Cycling is dangerous

On my route via the lee navigation canal, opposite Springfield Marina, I witnessed a cycle accident.

One cyclist coming off the bridge went headlong into another cycling on the towpath in front of me. The cyclist on the towpath must have been going reasonably quickly as I was keeping pace with him at around 13mph.

Cue a tangle of legs, arms, wheels and dérailleurs. I helped one of the cyclists by lifting their bicycle up a bit to dis-entangle them.

A couple of minutes later and everyone was on their way again. The accident had caused some bruising to the body, a slight loss of dignity to the cyclists involved, and a frisson of excitement for those walking their dogs in Springfield Park.

I have been cycling around this route since 2007. It is the first accident involving cyclists. I have never seen a cyclist / pedestrian accident on this busy stretch of tow-path. Despite the stark warnings about IPOD zombie cyclists and pedestrians and tales of ASBO cyclists cutting down all those in their path, the actual statistics show few serious injuries or death between cyclists and pedestrians, even less between cyclists themselves. And many, many more between cars and cyclists and pedestrians.

The solution to congestion caused by cars....

.... apparently are smaller cars according to this rather gushing article on the BBC website.

"Imagine a car so narrow that two can drive next to each other in one lane; a car so small and short that three can park in one parking space."

..it starts with and continues in this enthusiastic vein until pretty much the end of the article.

Clearly a smaller car that is more fuel economical and made from more recycled material is better than one that isn't, but it isn't going to save the planet. Or indeed make huge amounts of difference to congestion since the road system will still remain at the same dimensions unless everyone chooses this type of car (and HGVs etc. are also scaled down). And here also is the nub of the issue - the reason that this type of venture, no matter how cleverly engineered or designed, is going to really struggle. The fact is that people buy larger cars to feel safer  on our roads where the law of the jungle so often applies.

Of course, no-one is mentioning what the cars will run on - presumably, in the absence of a hydrogen infrastructure, fossil fuels will still play a big part. And even if hydrogen is used, the current methods of generating the hydrogen are hardly an environmentalists dream.

The final part of the article really holds the key to what this new car is about. The company has developed a new production process which is greener, but also less costly than convential production and so lowers the cost of entry for companies looking to make cars. The process could make any type of car, it would appear, so the "green" car at the start of the article seems to become less relevant than first thought.

People driving smaller cars won't help congestion. A minute or twos thought on this should show the fallacy of the argument. What we need is a simple machine that is versatile, cheap, incredibly efficient at converting effort into forward motion, and compact. Something that can easily be used for those 5 mile or less journeys so many of us do using a car.

If only someone could invent something like that.....

Waiting for cars and the flowerpot slalom

I ventured into Haringey yesterday, on a trip I frequently make around Stamford Hill and Seven Sisters. Although obviously I am always nervous about leaving the protection of the award winning cycling facilities in Waltham Forest, sometimes one just has to be brave.

I have to say that the cycling paths around Tottenham Hale, although not maintained to a great standard, and having to be shared by pedestrians and people waiting for the bus, are actually easier than navigating the chaos that is the one-way system. Apparently this is going to change and the area may no longer be blighted by a three lane race-track.

But the cycle paths betray exactly where the cyclist comes in the pecking order of road users, in the opinion of Haringey council.

Now, aside from showing the difficulty of taking the pavement away to use as a cycle lane (ie pedestrians quite like to walk on it), it also shows cyclists expected to give way at a junction. This junction is with the retail park car park. It could have been easy to give cyclists and pedestrians priority, and it wouldn't have changed traffic flows significantly. The major congestion caused is too may cars trying to find too few spaces, sometimes the queues tail back along Forest Road.

And look - whilst pedestrians and cyclists are sharing this space, cars have 3 lanes.

I really hope that the new scheme will reclaim some of this space back to pedestrians and cyclists - both use this road extensively. I shan't hold my breath.

So, Haringey have tried - they haven't succeeded completely, but the road environment is so aggressive,  this is better than nothing. What have the award-winning Waltham Forest done on their side?

Well, this view shows Forest Road near Tottenham Hale. The white line denotes the cycle path, at least Haringey managed to find some green paint and time to add some little bicycle symbols. But here shows clearly how pedestrian space is compromised to provide nominal facilities for cycling. And ends up with both being crap. Meanwhile the road is kept lovely and wide to encourage speeding. Which is absolutely endemic on this stretch of road. The lone speed camera near the end is hardly deterring anti-social driving. If a road in Waltham Forest was crying out for average speed cams, this is it.

So the facilities above look like a puny attempt to move cyclists off a road made dangerous by law-breaking motorists, when the root cause of the danger is ignored.

When one reaches Blackhorse Lane junction, Waltham Forest has put in a  cycling provision - some cycle-lights which allows cyclists time to clear the junction before the main road lights go green. Useful in principal as the road narrows after the junction, and the cyclist needs to contend with 2 lanes of fast moving traffic merging. However, as the picture shows below, there is a problem

Yes, as lovely as the flowers are, they are blocking the narrow cycle bypass lane. This is so indicative of cycling provision - even a potentially reasonable idea is made ridiculous by the council not thinking about what they are doing.

I could point out that whilst cars have three lanes, cyclists are generously provided with this lane barely wider than the width of double yellow lines, but that would be somewhat cynical - Waltham Forest are really rather chuffed with their cycle lights.

None of these problems would take much money to sort out. Moving the flowers would take 10 minutes, at least continuing the green strip over the car park entrance to make drivers aware of the cycle path wouldn't be a hugely costly exercise. Yet the chances of this happening is probably around zero. Why? Because the councils either are cynically deploying cycle facilities as a facade of "green-ness" or the people responsible for implementing these facilities have absolutely no idea about cycling, and never use them themselves.

The Real Perils of Cycling

Contrary to what The Daily Express may believe, I don't think the greatest peril confronting the cyclist are headphones. No, I think the answer may lie elsewhere. I will give you a clue.


Queens Road Junction, Hoe Street. Old Lexus undertakes the traffic going straight on and forces his way between me and the traffic lane to gain a few spaces. He was so close to me, I could have touched the paintwork with my feet. Several minutes later I pass him in the queue at the Bell junction, so his dangerous driving gained him absolutely no time whatsoever. 


Psycho HGV driver on forest road uses left turn lane at Hoe Street to undertake the queue and barge his way into traffic. Aggressively uses horn when someone has the temerity to be stopped in his path and then used the outside lane to barge as far forward in the queue as possible. I was intimidated in my car and thankful that I hadn't met this moron whilst cycling. How does someone like this get an HGV license?


Leyton High Road, Hyundai I3. Whilst I was waiting at the lights in the ASL, this driver encroaches on the ASL and is right next to my back wheel. Then passed me, for me to overtake him again at the queue around Bakers Arms. Whether he was trying to intimidate me, or just didn't bother stopping in time, I don't know. If he was trying to intimidate me, then he really should think about using something more substantial than an I3. Like a shopping cart. Or something fashioned from Papier Mache.


Homerton road - Great overtakes by all cars except one that doesn't alter their line at all for me. Again for him to be overtaken as he gets snarled up at the horrible traffic on Eastway.


Selborne Road - Black Corsa which doesn't look as it cuts me up to undertake the queue by illegally using the bus lane. Presumably if a bus had been coming then the halfwit would have noticed. 


Selborne Road - Black BMW 7 Series, overtakes me and is about to left hook me into Sainsburys car park before thinking better of it and waiting for me to get clear. I mean why? Why not just stay behind me for 5 seconds?


Hoe Street - Black Beetle. Driver manages to undertake at the junction with Selborne road by imaginative use of a hatched area and cycle lane. She does this at speed and then slaloms between me and the traffic in the correct lane. I overtake 30 seconds later whilst she is in the queue for the lights. Utterly dangerous, pointless and anti-social.


Grange Road - One way road with ludicrous cycle lanes that end after a blind corner (LBWF really excelling here, I will take pictures of it soon). I want to turn right, so start moving to the right whilst indicating. Fiat Multipla behind accelerates to get past before I filter right. Completely stupid move, he was way behind me and I would have held him up for only seconds as I moved across. And he deserves a mention for driving a car as ugly as the Multipla. It is the automotive equivalent of Shrek. I can only assume people buy them for a bet.


This is a small sample over the last week. Most drivers are considerate, patient and sensible. But whilst we have a significant minority of drivers acting as above on the streets, then they pose a threat to all other road users.


But of course the greatest threat is headphones.

The Perils of Headphones

The Daily Express decided to headline the tragic story of a young woman dying when she collided with a HGV as

PERIL OF HEADPHONES EXPOSED AFTER GIRL CYCLIST DIES IN CRASH

Now, I don't wear headphones whilst cycling. I don't think it the best idea to dull one of your senses when a cyclist pretty much needs all of them to survive at times. Do I think this is reasonable - well no - the fact is that I shouldn't have to strain to listen for that speeding car coming up behind me for a close pass. But I do.

However, the Daily Express seems to believe in this case that headphone wearing is the primary cause of the accident. From the limited details it would appear this is another tragic case of inadequate off-road cycle lanes putting a cyclist at risk at junctions with the road. If she had been cycling on the road, the HGV would have been in front or behind her - with poorly designed facilities, the HGV crosses her path.

I am not saying the facility was the cause of the accident any more than the Daily Express should be concluding that headphones are the cyclist's greatest peril.

My primary thoughts are with all those involved. My secondary thought is that whilst councils manage to construct cycle facilities that are stupid and dangerous, cyclists are being put at greater risk. I leave you with Harlow's effort to provision for cyclists as an illustration of my point.

Courtesy of London Cyclist Blog

Innovative ways to increase cycling

So, TFL have release some new videos showing young celebrities (and some "ordinary people") cycling, presumably with the intention of showing how cool cycling really is. Since, I didn't know most of the celebrities in the videos, I am willing to admit I am not part of the target demographic.


Now, the series of films cost £300k to make, around £50k per film.


Now one could be cynical about the whole exercise, but £300k is a mere drop in the ocean as far a TFL budget is concerned, so it isn't as if they are betting the farm on a few whimsical films. I could point out that none of the films appears to have found any traffic in London - a truly spectacular achievement. Although, I guess having Dermot and friends  dodging black cabs, white vans and red buses to then find the ASLs full of cars, and mopeds wouldn't really give the desired impression.


The concern I have with this type of cycle marketing fluff is not that it exists, but that it is really all that exists.


If it coincided with some real revolutionary cycle provision and infrastructure then one could forgive TfL for producing the marketing fluff. But all we get for infrastructure are some blue roads where it won't inconvenience motorists. TfL, along with a many organisations connected to transport (including  - to their shame - some large cycling organisations) believe that someday a magical "critical mass" of cyclists will appear in London, and the streets will be transformed into scenes reminiscent of Copenhagen, or Amsterdam, without any of the inconvenience or cost of actually investing in a similar cycling infrastructure to that enjoyed in these cities. 


They think that all they have to do is shut their eyes and wish very hard.


Of course, this "critical mass" argument is palpable nonsense when the modal share enjoyed by cycling is so low, and the main reason non-cyclists won't cycle is the perceived dangers generated by the poor infrastructure and lawless drivers.


Still, TfL may yet have a hand in increasing cycling. Between them and Bob Crow, next week may see many more people looking to the bicycle (and the cycle hire scheme) to get them to their offices around the city.  So maybe TfL, with not a little help from Bob Crow, may actually get more people on their bicycles after all.

Serious accident

Going about my chores this morning, a large part of Hoe Street was closed due to an accident around 6am. Freewheeler covers it here and the pictures he took were used in the local press reports.


It appears the driver was involved in a short police pursuit where he failed to stop and crashed at what must have been some speed into a lamp post. Police have confirmed he has been arrested - it would also explain the length of time the police took over the scene - Hoe Street was shut for 6 hours or so.


Traffic, of course, was terrible in the area - another time I am glad I am riding my bicycle and not in the car.


What I did notice, was that, in the area of the crash most of the roads connecting Hoe Street to the other major road, Forest Road, are one-way, but many drivers decided to ignore this fact and turn the roads into two-way thoroughfares for the duration of the road-closure. Since there was no police directing traffic down these roads, and people going the wrong way in normal circumstances is a rare event, I can only conclude that drivers decided to wilfully ignore the rules. In fact, most could have been only a little inconvenienced by going an extra few hundred metres and waiting at the lights to turn into Forest Road legally, so the alternative wasn't even that difficult.


Whilst around these roads, I saw some motorists speed down narrow roads the wrong way at high speed - some forcing oncoming traffic to pull over. It seems amazing that these drivers, only moments before, must have seen the carnage of a terrible accident, but could not associate this scene as a possible consequence of their illegal driving.


Now, my point is that many motorists say that a significant minority of cyclists choose to ignore the rules (lights, one-way streets) at times. And it is true - they do. Whilst not condoning this activity, however, it has to be said that the reason cyclists do it, is because these road layouts, especially one-way streets, are normally designed to accommodate cars, with no thought to cyclists, who then have to follow circuitous routes, sometimes on very busy roads.  And yet, incidents like the one above, show that, as soon as things become a bit more difficult for some motorists, they abandon the rules as well. I guess this shows that Cyclists and Motorists are all human beings, and cyclists aren't some special lawless group who are more prone to ignoring rules.


All this said, I hope the driver in this accident makes a full a speedy recovery. No matter what circumstances of any accident, one always hopes that lives aren't permanently blighted by the consequences.