped by police as she rode across Vauxhall Bridge, with an officer telling her: “Hi, we’re stopping all cyclists in light of the recent cyclist fatalities, to make sure that you’re making yourselves as safe as possible. Obviously it’s great that you have lights on and are wearing a helmet, but have you considered wearing a hi-viz jacket?”
She replied: “No, I’ve got really bright lights, reflective material on my coat and my bike, and I position myself in the road so that I can be seen.”
The officer then said: “I just think that if a driver wasn’t wearing their glasses then they might not be able to see you.”
Harriett asked him: “Do you not think that a driver driving around half-blind is more the problem?”
“Well, we’re just here to talk to cyclists,” continued the officer. “We don’t know yet why so many cyclists are being killed but there are a lot of bad cyclists out there.”
“There are a lot of bad drivers too, perhaps you should talk to them as they’re the ones doing the killing.”
Or that I am unhappy that poorly informed police officers are being sent out and are giving poor advice?
It may be only one poorly informed or poorly opinionated officer, but they are police officers, and so one is enough.
Its the same with "cyclists", we don't all jump red lights, but we are marked with that same brush, wrongly or rightly, but a poorly informed officers advice could cause much more of a problem as they are in a position of power.
Back to the person I labelled a silly name, to me what he said obviously read/suggested differently to you, and we can agree to disagree on that quote, he may not have meant it in the way he said it or in a bad way, but to me personally... well you already know what I think.
He added: “It seems to me that there’s a lot of traffic and personally I wouldn’t [cycle]. But some people don’t have the choice, economically it’s not easy.”
As to whether you got me wrong or right, probably a bit of both, I have my flaws and I continue to learn...
Overly passionate, too literal, too black and white, take things too much to heart, too bull in a china shop, too opinionated, check and check... I know my flaws and will get there some day.
Thankfully this is only the internet
I shall stop digging the hole and try to restrain myself from further hurting my poor keyboard
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