Search results for:

what are WE gaining from this?

Nothing. Apart from perhaps a deeper understanding of what a bicycle means in our lives.

When people go on a fast or take a vow of silence or go on a retreat. They're not 'gaining' anything in any conventional sense.

Rest assured, I'll be giving up riding my bike for a week too. And as I've ridden a bike in London almost every day since 1980 when I moved here at the age of 8 you don't need to tell me what a sacrifice it is to give it up.

All this is is an invitation to take part in an experiment. That's all. And perhaps a way of questioning the traditonal "Bike Week" advocacy events which I think are a bit lame.

I think No Bike Week could make quite revealing and entertaining radio - feeling the agony, the suffering. I'm also interested to see what it will be like for me as an everyday cyclist to walk in the shoes of other Londoners who don't ride bikes. Maybe I'll get a better idea of why they don't, maybe I'll remain baffled.

Ultimately I don't know. It's an experiment innit.

wearisome metaphysics.

I don't think wearisome or especially metaphysical.

Resonance FM is experimental in the sense that it does things that no radio station would ever do or has ever done. Sometimes those things work, sometimes they don't. It makes it a bit unpredictable, hit and miss... experimental even.

And transcendental pleasure of bicycling, in the sense of "relating to a spiritual or nonphysical realm" is the closest I can get to what I am aiming for in making the show. It's not a show about how cycling is cheaper, more practical, faster, healthier, greener, more thrilling than other modes of tranport, though it does touch on all those things. Rather it tries to convey and celebrate the core and universal experiential quality of being self propelled on two wheels. I couldn't think of a more succint word than transcendental.

If that still sounds like metaphysical bullshit, maybe you could write me some better copy?

i just got the impression from the vigour with which you dissed the show that maybe you'd actually listened to it.

anyway there's more than 100 episodes of bicycling radio from over the last 5 years should you wish to wade through at your own leisure, if the voices in your head quieten down, that is.

The sense is identical in both your options.

There's no fooling you, is there?

Yes always means yes in those divorced from the transcendental experimental art broadcast scene.

Yes as in "Yes, I've not listened to the show" or Yes as in "No, I've not listened to the show"?

I want a transcendental experimental art pony

I think the Arts Council could be convinced.

Yes, wah.

yes meaning yes or yes meaning no?

Fucking stupid idea.

Wah, quite a flame. I take it you've not listened to the show then?

will, from what I've heard, you've been on the radio plenty these past months. i'm sure nobody will mind if you stand aside and give others the chance. ;-)

and of course, 'no bike week' for a courier would be more than challenging.

You'll be covering the extra travel costs of course?

I'll cover the extra costs of walking... (In case you didn't know, Resonance is a volunteer run station, nobody gets a penny - probably explains some of its 'experimental' qualities).

It's Ninon at Bicycle Workshop. She's been a London cycling legend for at least twenty years. Her shop has London's longest waiting list for repairs. Must mean something.

As some on the forum know, I present The Bike Show, a weekly radio programme that celebrates the transcendental pleasure of cycling, on Resonance FM, London's experimental art radio station.

I'm planning on holding a "No Bike Week". This will involve people who are regular cycists agreeing not to ride for one entire week. They will need to take notes, observe any withdrawal effects, record how their day-to-day life changed as a consequence - both for good or ill. We'll then all get together and review what happened in a feature on the show. I think the results will be very interesting.

Probably will take place sometime in the Spring. I realise it has an obvious Lenten connotation, and Shrove Tuesday is upon us, but that's by the by.

Anyway, anyone who wants to take part, let me know.... And if you think it's a dumb idea, flame away. For more on the show go here.

It's not hard if you take it really gently in the first half and eat plenty, stay hydrated and be careful not to drink too much beer in the Essex pubs.

Once the dawn comes and the hallucinations kick in, you'll not want to be anywhere else. There are all kinds of people who do the ride each year, all ages, all manner of bikes - plenty of spongy Bromptons.

For the armchair experience, The Bike Show (a radio show I present) covered the rides in 04 and 08. Listen again here: 2004 and 2008

Someone made a lovely short film about the 08 ride but I can't find it online.

One bad thing that's been creeping into the ride over the past years is eager beavers leaving way too early. People, not before 9pm, please!! It's supposed to be a NIGHT ride.

For those who are about to trim.....

I do hope we see at least one French Fork tomorrow.

Oh, and if anyone is short of a pair of plus-twos (breeches), I have a couple of pairs I could lend for the day. Waist 32/34 or thereabouts. You'll need to bring your own long socks, mind.

Just to let you know that German TV ARTE (one of the main national channels) are sending over a camera crew to cover the ride. They've previously been in touch with me about doing a feature on the Tweed Cycling Club and I suggested this would be a good occassion.

They'll be at the Tweed CC clubhouse in Waterloo from 12 noon. At around 1pm we'll set off for Hanover Square, on a parks route. I think they plan on filming the start and maybe one or two points along the way. I'm lending them bicycles.

Anyone who fancies coming by the clubhouse for a cheese and pickle sandwich and a glass of ale is welcome. PM me and I'll let you know where.

As Acting Secretary of the Tweed Cycling Club I'm charmed to have received an invitation to join this ride and I speak on behalf of the members in saying that we are delighted to accept.

I'll bring with me copies of the Club's 2009 programme of rides, fresh off the typewriter, for anyone interested in more than a temporary daliance in the world of elegant bicycling.

In the meantime, I'll submit for your appreciation this photograph of a handful of club members on an outing last summer. Note the single speed 1950s Berga taking pride of place in the foreground.

You'll find more at http://www.flickr.com/groups/tweedcc/ and http://tweed.cc

...and some slides with fairly detailed data on various aspects of collisions involving cyclists, compiled and analysed by Alan Rickwood of the City of London Police:

LINK

from the southwark cyclists list:

Your chance to sit in an HGV cab....

[INDENT]London Borough of Southwark
Monday 3rd November 2008
Time: 7am - 11am
Location: St Georges Road close to the junction of West Square

Key Messages
HGV Drivers: Regular and correct mirror use, beware cyclists are vulnerable road users and may take you by surprise.
Cyclists: HGV's have large blind spots, look to make eye contact with the drivers, avoid cycling down the inside of large vehicles.

Cyclists to be made aware of the vulnerability of pedestrians and the dangers of riding on the pavement.

Other
A Dr Bike will be taking place throughout the event
The campaign will be supported by banners and education materials which will be handed out on the day.
We have emailed all of our adult cyclist trainees notifying them of the event.

Best regards

Gareth

Gareth Tuffery
Principal Road Safety Officer
Transport Planning
Chiltern House, Portland Street
London SE17 2ES

Tel: 020 7525 5566
Fax:020 7525 5683

www.southwark.gov.uk
[/INDENT]

I'm aware that this thread is about HGVs, but in response to the questions about the law and ASLs, according to the Explanatory Memorandum of the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) Bill
**
"technically it is an offence for a cyclist to enter the stopping area if there is no cycle lane marked on the highway that feeds into the stopping area." **

Clause 28 of this Bill would correct this, it is explained in the memorandum:

"The clause would have the effect of clarifying that where there is an advanced stopping area but no feeder lane, then no offence is committed by cyclists who enter the stopping area at a red light signal."

I can't figure out what happens under the new proposed law if there IS a feeder land but the cyclist opts not to use it, as I often do, because it's safer to enter the ASL by going around the right of the line of traffic.

I believe this Bill is still on its way through Parliament.

Sorry to forum police but I thought seeing as a I was posting most of the answer...

You could say it's actually very closely linked to the HGV issue since these feeder lanes put cyclists at exactly the worst place to be - in front and to the left of a potentially left turning HGV. As we know, drivers just can't see down and to the left from their cabs, unless they have a special downward facing mirror.

The Bike Show (a radio show I present each week on Resonance FM) featured the HGV issue for the entirety of the show this week. Obviously in a half hour there's only so much one can say but I hope that it's interesting.

Featuring Cynthia Barlow (who lost her adult daughter in 2000, to a cement mixer), chair of Road Peace. Cynthia has done more to push the HGV/cyclist issue than anyone out there, particularly in relation to construction vehicles.

Also Barry Mason, chair of Southwark Cyclists, who attended the inquest last week into the death of Nga Diep, a 33 year old woman, run over while cycling by a skip lorry in Bermondsey earlier this year.

Listen to the show here:

http://thebikeshow.net/2008/10/14/13-october-2008-emergency-lorries-killing-cyclists/

Find Barry's harrowing notes on the Diep inquest here:

http://thebikeshow.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nga_diep_inquest.rtf

To the original poster's question. Try a Google News search for all years, on the terms "hgv" "cyclist" "death" and you'll find more material than you could possibly fit in a single edition of Panorama.

This morning I attended the Road Safety Forum organised by the City of London police, at their Snow Hill police station, near Smithfield Market. It was a good meeting, well attended by a range of officers, including at a senior level, plus those responsible for implementation on the streets. There were also representation from Corporation of London and Transport for London.

Among the interesting things I learned was that during a single day of random spot checks of lorries (HGVs) by City of London Police on 30 September this year, every lorry stopped was found to be breaking at least one road safety law.

My notes are pasted below....

The meeting began with five presentations covering a lot of ground including the latest trends in statistics for cyclist deaths and injuries, which have shown an increase from 2000 to 2006 (although this year and last the trend so far looks to be slightly down). Overall, two issues dominated the meeting and both have their own acronyms: HGVs and ASLs. Lorries killing cyclists has been in the news lately following a spate of fatalities on London’s streets. City Police were clearly concerned about this. Sergeant Alan Rickwood, dubbed ’statto’ by one of his colleagues, gave a presentation of the latest figures on collisions involving cyclists and other vulnerable road users. He said he’d share his powerpoint with me and I’ll post it up here as soon as I get it. Two trends struck me from the numbers:

• injuries and fatalities to cyclists peak in the morning rush hour (around 8am) and, to a lesser extent, the evening rush hour (around 5pm). It’s not clear why the morning is worse than the late afternoon/evening.

• the rising numbers of cyclist fatalities and injuries is in contrast with motorcyclists, for whom deaths and injuries have been on on a falling trend since 2000. Again, it was not clear why this is the case, though the Police did mention Ride Safe, a campaign of safety education for motorcyclists that was launched in 2000.

• though the point was never made explicitly, I got the impression that the statistics supported the notion that cyclists are much more often the innocent victim in collisions rather than the guilty party. Motor vehicles changing lanes, opening doors and turning left appeared to be the most common causes of fatalities and injuries to cyclists.

During the Q&A I raised the question of underreporting of minor collisions involving cyclists. I said that while a minor collision involving two motor vehicles would usually end up being recorded by the police, for insurance purposes at the very least, this was not the case for collisions involving cyclists. I recounted my own experience and that of friends of mine that there is a road culture of checking that the cyclist isn’t dead or very seriously injured and then just driving off without any swapping of names, insurance companies or reporting to the police. Inspector Dave Aspinall suggested that unless it is an extremely minor collision it is always a good idea to call the police. In the City of London he said that a police officer could be expected to arrive very rapidly at the scene but said that this was less likely elsewhere in London. As a cyclist involved in a collision it can be very confusing and upsetting. You often get a rush of adrenalin, its not always apparent whether you’ve been injured (especially any concussion) or if the bicycle has been damaged. Inspector Aspinall stressed that any collision in which a motor vehicle causes damage to property or injury to a person is a police matter and that cyclists should not hesitate to call the police to the scene of all but the most innocuous of incidents, even if it isn’t clear what happened or who - if anyone - was to blame.

Turning to the issues of lorries, Inspector Aspinall told the meeting about a day of City of London spot checks on HGVs, carried out on 30 September 2008 as part of the Europe-wide Operation Mermaid, which is intended to step up levels of enforcement of road safety laws in relation to lorries. On this one day, 12 lorries were stopped randomly by City Police. Five of those lorries were involved in the construction work for the 2012 Olympics. All of the twelve lorries were breaking the law in at least one way. Repeat: a 100 per cent criminality rate among small random sample of HGVs on the streets of central London. The offences range included overweight loads (2 cases), mechanical breaches (5 cases), driver hours breaches (5 cases), mobile phone use while driving (2 cases), driving without insurance (2 cases) and no operator license (1 case). In some cases the drivers were given a warning and in other cases there was a more formal police follow up. No information was given on convictions following this operation. Inspector Aspinall said that the London construction vehicle market (skips, cement mixers, construction materials haulage) was very tight and competitive. Shady operators with dubious standards and legality exerted a downward pressure on market prices and that was forcing even the more responsible companies to cut corners in order to win tenders. Some companies were even factoring into their costs the inevitability of a certain number of fines for breaches of the law. I found this revelation shocking.

On Advance Stop Lines (the green boxes at junctions), the police were calling for a change in the law to allow for these to be enforced by camera. As things stand, the City of London police is the only police force that is actually enforcing the law on ASLs (no explanation was given for why the Metropolitan Police was not). The fine is £60 plus 3 points on the driver’s license. Rose Ades from Transport for London said that in many cases it was difficult to enforce ASLs because there is nowhere for police to pull over vehicles that have broken the law - stopping them in the ASL itself would cause congestion and unacceptable delays to other road users, she explained. The use of cameras would allow ASL offenders to be caught and fined in the same way as cameras are used to enforce speed limits and bus lane rules.

City Police and TFL were also calling for a change to the law on ASLs that would allow cyclists to enter ASLs in any way they choose. As things stand, if a cyclist enters an ASL other than via a feeder lane on the left, they are officially breaking the law. As we know, feeder lanes on the left are terribly dangerous in that they lure cyclists along the inside of stationery traffic, and filtering in this way is a major contributory factor towards collisions involving motor vehicles turning left into the path of cyclists. Most of the recent lorry-cyclist fatalities have been caused by a lorry turning left and crushing the cyclist.

One of the Corporation of London’s officials noted that at peak hours cyclists represent as much as 20 per cent of traffic in the City of London. It followed from this that cyclists were important - there is strength in numbers, after all. Mention was made of the ‘annoyance factor’ of cyclists riding on pavements, coming into conflict with pedestrians and running red lights. No statistics were given on whether this was more of perceived danger than a real cause of risk. The usual arguments that cyclists are ’scoring own goals’ by breaking traffic laws were rehearsed. One member of the audience picked up on a recent Police consultation with local people about various forms of anti-social behaviour, which appeared to be encouraging respondents to complain about reckless cyclists. The Police fully admitted the flaws in the consultation and expressed regret for what they said was a sloppy piece of work. The impression was given that a handful of ‘important people’ in the upper echelons of the City of London were very hostile to cyclists and that this may account for some erratic decisions by the City and its Policy.

The Road Safety Forum was attended by around 20 members of the public, several of whom appeared to be involved in road safety and cycling in a professional capacity. While this relatively thin attendance did contribute to a friendly and intimate meeting, there is no doubt that many London cyclists were not represented and - being a public forum - it would be a good thing if more of us were there. Perhaps the 8am time was not convenient - but there was coffee and (warm) croissants served, and the police did seem genuinely keen on developing a constructive and long term dialogue with London’s cyclists. For many of us, our only interaction with the police is at a moment of heightened tension (e.g. at the scene of a collision, being pulled over for a minor road traffic law infraction). This event gave an opportunity for a more civilized exchange of views and I have no doubt that despite a handful of slips in the past the City of London police are well ahead of the Met on taking the right action to reduce the number of cyclists killed or injured on the roads, while encouraging cycling as a solution to London’s chronic transport problems.

Ghost Bikes article in today's Observer...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          **The spectral memorials that haunt our roads**

                                              **They started in San Francisco, spread throughout the States and are now appearing in cities worldwide ghostly white bikes adorned with fresh flowers that mark the spot where a cyclist has been killed. As they begin to appear across Britain, Geraldine Bedell talks to the creators of these poetic shrines and the victims families.**

[] Geraldine Bedell
[] The Observer,
[]Sunday October 5 2008
[]Article history

                          The bike was hanging off the railings, a metre or so above the ground, gleaming spectrally in the dusk. It was painted white and its luminosity emphasised the simple sweep of the frame, the elegance of its engineering. Only up close could you see that it looked so stark and sculptural because all the extraneous bits - chain, brake cables, the rubber on the handlebars and pedals - had been stripped away. It was only the skeleton of a bike and there was a plaque hanging off the crossbar: 'In memory of Smudge, 1971-2008.'

When I first noticed it, I had no idea this bike was part of a viral campaign of memorialising that had started five years earlier and has since surfaced in more than 50 cities, from Vienna to São Paulo, Whangerei to Toronto. But in subsequent weeks, I spotted two more skeletal white bikes within a few miles of the first, commemorating the deaths of cyclists on the streets of London.
In the past year, ghost bikes have appeared in Wales, Oxford, Brighton and York, as well as in the capital. Many are the work of cycling groups that want not only to remember the dead, but to draw attention to the vulnerability of cyclists; bikes as both a shrine and a political statement. Not all cyclists are in favour, however; some argue that they give the impression cycling is more dangerous than it is.
Within half an hour's bike ride from my house, I can see three, which seems a scary amount of death on two wheels. Yet that impression is not borne out by the facts, even taking into account two highly publicised fatalities in London in the past fortnight. (Both involved lorries, which are implicated in the overwhelming majority of cycling deaths in the capital.) Since 2000, cycling in London has doubled, but there are 19 per cent fewer deaths than in the mid-1990s, an average of 20 a year. Nationally, 136 people were killed cycling in 2007 and 146 the year before.

Read the full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/oct/05/art

I received this invitation last week. I'm sure anyone who wishes to attend can do so by contacting Chris Everett, christopher.everett@city-of-london.pnn.police.uk

Note time and date: 14 October, 8am-9am. Donuts served ;-)

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED - NO DESCRIPTOR

Dear Sir/Madam

My name is Chris Everett and I am a Police Community Officer in the City of London Police Force. I have been passed your information by Supt Lorraine Cussen; following the success of our previous Road Safety Forum I thought you might be interested in an invitation.

This event has come about from an ongoing road safety campaign run in the city to which we have received quite a lot of feedback, mainly from cyclists.

In order to ensure some balance and representation from a range of road users, Supt Cussen and I would be delighted if you and a small number of colleagues might be able to attend and give your perspective on this topical area.

The details of this event are as follows:

Tuesday 14th October, between 0800 and 0900 hours
The Charles Thain Hall,
Snow Hill Police Station,
Snow Hill,
City of London,
EC1A 2DP

The road safety forum will consist of five short presentations from road safety professionals followed by 30 minutes of Q and A to the speakers, other panel members and the attendees.

I am aware that this is an early start as we aimed to disrupt attendees work schedules as little as possible we are therefore supplying a light breakfast, and refreshments.

Unfortunately there will be no provision for parking but a local NCP car park can be found in Limeburner Lane.

For security reasons, the event will have to be invite only, so if yourself and others, do wish to attend, could you please E-mail the names (and E-mail addresses if possible) of those who will be attending.

If you have any further question please do not hesitate to E-Mail me on Christopher.Everett@city-of-london.pnn.police.uk Christopher.Everett@city-of-london.pnn.police.uk.

Kind Regards
Chris
PCSO 2034 Everett

Snow Hill Police Station
5 Snow Hill
London
EC1A 2DP

Front Office Tel 02076012406
Front Office Fax 02076012460
Crime Desk Tel 02076012478

ISSI: 42034

E-Mail: christopher.everett@city-of-london.pnn.police.uk

If you want to be part of this session, PM me / say something here.

Though not a longstanding member of the forum I'd like to help on this. Aside from presenting a half-hour weekly radio show about cycling, in my day job I run a small campaigning NGO/journalists network that does both lobbying of governments and some tasty media work.