Constructive discussion from London Cab Drivers………

London Cabbies are being really constructive around the cycling discussion that is going on at the moment 🙄

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/541428/london-taxi-drivers-film-cyclists-jumping-red-lights.html

Rather than ‘cycle to work day’ we need a ‘drive to work day’ where everyone who usually cycles takes a car.

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EDIT: Got it, there was an erroneous ] at the end of the link

Link fixed now.

The crux of the (many) arguments coming from cabbies, HGV drivers etc seems to be:

“We kill people cyclists but they errr don’t wear helmets and jump read lights and errr headphones, yeah! They wear headphones and ummm errr they jump redlights!”

if you were to film any road users for long enough they’d break the law too.

if you were to film any road users for long enough they’d break the law too.

and if you watch the video, not the edited highlights, there are plenty of cars breaking the law as well.

Of course, I’ve never seen a taxi make an illegal u turn, stop on a red route, yellow box junction, cut someone up, or jump a red light… 😯

“We kill people cyclists but they errr don’t wear helmets and jump read lights and errr headphones, yeah! They wear headphones and ummm errr they jump redlights!”

That’s going to be my stock answer now every time someone starts their anticycling crap.

This:

Derek Smith

November 28 16:57

The irony is strong in the LTDA. Beware. Cyclists will, no doubt, film hackney cabs doing what hackney carriage drivers do day after day. I’ve yet to know of a cyclist putting a motorcyclist into hospital after doing a U turn yet, when I was a patrolling PC in the City of London, I had three on three consecutive days. The problem for cyclists, especially in London, is that the meek only inherit a bit of earth six feet long and three wide. Those who shoot the lights are normally not the ones injured. It is the law abiding who die or are injured by lorries and, let it be said, cabbies. The problem with the law is that it takes little notice of cyclists. In 30 years in the police I did not deal with any incident where a person required hospital treatment after an accident with a cyclist. And that includes a period in my force’s process unit. It is a shame that I cannot say the same about cabbies. I got on well with cabbies and found them a source of help and information in my time, but I have to say I would take no advice from them about safe driving. Taxi drivers: the proof that experience alone is insufficient.

A sensible view. The meek inherit a grave-sized portion of the earth! ‘Aggressive’ cycling helps riders stay alive. That’s not RECKLESS cycling. That’s making your own advanced stop line where there is none, moving out to block traffic whilst approaching a narrow bit, ‘rolling’ a red light in order to gain a few yards on the metal assassins. If by doing anything ‘technically illegal’ or a-bit-annoying-but-harmless-really, I stay alive but someone in a metal box works themselves up into having a coronary, should I care? The Kinder Trespass was illegal but look what happened eventually. (more examples of positive lawbreaking please!)

Deveron that quote is brilliant.

Response to LTDA: Analysis of signal compliance, by mode

Points out that most of the time a car driver can only jump a red light if he’s the first vehicle to arrive at the lights. So the opportunity to break the law is much lower. Obviously that doesn’t apply to cyclists and motorcyclists who can both filter past stopped traffic. And it looks like motorcyclists jump red lights more than cyclists.

Not that anyone should be going through red lights, of course.

That quote is spot on. I watched this video this morning and it made me quite angry. It’s so imbalanced, and speaks volumes of the people who felt the need to create it.

Living nowhere near London, my first hand experiences are few and far between. We’re always hearing about RLJers causing chaos and generally putting the City of London in danger, yet when I watched this video (of what I assume is some of the worst examples they found) I was struck by how civilised it all looked.

With the exception of one person, who seemed to weave through without a care in the world, everyone appeared to slow down, check for traffic, and make sure the way was safe before proceeding. In the very same way that most pedestrians would do…

It hardly looks like a crisis on the streets of London. It’s an attempt to justify their own bad driving.

‘Aggressive’ cycling helps riders stay alive. That’s not RECKLESS cycling.

I agree with your point in general, but I don’t think the language is particularly helpful – how about “assertive” rather than “agressive”?

By the same token, I think a lot of harm is done with the language around “defensive” driving / cycling – people seem to equate “defensive” with “timid” which, particularly on a bike, is exactly the wrong thing to be.

Cab drivers giving driving tips?

It’s tongue-in-cheek, of course.

Oh….

The words ‘constructive discussion’ and ‘cab drivers’ appearing in the same sentence is a paradox.

Just today on the commute to work I had abuse hurled at me by a private hire cab because I stopped in front of him, in the Advanced Cycle Box at a red light.

Go figure.

Great quote from deveron, but I fail to see where it actually justifies or condones any illegal act by a cyclist? Your reading of it clearly differs to mine.