Bit shaken up this morning.

[Greenbank]

I think the only time I've been to Essex was on the FNRttC to Southend a couple of months back (I think you have to pass through Essex to get to Southend, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

Given that Southend is in Essex there's a distinct possibility that you did...

Drivers in London seem more likely to expect cyclists, and don't always expect us to be moving at a snails pace.  The average traffic speed is also lower, although that's partially a function of the higher traffic density.

Weekday commuting drivers in London expect cyclists, or at least are very used to them, and really aren't that much of a problem.

Just try doing your normal commute through London on Saturday or Sunday though. Stunningly bad driving from people who don't know what they're doing or where they're going because they're too busy looking at maps, sat-navs or the sights.

[teethgrinder]

I think the only time I've been to Essex was on the FNRttC to Southend a couple of months back (I think you have to pass through Essex to get to Southend, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

Cheltenham on the other hand, which is in Gloucestershire is generally pretty normal, aside from a couple of areas (Whaddon and Springbank pop to mind).

Oh, Cheltenham, I was thinking Chelmsford.
I thought Cheltenham was pretty OK?
I'll go and have some words with my navigator.
Again!

Now! lookereyoustupidmumblemumblemumble

[TimO]

Just try doing your normal commute through London on Saturday or Sunday though. Stunningly bad driving from people who don't know what they're doing or where they're going because they're too busy looking at maps, sat-navs or the sights.

This is true, my commute is to South Ken, and at the weekends you're right, it is quite amazingly worse.  It's not helped around here by people visiting the museums who think that they'll be able to find a parking space at 2pm on a Saturday, and continue to search for one at about 10mph.

[nuttycyclist]

I think the only time I've been to Essex was on the FNRttC to Southend a couple of months back (I think you have to pass through Essex to get to Southend, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

It's an easy mistake to make.   Southend is a Unitary Borough Council, so therefore doesn't fall under Essex County Council, even though it is in Essex.

...Drivers in London seem more likely to expect cyclists, and don't always expect us to be moving at a snails pace...

And there we have yet more proof of the fact that there is safety in numbers, and that the more people are cycling the safer it is for everybody.    Cycling numbers in the UK are reputed to have gone down over recent years, yet increased dramatically in London (thanks 7/7 bombers ).   I just wish we could get more people cycling and fewer cycle paths built that get cyclists off the road.

[Notsototalnewbie]

It's obviously twat week in London, it hasn't been this bad in months. Usually my commute is without incident apart from the usual close passes etc which you come to get used to.

Truck turns into road I am cycling on. There is roadworks on his side of the road so he is blocking the entire road, he saw me, so should have waited, but turned anyway because I am a bike and hence don't count. He sits there. I sit there. He motions for me to cycle round him on the pavement.

I don't have time to play silly buggers/standoffs today as I've got to go and make myself vaguely smart for a meeting, so I get off and walk round him on the pavement, but not before telling him calmly through his open window 'You should have waited and you know it'.

Cue embarrassed smiling/laughter of exactly the same type as the blokes the other day, no verbal response. Men obviously find me very amusing indeed 

NB: My geography is pretty shite, people keep asking me what route we take on the FNRttC and I can never quite tell them apart from a few memorable snippets like Dartford Tunnel or Ditchling Beacon.

[Regulator]

It's obviously twat week in London, it hasn't been this bad in months. Usually my commute is without incident apart from the usual close passes etc which you come to get used to.

Truck turns into road I am cycling on. There is roadworks on his side of the road so he is blocking the entire road, he saw me, so should have waited, but turned anyway because I am a bike and hence don't count. He sits there. I sit there. He motions for me to cycle round him on the pavement.

I don't have time to play silly buggers/standoffs today as I've got to go and make myself vaguely smart for a meeting, so I get off and walk round him on the pavement, but not before telling him calmly through his open window 'You should have waited and you know it'.

Cue embarrassed smiling/laughter of exactly the same type as the blokes the other day, no verbal response. Men obviously find me very amusing indeed 

NB: My geography is pretty shite, people keep asking me what route we take on the FNRttC and I can never quite tell them apart from a few memorable snippets like Dartford Tunnel or Ditchling Beacon.

If you're doing teh Dartford Tunnel and Ditchling Beacon on a FNRttC then you're taking the wrong route!   

[Notsototalnewbie]

Sod off, you know full well I meant Sarfend and Brighton respectively!  I'm not *that* bad.

[TimO]

I must admit it does annoy me, when people look, obviously see you, and still decide to pull out in front of you (this applies pretty much equally to pedestrians and motorists).

I'm coming towards you at 20mph on £1000+ worth of bike and equipment you fuckwit...

...and breath.

On my two FNRttCs, I've managed to get a copy of some GPX files of the route, edited them to cover just HPC to the end, and then put them on Bikley:

Southend FNRttC

Brighton FNRttC

These are both GPS routes, ie where we went, and with slight errors from GPS and/or map inaccuracies.  They're pretty close for most purposes however.

(Apologies for not acknowledging whoever I got these off of, but thanks whoever you are! )

[Notsototalnewbie]

I must admit it does annoy me, when people look, obviously see you, and still decide to pull out in front of you (this applies pretty much equally to pedestrians and motorists).

'specially Oxford Street pedestrians, they are a breed apart.

I cross Oxford Street into Bond street in the evening, usually after waiting an age for the red light. If there are no cars to scatter them, the peds just keep crossing in a crowd. I am normally ever so nice to peds and often give way to them and let them cross in front of me (it's often easier than having them dance about), but if you gave way to them at this junction you'd never get across.

So I said/shouted 'Excuse me!' and it was like the parting of the red sea, they all just stopped and looked at me. As I went through, Moses-like, I smiled sweetly and said 'thank you!'

Well it's nicer than the 'oi!' that the couriers do.

[Regulator]

I must admit it does annoy me, when people look, obviously see you, and still decide to pull out in front of you (this applies pretty much equally to pedestrians and motorists).

'specially Oxford Street pedestrians, they are a breed apart.

I cross Oxford Street into Bond street in the evening, usually after waiting an age for the red light. If there are no cars to scatter them, the peds just keep crossing in a crowd. I am normally ever so nice to peds and often give way to them and let them cross in front of me (it's often easier than having them dance about), but if you gave way to them at this junction you'd never get across.

So I said/shouted 'Excuse me!' and it was like the parting of the red sea, they all just stopped and looked at me. As I went through, Moses-like, I smiled sweetly and said 'thank you!'

Well it's nicer than the 'oi!' that the couriers do.

They're not as bad as the diePod zombies you get on Tottenham Court Road.  They come out of the underground, plugged into their brain drainers, and having looked the wrong way up a one way street, they step out in front of oncoming traffic.  In the six months I worked at UCL and commuted up TCR, I saw 4 diePod zombies step out in front of cars and get hit.  At such times I feel sorry for the drivers, who didn't have a chance.

[juliet]

Yelling "excuse me" & "thank you" for crossing-against-the-light pedestrians is my preferred solution as well.  Though I expect if I was on the roads as much as a courier is I'd start going "oi!" instead as well.

I've noticed worse driving this week, as well.  Although sample bias etc etc - once you've seen one bad thing you're more likely to notice the others. 

Agreed that London weekday drivers are far, far better than the weekend people.  It's a bit of a shock to the system occasionally

[ian]

Ah, the London weekend drivers. They get all the way into town and just stop. So, that giant empty car park they promised was just a myth? In that case I'm just going to sit here in the middle of road.

Worst though are the texting pedestrians. The relationship between eyeball and phone screen is exclusive and monogamous. There are people who haven't raised their eyes since 2003. They've, to all intents and purposes, left this world into their own little bubble. They don't need to look when they cross roads. There are no cars, lorries, cycles in their little bubble worlds. I had to stop sharply the other week because someone crossing a junction didn't bother to look, and in a particularly intense bout of texting, evidently had to stop dead in the middle of the road. Had I been a car they might have ended up literally dead.

Reminds me, I saw a car smash on Sunday - VW Beetle pulled up at a zebra, couple of phone-teenager symbionts crossing in front of it. Idiot in a sports car comes flying up behind, not noticing a large cream-coloured car stopped in front. Cue the screech of brakes and inevitable crunch. (I couldn't see, but I wouldn't have entirely been surprised if the twunt in the sports car was on the phone...) He managed to shunt the Beetle across the zebra (fine zoological theme I have going here) just missing the people. They actually took another step before it registered and they finally looked up and noticed that they nearly been flattened. Some reflexes the youth of today have.

[Jasmine]

Cue embarrassed smiling/laughter of exactly the same type as the blokes the other day, no verbal response. Men obviously find me very amusing indeed 

Definitely sounds like the laugh of someone who knows they were wrong but can't just say "I'm terribly sorry, I now realise you had the right of way and I acted like a wanker because I thought my car/van would intimidate you into submission".  It's slightly better than the ones who know they were in the wrong but then scream at you for daring to occupy space on the planet because they can't admit they were wrong.

[Notsototalnewbie]

Since the WVM incident I have tried to be more open to the idea of having a scream rather than freezing with fear. So when I'm in a situation where the driver might pull out etc, I've tried to be ready to scream as well as brake etc.

Cycling home last night there is a road with two lanes, I was in the middle of the left lane. A car on the right lane suddenly decided that he wanted to be in the left, where I was due to be in about two seconds, and swung out. I let out an ear-piercing scream (as well as braking hard). He banged his brakes on immediately, it was most satisfying.

[diapsaon0]

 

[Jezza]

I screamed once, at a parked car who pulled out in front of me without looking. Most of the pedestrians in the high road stopped and turned round to see what was going on. I think the old boy in the car soiled himself. Then again maybe he looks like that all the time.