Christmas Car Frenzy - or yet another reason to cycle!

After a lovely Christmas, I thought I would post a picture of the road scene on Christmas Eve in Chingford Road - going towards the North Circular and the large Sainsburys.

This traffic was moving at walking speed for around a mile along Chingford Road. The Sainsburys' car park was even worse with traffic queuing all around it.


Yet inside Sainsburys was busy, but not anything like the chaos reflected in the car park and surrounding streets. Simply, the roads around the superstore are unable to cope with everyone deciding to use 1 tonne of machinery to get them to the shops.


It was an absolute pleasure on the cycle.


And I was fortunate enough for Father Christmas to have kindly given me some extra large panniers for Christmas, which means there is even less reason to take the car.

Why cycling is great (again)!

I am aware I spend a great deal of time moaning about the cycling conditions. People might wonder why I cycle at all.


Well here is why.

This is the scene that greeted motorists all the way along the A503 from Amhurst Park to Monument Way. I had done this journey once earlier in the morning, and traffic was free-flowing, but later in the afternoon, the traffic was simply awful. I cannot imagine how long these drivers sat in these queues. Me? Well, it took five or so more minutes for me to make the journey on the cycle as I went around the gyratory instead of the short cut through the park (see previous post for the reason for this!). 


When I used my car to get everywhere this is what drove me to distraction. You can never really be sure how long it is going to take to go anywhere as the queues can build so quickly because of any minor incident. Now, I couldn't go back to this way of travelling for shortish journeys, no matter how rubbish the roads are for cyclists.


This is one of the main reasons I think cycling is great. That, and the superb cycle parking facilities provided by Haringey...

Ice spy with my little eye...

Something beginning with .... C!

Yes - a cycle path! This was Forest Road yesterday. I did see one brave cyclist try to use it, and it seemed treacherous. He, and I, gave up and used the road instead. Note the 30mph sign in the foreground - possibly the most disregarded speed limit sign in Waltham Forest. I normally use the path as the combination of this bend and speeding cars isn't a good one for a cyclist.

And then - to prove that anything Waltham Forest does badly, Haringey can do even worse - below was the Broad Lane bypass through the little park behind the gyratory.

At this point I gave up and walked, which in itself wasn't particularly easy. Cycling wasn't too bad with fresh snowfall, but now it is becoming pretty difficult on paths like these. A little grit and salt would have gone a long way. On the return, I used gyratory, which was so heaving with traffic that I was by far the fastest thing on the road from Stamford Hill to Ferry Lane.

Road Violence

Freewheeler has a link to an article describing a cyclist being attacked in Ealing by three men, after having the temerity to be knocked down by them whilst they jumped a red light. From the report it appears they also intimidated some witnesses on a bus. Absolute charmers, I am sure.

The Cycling Silk describes on his blog an incident with a motorist and another cyclist, where the car driver got out of his car and confronted the cyclist, and then proceeded, for no apparent reason, to knock off the cycling silk from his bicycle as he waited to turn right.  He was knocked into the path of incoming traffic. The driver got a caution.

It probably is worth saying that actual threats and assault isn't a common occurrence when cycling. Most of my issues are because motorists are impatient, or inattentive, or just don't understand what to do around cyclists. Some attempt bullying (edging out, use of the horn), but nearly all of this is simply impatience which is cured by an assertive look.

But it is clear these attacks happen. And when they do, it appears that the police and CPS don't take into account the huge disparity between a cyclist and someone piloting a tonne or more of metal. These incidents should be taken seriously with motorists knowing that there are consequences for anti-social behaviour. In both instances, the fact the victim was a cyclist is immaterial - I suspect the same aggressive behaviour would have happened if the victim was driving a car. But the instigators of this aggression need some serious consequences to jolt them out of this behaviour. Maybe someone who cannot control their temper to the point they assault someone or use their car as a weapon should be relieved of their license until they can prove themselves fit to drive?

Iceland

Cycling on Hoe Street today around 4:30pm - am Iceland delivery van was being driven pretty aggressively in front of me (revving engine hard, driving quickly). I went past it at the queue for the lights at the High Street, to see that the entire driver's side mirror was missing.

Surely this is illegal?

Thankfully he turned left at the lights, I am not sure I want an aggressive delivery driver with very limited rear vision anywhere near me.

Hardly the best advertising for a food store.

Boris Bike Spotting!

Boris Bikes are somewhat of a rarity in the wilds of Zone 3. However, I did spot my third in Walthamstow today. The first two were some months ago in the summer - one appeared very lost and was furtively consulting a map. This one today was making steady progress in the slush along Hoe Street.

I like the bike hire scheme. I know many are sceptical, but I do think this has a chance of being greater than the sum of its parts. If someone takes a cycle to navigate Central London, when they normally wouldn't consider a cycle, then this is another person who may decide that the cycle is a sensible option at other times.

I actually think that London areas like Walthamstow and Leyton would be great areas for 1/2 hr free bike hire. There would be issues - bicycles going missing, and making the scheme available to all residents without having to use credit cards would be two. But car ownership is pretty low in these two areas - my ward has over 40% of households without access to a car, and that excludes households like mine where my wife hasn't got a license and I don't tend to drive in the area. The bike hire could link up the residential areas with shops and the transport hubs. I am sure it would work, and more cyclists in the area would mean far more civilised roads.

Of course it won't happen as the costs of bicycle hire schemes are way too expensive to be considered for areas such as mine.Which I think is a shame.

Health and Safety

Freewheeler has blogged a photograph of the cycle cut-through on First Avenue. Well, it is assumed it is the cycle-cut through under the snow.

In a game of Waltham Forest crap cycle infrastructure "top trumps" I see his First Avenue cycle cut through and raise him the cycle "facility" at the Selborne Road / Hoe Street Junction.

Here we have the bypass that allows cyclists to avoid the little gyratory thing over the railway bridge to get into Selborne Road. It didn't come out in the picture, but there were tracks of a brave stupid cyclist who had attempted to use it. Yes, that stupid cyclist was me.

At first thought having a cycle bypass that is complete icy slush would be a health and safety issue for Waltham Forest and TfL. But this is where we under-estimate the sheer genius of the planners. You see, the cycle lights that used to allow cyclists time to cross the 5 lanes are now hooded - and have been for over a year. So, by leaving the bypass an icy mess, TfL are actually helping cyclists by completely dissuading them using a cycle facility put in (at probably some expense) by them. Therefore preventing the issue of the cyclist being splattered as they try to get through multiple lanes of traffic like some deranged game of real-life Frogger.