| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Sky Ride 10am -.3.30pm | |
| Posted by: | Sara Nathan | |
| Date/Time: | 14/07/10 11:28:00 |
| Is there a cycling community? Many cyclists are just using a good method of getting around town. You don't speak of a pedestrian community though pedestrians (and yes I am one of those too) do some mad things - especially in Oxford Street. Also they walk in bike lanes, jump out from between parked cars, ignore traffic lights and otherwise are a danger to themselves and others. But a community? i don't think so. Motorists too (am one of those) open car doors without looking, carve up each other, cyclists and pedestrians, drive in bike lanes and almost invariably stop at lights within the area specifically marked out for cyclists. And don't get me started on white van and bendy bus drivers. But these are just examples of individual idiocy - there are good drivers and cyclists passing un-noticed among us. And I don't think there are communities of road users. Plus the bike lane provision is parlous and very often obviously not decided by anyone who has ever been on a bike - Holland Park roundabout being a case in point...and no bike lanes all the way into town via Notting Hill Gate - it's daft. Finally, it's the compliant cyclists who get themselves killed. Middle aged women who obey all the rules of the road...pootle along and are then wiped out disproportionately by cars and lorries doing stupid things - and/or just not seeing them. There is an arguement for cycling flambouyantly if it means you are more likely to survive the journey. And the joy of the skyrides is that pretty much everyone wil survive the journey. |