Misguided Cycling Safety Campaigns

[Dogtrousers]

An plane without power can glide. A helicopter can't. Maybe Cycling UK could send them some flight safety tips! 🤣

I think helicopters can glide, or at least, fly safely with no power - it may not be technically be gliding - like autogyros. Not that it matters.

 

[classic33]

An plane without power can glide. A helicopter can't. Maybe Cycling UK could send them some flight safety tips! 🤣

Depends on the plane. A helicopter can autorotate, it gets the helicopter down safely.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Depends on the plane. A helicopter can autorotate, it gets the helicopter down safely.

I learned that from Howlin' Mad Murdock.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I learned that from Howlin' Mad Murdock.

Now writing the Air Ambulance safety advice

 

[oldwheels]

Well, the vast majority of mirrors sold are shoot and the vast majority of people with them probably don't use them properly. That's reality and official advice should reflect that reality and not blithely advocate them for general use.


With some trikes, rearwards visibility is restricted enough to make a mirror desirable, plus there tend to be better positions to install one.

I use bar end mirrors. Mirricycle or some such spelling which IMO are the best.
On a trike they are not just desirable they are essential. On my ICE Adventure HD I use two mirricycle ones and the Kettwiessel came with one small mirror which I initially thought inadequate but in practice is ok.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Whether or not mirrors can be good for some people is a bit beside the point.

Is it good basic safety advice to cyclists to fit mirrors? Nope.

At least they didn't mention hats.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

FTR, I tided up the drafted email (mainly grammar; couple of typos) and sent it tonight. Will see whether we get a response.

If we could use this thread to highlight further examples and contribute to responses, rather than let it get bogged down with detail - like the previous thread I started (The Media War on Cycling)? If anything specific crops up that warrants more discussion, it might be better off in it's own thread?

 

[Bristolian]

I learned that from Howlin' Mad Murdock.

I learned it courtesy of a Royal Navy pilot, who also demonstrated that he could outrun me once we were back on terra-firma

 

[Punkawallah]

RN pilots always were overachievers :-)

 

[Drago]

Depends on the plane. A helicopter can autorotate, it gets the helicopter down safely.

They need about 500 feet of air to disengage the rotor and get it spinning as it should, which is I guess why there's a 500 foot minimum alt level for civil whirly birds.

 

[Punkawallah]

They need about 500 feet of air to disengage the rotor and get it spinning as it should, which is I guess why there's a 500 foot minimum alt level for civil whirly birds.

And ‘safely’ in this case is a relative term.

 

[DaveReading]

As with most things aeronautical, the ability to safely autorotate is complicated, and dependent on many factors rather than than a simple height measurement.

Every helicopter type has a "dead mans's curve" - a chart which shows the combinations of height (above the ground), altitude (above SL) and forward airspeed from which an autorotation is possible. Rotor blade inertia (i.e. weight), which varies widely between different helo types, is an important factor.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

I received a quick, quite long and largely positive response to the email. The negative points are unrelated to the points made in the email sent to them - probably not far to express them publicly because I think they were the views of the respondent rather than the charity.

I was also invited to help them construct future social media campaigns - which I shall decline on the grounds I have no relevant professional qualifications in respect to road safety and it should not really be down to a lay person to piece something together for them. (... although they could do worse).

I am tempted to suggest they consult an appropriate organisation who can give them appropriate advice - but I'm not 100% sure which organisations I suggest they approach. Any suggestions? I'm not sure they'd get a response from Active Travel England and as my last email to Cycling UK has gone unanswered, I'm not sure about suggesting them either. There was a 'North Staffs Cycling Campaign' but it's website is defunct.

Otherwise, I don't think they should be putting out advice on road safety at all. At least not specific advice. I think non-specific campaigns around consideration and respect for other road users are probably the way to go.

 

[presta]

I am tempted to suggest they consult an appropriate organisation who can give them appropriate advice - but I'm not 100% sure which organisations I suggest they approach. Any suggestions?

On the subject of risk and safety, I would recommend reading John Adams' Risk to anybody. He covers issues that are both fundamental and widely ignored in risk debates.

 

[MichaelW2]

It's just common sense that helicopters are incredibly dangerous things. And almost anyone could be injured by these things - they can FLY, after all!

Let me just go fetch my Ladybird book of Aircraft, and I'll get a Top Ten drafted ...

In one year, more pedestrians were killed by falling helicopters than by cyclists.