Without meaning to open a can of worms....

AdamOHare

I know theres 'problems' between cyclists and drivers. And I really dont want this to turn into a bashing/finger pointing thread.

Im strongly thinking of giving cycling a go. The only thing thats putting me off is Im a tad concerned about my safety. I had a family member killed a few years ago by a drunk driver. And I'm always hearing about near misses drivers and cyclists are having with each other. Even recently that woman on twitter that hit a cyclist and then tried to say he should be paying tax :eek:

So anyway, just wondering how everyone on here finds cycling? Have you ever had any near misses? Would you recommend it as a safe sport? It just seems to be like an accident waiting to happen (no puns)

Lumen

Many more pedestrians get killed on the roads than cyclists.

Barring freak accidents, cycling is perfectly safe if you do it right.

Just like driving, really. If you're driving along a busy single carriageway and twitch the steering wheel to the right, you'll hit an oncoming car/truck at 200kph closing speed and be very dead. So you don't do that.

AstraMonti

Cycling is safe. You just have to anticipate stupidity from all road users, not just cars and plan accordingly. This come with experience and cycling defensively.

Mycroft H

So anyway, just wondering how everyone on here finds cycling? Have you ever had any near misses? Would you recommend it as a safe sport? It just seems to be like an accident waiting to happen (no puns)

I find it grand, true there are the odd bad eggs whom are just out to make life difficult, but they're few and far between.

Is it safe? Yes. It's quite safe, I've only had one minor spill in the last four years. Have a bit of road sense and obey the rules. Keep a couple of feet from the verge to improve your visibility and other motorists visibility of you, stops most of them from taking the mick with close overtakes. Use decent lights when it's dull/rainy etc. Your a bicycle, not a pedestrian, so act like one!

McTigs

Between school, college and work i have been cycle commuting for the past 25 years and i reckon i've clocked up well over 40,000k of cross town traffic and i've only ever had two accidents, one my fault, one not my fault, neither serious.

It's not dangerous, cycle confidently and within the rules, respect other road users and they will by and large respect you back. Your confidence should grow fairly quickly once you start.

DirkVoodoo

You are probably more likely to be killed slipping in the shower, but that shouldn't put you off keeping yourself clean.

It can seem intimidating at first. Just be assertive and predictable. Too often I see a cyclist want to turn right but leave it too late because they don't want to "upset" traffic, then they nearly wobble themselves under a car or get stuck performing some dangerous move on a busy street.

Raam

It's mostly fine TBH. My last incident was when my rear mech ripped off whilst in the middle of a busy multi-lane road making a right turn. That was fun getting out of that.

Most drivers are cool and give plenty of space I find. It's just the few who don't which get all the attention.

piston

Road positioning is the key in many ways.

Don't hug the verge/kerb, keep 2 - 3 feet out from it to force drivers to overtake properly rather than skim past you at 60mph. You are also putting yourself in position where people wanting to drive out of side roads expect to find traffic so they should see you.

Be wary around traffic islands or any other place where the road narrows as you don't want a car trying to fit itself between you and the island. Look behind you on the approach, try and make eye contact with the driver and move a little to right to discourage an overtake in these situations where an overtake definitely isn't safe.

Don't intentionally block traffic either if it's not necessary. In situations like a narrow country road, if a car comes up behind me, I'd pull in and let it pass me. You don't need to in law but it stops the driver getting irate and doing something stupid and I would prefer to have it in front of me anyway.

Above all else, keep your eyes and ears open, apply common sense and NEVER cycle up the LHS of a lorry or a bus at a junction. Always use lights in the dark.

Junior

AdamOHare wrote: »

I know theres 'problems' between cyclists and drivers. And I really dont want this to turn into a bashing/finger pointing thread.

Im strongly thinking of giving cycling a go. The only thing thats putting me off is Im a tad concerned about my safety. I had a family member killed a few years ago by a drunk driver. And I'm always hearing about near misses drivers and cyclists are having with each other. Even recently that woman on twitter that hit a cyclist and then tried to say he should be paying tax :eek:

So anyway, just wondering how everyone on here finds cycling? Have you ever had any near misses? Would you recommend it as a safe sport? It just seems to be like an accident waiting to happen (no puns)

There's a huge difference between Cycling The Sport, and Cycling for commuting purposes.

derealbadger

Raam wrote: »

It's mostly fine TBH. My last incident was when my rear mech ripped off whilst in the middle of a busy multi-lane road making a right turn. That was fun getting out of that.

Most drivers are cool and give plenty of space I find. It's just the few who don't which get all the attention.

That's what happens when your rear mech is made from paper You were warned not to listen to Astra

RobFowl

Cycling is really quite safe and despite what the press and George Hook would have you believe the vast majority of motorists are very considerate and skilled.
Of my friends who've dies Cancer>heart disease> Pedestrians in RTA>drivers in RTS>Brain haemorrhages>Cyclists

AdamOHare

BX 19 wrote: »

true there are the odd bad eggs

BX 19 wrote: »

taking the mick with close overtakes.

Thats what Im worried about mainly. Quite often (even here on boards) I see a lot of hate directed at cyclists. And not even that, even just the regular old drunk driver who misjudges and ends up ramming you.

AstraMonti

AdamOHare wrote: »

And not even that, even just the regular old drunk driver who misjudges and ends up ramming you.

That could happen while you 're walking, driving, running etc etc. It's really irrelevant to cycling.

quozl

Lots of stats out there that I found very re-assuring when I was considering starting.

Here's a page of them http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1026.html

They're from reputable sources too, and there's a hell of a lot more of them out there all saying the same thing.

This book gives great detail on how to cycle safely too - http://www.cyclecraft.org/

AdamOHare

AstraMonti wrote: »

That could happen while you 're walking, driving, running etc etc. It's really irrelevant to cycling.

I know what your saying. But I still think Id rather be a pedestrian on a foothpath then a cyclist on a road if theres a drunk driver coming up behind me.

Maybe Im just a bit overly cautious on all this.....

07Lapierre

yes you are..Cycling is safe...

hardCopy

AdamOHare wrote: »

Thats what Im worried about mainly. Quite often (even here on boards) I see a lot of hate directed at cyclists. And not even that, even just the regular old drunk driver who misjudges and ends up ramming you.

People on boards are all talk.

In reality very few people are "hard" enough or stupid enough to hit you once they've seen you, then they'd risk losing their licence! But you should never assume they've seen you.

All drivers who claim to hate cyclists are really just jealous and wish they had legs and lungs like us.

When on the bike it helps to consider yourself more like a driver than a pedestrian. Don't cycle on the path, don't use pedestrian crossings. Do cycle in the middle of the lane when there is no room to pass, do use the right hand lane when turning right, etc.

Enjoy the improved health and extra time you will now have. If your commute has any meaningful level of traffic you'll beat the cars and buses every time.

Jovetic

Yeah cycling is safe enough, go for it

Always amazes me though the number of motorists that will overtake around bends in the road/areas when they can't see what's ahead of them. Motorists can be so impatient/wreckless

elduggo

I find pedestrians a bigger hazard than cars. you nearly need to be a mind-reader to know if someone is going to randomly step out in front of you. Cars are generally grand. Not totally grand but generally grand.

HivemindXX

AdamOHare wrote: »

I know what your saying. But I still think Id rather be a pedestrian on a foothpath then a cyclist on a road if theres a drunk driver coming up behind me.

Maybe Im just a bit overly cautious on all this.....

I saw a statistic before that in a certain year in London more pedestrians were killed while on the footpath than cyclists were killed in total.

Drunk drivers are not nearly the problem they used to be (in my opinion). Public opinion has firmly swung towards drunk drivers are scum, with the odd Healy Rae type exception. If you are particularly concerned then limit the amount of cycling at night you do.

The statistics firmly indicate that cycling is pretty safe. You certainly feel safer in a car because you are insulated from your environment so I think it is possible you will feel less safe on a bicycle but once you get used to it you will realise that you are no more likely to get hit by a car than you are when you are in your own car.

You can get the impression from watching youtube videos that it is like Death Race 3000 out there. Only once in 50,000+ km cycled have I had an incident where I'd have liked to have video evidence and that didn't result in my being injured at all. If you put a learner driver down before there first trip out in the car and got them to watch a few hours of the Police Stop style TV shows I'm sure they would be put off as well. Once you actually have experience driving you realise that while the things you see on TV do happen, they are really extremely unlikely to happen to you.

While I'm quite disturbed at the number and type of anti-cyclist comments you can find on the internet, as hardcopy said, almost none of them ever actually follow through on their bizarre fantasies.

Cautious is still good though. Being observant (more so than when driving, although it's easier to be aware when on a bike) will help you anticipate potential problems and avoid them when they occur. As piston said, don't go up the inside of vehicles who you think might pull in or make a left turn. Be ready to stop if an oncoming car is waiting to turn right across your lane in case they don't see you / misjudge your speed. If a car in front of you stops to make a right turn be ready in case the muppet behind decides to pass them on the inside. If there is something you are not comfortable doing (eg: making a right turn on an N road) then don't be afraid to get off the bike and walk through that situation. That all becomes second nature quite quickly.

Dermot Illogical

AdamOHare wrote: »

Thats what Im worried about mainly. Quite often (even here on boards) I see a lot of hate directed at cyclists. And not even that, even just the regular old drunk driver who misjudges and ends up ramming you.

Keyboard warriors are just that. Most of them are chickensh1t in real life.

To be fair, most drivers are fine. Watch out for pedestrians and other cyclists. They hear no engine so don't bother looking a lot of the time. They also travel with a greater degree of random in the mix.

Position yourself assertively (this is possible without being an ass) and you'll be fine.

Squidgy Black

AdamOHare wrote: »

I know what your saying. But I still think Id rather be a pedestrian on a foothpath then a cyclist on a road if theres a drunk driver coming up behind me.

Maybe Im just a bit overly cautious on all this.....

The chances are you won't really be cycling around the time when there's really going to be a drunk driver on the road, aka any time after 11pm.

I have plenty of friends who cycle, and none of them have been hit by a driver. Yet one of my friend's parents was hit by a drunk driver walking home from a pub. True story.

Ninap

I love cycling and have been doing it for probably 40 years. But I have to say that I have far more 'incidents' on my daily commute than I would like. I've been off the bike twice in 9 months. Unfortunately I can see why people would be nervous starting off. I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from cycling but just trying to be realistic. The problems are: terrible bike lanes, unaware and completely inconsiderate motorists, silly pedestrians, bad road surfaces etc. Sorry to be negative. Go for it, but be aware that you have to concentrate far more than you would in your car.

cdaly_

Ninap wrote: »

The problems are: terrible bike lanes, unaware and completely inconsiderate motorists, silly pedestrians, bad road surfaces etc. Sorry to be negative. Go for it, but be aware that you have to concentrate far more than you would in your car.

I've found that assertive road positioning takes care of most of those issues. Riding out from the curb allows you to:

• avoid the grotty bike lanes,
• put yourself in the eyeline of motorists (forcing them to have to use proper manoeuvers to overtake you),
• have time to react to silly pedestrians
• and space to avoid bad road surfaces.

But yeah, concentration (and anticipation) is key...