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Both good shouts. I like the idea of going west and over Scotchy bridge. I used to do that route when I worked at the old Vickers plant.. However, I might get a bit nostalgic thinking about Chally 2's as I ride past knowing that the UK no longer have a tank factory!
1st suggestion is good as well as Market Lane is wider than Whickham highway. Cheers
Cheers Stato - Aye, think I know the path at the bottom of Duckpool. Few different options to explore.
Have been commuting since the bridge I drove over every day to work got damaged and closed following the floods in the Calder Valley floods on Boxing Day.
Have had nothing but respect on the roads but can see why others do have issues.
There is a difference between a cyclist and a person on a bike and I think they get treated differently by motorists.
I do have Smudges luminator on the front which has drawn many comments as well as a flashing front and back light on my helmet plus 2 lights on my seatpost, one flashing and one steady.
The best addition to my bike for side visibility is some reflective spoke clip-on sticks from Aldi. Originally bought for my lads bike, they are great and my lights light the front ones up and make it a lot more reassuring when side on to traffic.
I do find 100% awareness of what is around you and making obvious thank you gestures when drivers have given you courtesy is helping my cause as most of the drivers are on the commute to work at the same time every day so will see me 100's of times a year.
It is sobering when last week I was rushing home only to be stopped by the police as the road had been closed by an RTA with a cyclist who had been killed (RIP). I know no more details but it hits quite hard when you see it on your route home knowing I will be on the same roads every day.
But I still love riding home from work, it clears the mind and helps separate work from home but it is now raining.
I know no more details but it hits quite hard when you see it on your route home knowing I will be on the same roads every day
He was killed because some twunt decided to overtake in an inappropriate spot without looking properly and hit him head on. A friend of a friend was driving the car that was overtaken, they were driving at approx 45 in a 50 apparently. They asked the guy afterwards why he'd overtaken them and he just said "because you weren't going fast enough".
There's been a marked increase in cycle traffic on that stretch of road since the floods and the damage to the canal towpath, not a particularly nice road to ride on TBH.
http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/police-name-cyclist-killed-brighouse-10753903
Depressing reading. I'm currently getting up at 5am to do 90 minutes of turbo before driving a 21mile route that would be perfect training were it not too dangerous.
I'm looking at a route to avoid most of the A road (Wallingford to Aylesbury) but there is still a section of dodgy cycle path, 500m of A road and it's 26miles.
Ridgeway to car when it dries out. Actually may do that in the mud.
Depends where and when you ride I suppose. There are certain routes that I've ridden in the past where the chance of an accident felt quite high, whereas my current (very occasional) commute feels pretty safe, by which I mean there aren't many opportunities for idiots to take me out unless I do something daft.
Of course there's no accounting for something like someone just driving straight into you on a straight road or something, but for me that falls into one of those areas of risk that would have you never leaving the house if you worried about it too much.
If it's really starting to feel inevitable then it's time to do something different I reckon.
I've been commuting 12 years into and around Notingham and Derby. I'm sensible with route planning, proactive on positioning but still could do more, had a few close calls but never been hit.
Assume the others are out to get you. Always. And ride appropriately.
Never race, or try to beat your time, in traffic. You get impatient, you make mistakes. Like the car drivers around you.
Be courteous to other road users and acknowledge it when they are courteous to you. What goes around etc...
We all die sometime. If it's while riding my bike, at least I was riding my bike.
I think my worst commute incident was with a pedestrian who stepped off the central reservation into a gap between vehicles on a fairly quick downhill of town dual carriageway. I'd been holding my own in the outside lane, ready for an impending right filter turn at the next lights. She saw a gap and went for it, despite my lights and hi-viz. We both ended up lying in the road but she ran off when she saw that my helmet was busted. Ever since I've done the awareness thing big time and try harder to be prepared for the worst. Out of town, I'm off road or back roads wherever possible.
One thing we do find is that commuting on the tandem gets a lot more space and respect from drivers than I do on a solo bike. Perhaps something about its size, shape, movement or just unfamiliarity.
Following on from one of the comments above about noise and awareness, I also meant to add:- for me, wearing a buff under my lid seems to reduce wind noise over my lugs and therefore increases awareness of the surrounding traffic.
I reckon things have actually improved (on my commute at least). I've been cycle commuting for the last 14 years and I used to regularly get close passed, abusive drivers etc etc, but that seems to be happening less and less
I agree. There's always the odd **** of course, but overall there does seem to be a bit more acceptance. I also found that life got easier when I decided to chill out and ride a bit slower.
I think things have improved a lot in "real" London and don't think it's as dangerous as others do. There could be a perception v reality thing obviously but London drivers are mostly used to slower speeds and cyclists all over the shop. I suspect it would be worse in the suburb/country borders were there are fewer bikes, higher speeds and less infrastructure. I have also grown up a bit and don't cycle on busier/confusing roads any more (Elephant and Castle etc) but choose quieter longer routes. Although people blindly pulling out on smaller roads is more of a worry for me than eg being rear-ended on a bigger road.
Also, more and more councils in London are going to 20 mph. Even if it only brings real speeds down to actual 30 mph I think it's making things better. I'm also a car driver and honestly it hasn't slowed journeys down in reality - actually it's a bit more relaxing. If cars were invented today, you'd probably start with a speed limit of 20 in town...
Regular commuter for about the last 7 years here, 25 mile round trip with a proper mix of urban, suburban and fast rural. I've been T boned once in an incident bad enough to wreck a wheel and give me cuts and bruises. Good average I reckon, but, funnily enough last night's ride home was one of those that made me feel very mortal with 2 very close passes and a chap starting to pull out from a junction as I was passing in front of his bonnet. Just made eye contact in time, he was very apologetic. Most of the time I feel safe, but I reckon everyone has those days when it feels like a dangerous sport.
Like Ton says, try a number of routes. The only thing I'd add is that the quietest is not always the safest. I have 4 routes to work, varying between 16 and 21 miles. The two shortest routes have long stretches of B-road where it's not always easy for a car to pass if traffic is coming the other way. the 3rd route (19 miles) has a bit more a-road, but as such, there are more cycle commuters on it and the traffic seems to be more aware of, and tolerant of, bikes in their midst. Additionally, the roads are wide enough to allow for a bike and 2 cars to pass safely. It really helps reduce tension.
Finally, if you find yourself constantly meeting someone, stop for 60 seconds and the problem goes away...literally.
I found cyclestreets.net pretty useful when I was trying to figure out the best options for my commute. Lets you look at the fastest/quietest/balanced route.
London riding/commuting I never really mind. Commuted in London for years way before bikes were a common mode of transport round there. Somehow, in spite of the general chaos, London just works.
Certainly the comments about the suburbs being more dangerous is true, - drivers have been stuck in gridlock for an hour, they find their way onto some clear streets and boom, time for the loud pedal. 🙁
I had a really lovely country lanes commute for a little while when I lived in Lancaster and worked 1 or 2 days a week in Kendal, that was about as good as commuting gets.
My tips:
Always have an escape route. Know the parks, cycle trails, one-way streets, cut-throughs, pedestrianized areas etc that you can escape into if necessary. I've only needed it once (road rage incident) but it was a lifesaver.
ALWAYS use lights. Even in midsummer.
NEVER get into fights. Chances are on a regular commute, you'll be meeting the same drivers in the same places and next time he might come prepared.
Traffic lights are optional extras - if it's safer for you to jump them then do so. (I have to say that most of the time I obey them but there are a few awkward sets on my commute that are best dealt with by "carefully negotiating" them and as an added bonus it's more convenient for the drivers if I get out of the way too).
Try to vary your commute a bit, change routes sometimes. It keeps things fresh and interesting and sometimes you end up discovering a nice bit of road or trail by mistake!
If you're within the main traffic flow (rather than off-road/on segregated cyclepaths) you'll get fewer stupid passes if you ride fast. This applies to all road riding actually, if you can more closely match the speed of traffic, it's better all round.
getting worse? i find it comes in 3s. nothng for months then 2 or more in 1 day. i find trucks better now then ever in my area. purley way etc and white van man well at least u know they are gonna go past quick and get out the way! 4x4 quashqui etc pretty bad. big car no spatial awareness
Some good stuff on this thread - worth considering Walker's research too
[url= http://opus.bath.ac.uk/37890/ ]http://opus.bath.ac.uk/37890/[/url]
Abstract
This study looked at whether drivers overtaking a bicyclist changed the proximities of their passes in response to the level of experience and skill signalled by the bicyclist's appearance. Five outfits were tested, ranging from a stereotypical sport rider's outfit, portraying high experience and skill, to a vest with ‘novice cyclist’ printed on the back, portraying low experience. A high-visibility bicycling jacket was also used, as were two commercially available safety vests, one featuring a prominent mention of the word ‘police’ and a warning that the rider was video-recording their journey, and one modelled after a police officer's jacket but with a letter changed so it read ‘POLITE’. An ultrasonic distance sensor recorded the space left by vehicles passing the bicyclist on a regular commuting route. 5690 data points fulfilled the criteria for the study and were included in the analyses. The only outfit associated with a significant change in mean passing proximities was the police/video-recording jacket. Contrary to predictions, drivers treated the sports outfit and the ‘novice cyclist’ outfit equivalently, suggesting they do not adjust overtaking proximity as a function of a rider's perceived experience. Notably, whilst some outfits seemed to discourage motorists from passing within 1 metre of the rider, approximately 1-2% of overtakes came within 50 cm no matter what outfit was worn. This suggests there is little riders can do, by altering their appearance, to prevent the very closest overtakes; it is suggested that infrastructural, educational or legal measures are more promising for preventing drivers from passing extremely close to bicyclists.
[url= http://opus.bath.ac.uk/9332/ ]paper[/url]
This older paper provides evidence for wearing a long blonde wig
Abstract
A naturalistic experiment used an instrumented bicycle to gather proximity data from overtaking motorists. The relationship between rider position and overtaking proximity was the opposite to that generally believed, such that the further the rider was from the edge of the road, the closer vehicles passed. Additionally, wearing a bicycle helmet led to traffic getting significantly closer when overtaking. Professional drivers of large vehicles were particularly likely to leave narrow safety margins. Finally, when the (mate) experimenter wore a long wig, so that he appeared female from behind, drivers left more space when passing. Overall, the results demonstrate that motorists exhibit behavioural sensitivity to aspects of a bicyclist's appearance during an encounter. In the light of previous research on drivers' attitudes to bicyclists, we suggest drivers approaching a bicyclist use physical appearance to judge the specific likelihood of the rider behaving predictably and alter their overtaking accordingly. However, the extent to which a bicyclist's moment-to-moment behaviour can be inferred from their appearance is questionable, and so the tendency for drivers to alter their passing proximity based on this appearance probably has implications for accident probability. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
All papers available from http://www.bath.ac.uk/psychology/staff/ian-walker/
Fight Club quote - "On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."
if you're going to get a camera, remember and practice shouting out number plates on your videos, people expect that now because of this knobber
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Is it just a matter of time? Yes
I'm getting some bike stickers made:
"Attn: Paramedics. This bike is to accompany me in the ambulance NO MATTER WHAT"
Shall I put you down for one?
It most definitely is a matter of time. I leave at 9am and shift my day by an hour. The reduction in traffic peri-heathrow is breathtaking. I also use a fly6 and am waiting for a fly12 front camera. I've not had to use the footage yet.
statistically, every day is an independent event so the probability of an accident is the same every day (all things being equal, such as weather, bike failures etc.).
So if you ventured out yesterday, then it's the same chance today. Hope this helps.
It might happen but probably wont. Assume you're invisible, ride accordingly and you'll be fine.
Compared to the risk of being inactive, it is no risk at all.