She says:

“I would ride in London but I certainly wouldn’t ride like that – you just have to be careful. I can understand going down the outside of traffic, but you should obey the rules of the road because we’re all road users.”

So it’s a bit like Prince Charles giving advice on how to live on £100 a week – he’s never done it, and never will have to!

Or Jorge Lorenzo on how to commute on a motorcycle down a diesel-slicked road on a dark/damp morning in February.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/reckless-cyclists-who-break-rules-give-us-all-a-bad-name-says-olympic-champion-laura-trott-8792254.html

The cycling gold medallist said she was shocked by how many rogue riders jumped red lights and weaved dangerously through traffic – and added that accidents were “not always the car’s fault”.

Seems fair to me, obey the rules of the road and be careful, what is wrong with her advice. I assume she does more road miles than most i here

Bit confused by the Prince Charles analogy.

I imagine she has ridden in traffic once or twice.

I imagine she has ridden in traffic once or twice.

Maybe, but as she says:

I would ride in London but

Maybe, but as she says:

I would ride in London but

I certainly wouldn’t ride like that – you just have to be careful.

Which is a very valid point.

A professional cyclist suggests riding within the rules of the road and being careful. And you find this condescending? ( confused)

It’s also the fourth article in as many weeks calling for compulsory helmets for cyclists, with ‘poster celebs’ advertising them.

ah so the bit you didn’t quote annoys you, 1/10 for getting your point across.

It’s also the fourth article in as many weeks calling for compulsory helmets for cyclists, with ‘poster celebs’ advertising them.

4 in a week?

A professional cyclist suggests riding within the rules of the road and being careful. And you find this condescending? ( confused)

Not really, it just annoys me because

It’s also the fourth article in as many weeks calling for compulsory helmets for cyclists, with ‘poster celebs’ advertising them.

It does the cause of cycling no good at all.
Trott mentions her sister Emma who survived a horrific collision with a car in Belgium which took out 5 members of the GB team. Great that Emma was wearing a helment, great that she survived but it wasn’t the helmet – the cause of that collision was a car being driven by a drunken idiot. Get the drunken idiot out of the equation, don’t force cyclists to wear helmets.

It’s like saying that the way of dealing with knife crime is by telling all members of the public to wear stab vests. No, you’d deal with the source of the problem.

The pain in the arse thing about these kind of articles is it just reinforces the Daily Fail stereotype that all cyclists are lycra louts who jump red lights, knock over old grannies and don’t pay road tax. And when you try and have a sensible reasoned debate about cycle provision/infrastructure etc, it gets rapidly bogged down in the same old shit about “why don’t you all wear helmets”

And for what it’s worth I wear a helment on every ride – I just think helmet compulsion is a very bad thing.

great that she survived but it wasn’t the helmet – the cause of that collision was a car being driven by a drunken idiot. Get the drunken idiot out of the equation, don’t force cyclists to wear helmets.

and they are off, with a thinly disguised thread that is now a HELMET DEBATE. It must have been ages since we had one of those, I wonder what new stuff will come out in this one. I’m just tempted to paste the whole of the last one in here just to save time.

While I agree with you Crazy-Legs about addressing the issue with cars sadly accidents do happen which is why wearing helmet is a good idea. After all it doesn’t just have to a car related accident for a helmet to work. So suggesting people wear a helmet from ‘an ambassador’ of cycling isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Saying it should be compulsory I’m indifferent about, I’m not convinced it will put people off those that want to ride will ride anyway, I don’t think it will be enforceable so could be a waste of time but no harm trying to encourage people to wear them.

I wish the cyclists I see on my commute would obey the rules of the road, helmets, if you’re daft enough not to wear one then that’s your choice. It’s not til one potentially has saved you from permanent injury that you realise that the little inconvinience they bring is worth it

Compulsory though? No I don’t reckon so

I am sorry I have not read the previous helmet thread.

I always wear one so really not bothered if they make them compulsory.
The reason I wear one is because shit happens, and when it does it normally happens to me.

And I am not bothered if it makes me look a bit of a tit as I have never let looking a tit stop me doing anything in the past.

I find this not dissimilar to when seat belts were made compulsory.
Upset a lot of people but I am sure has since saved a lot of lives.

She’s just expressing an opinion but it’ll get more consideration than it’s worth due to her status, a std media rule that she may have misjudged.

If Lewis Hamilton was in the press saying that too many drivers show little care and consideration to others, drive too fast and act aggressively and that got equal attention I’d not be as concerned about the article the OP links to, it would suggest balance and some sensible perspective. There’s little wrong in what she’s saying (whether I agree or not) but it seems to show media interest in placing more blame on cyclists where possible, to ‘balance’ the current strict liability debate I’d guess.

I find this not dissimilar to when seat belts were made compulsory.
Upset a lot of people but I am sure has since saved a lot of lives.

Interestingly, apparently it’s saved a lot of car occupants, but at the expense of an increase in the amount of pedestrians and cyclists killed.
The increased death rate of pedestrians and cyclists is considered acceptable because the overall road death rate is still reduced.

http://www.john-adams.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/seatbeltlaws.pdf

This should confuse any ‘enforcers’, should they become compulsory

I might get one of those for off the bike adventures.

Last time I had that much hair was in my twenties.

Or Jorge Lorenzo on how to commute on a motorcycle down a diesel-slicked road on a dark/damp morning in February.

Like most racers I suspect he’d suggest you should stick to race tracks. Which is very sensible. Riding in cities, on any kind of bike, is the funniest, most dangerous video game substitute there is.

Years of riding a bike (including mo’bike’s) have taught me that riding as safely as is possible on the road starts from the basis that nobody will have seen me, and that everyone else is at best indifferent about killing me, if not actually trying to kill me (and that includes other riders).

rOcKeTdOg – Member

I wish the cyclists I see on my commute would obey the rules of the road, helmets, if you’re daft enough not to wear one then that’s your choice. It’s not til one potentially has saved you from permanent injury that you realise that the little inconvinience they bring is worth it

Compulsory though? No I don’t reckon so

… That’s it summed up neatly in a nutshell isn’t it ?

There’s not a day goes by when I don’t see a vehicle driver/rider (mopeds included) or (more often, and) a bike rider do something so ridiculous as to leave me pretty slack-jawed in wonderment.

I see this from people who I’d otherwise expect to know what they are doing too, not just those people who clearly don’t really have any understanding about what they are doing. Doubtless my driving isn’t immune from criticism, but I drive a big 4×4, so your views are irrelevant. 😉

(I do drive a big 4×4 actually … but the latter bit is a joke btw, in case it’s lost in translation – I often get cut up in my truck, or waved at in a post smidsy apology, so what hope is there on a skinny little bicycle).