Here's one for your lefty wets - Jeremy Clarkson on Cycle Lanes in Holland Park Ave

Fretwired

And then the zebra crossing crowd .. this is how I was hit ... the guy didn't even apologise

Cyclists should be forced to have insurance and abide by the traffic rules - I can sit outside at a local coffee shop and watch cyclists break the rules - running red lights, weaving through pedestrians on zebra crossings, cycling on pavements at speed, whizzing the wrong way around the town's one way system. Funnily enough it's not the kids or old folks .. it's the lycra clad arseholes who think they can do what they like. Challenge one at your peril ..

fandango

One thing we should be promoting is returning to local. By that I mean working close to where you live (or vice versa), with local shops and services (doctors, schools, pubs, etc) thus reducing the need for a car.

And it’s not all about London, okay. Plenty of us live and work elsewhere in the country. And the road situation is far easier. Except Cambridge. I am convinced there are more bicycles/cyclists in Cambridge than everywhere else put together. As a pedestrian it definitely makes
you look twice as you walk past the station. In a car it takes forever pulling out of junctions because of this constant stream of cyclists. Is it better overall? Can’t really say, but as a driver i’m not convinced or happy that mixing road usage should be the future.

I agree with those that suggest junctions and interfaces between each mode of transport should be better designed. 

Sassafras

I don't see why cyclists as road users shouldn't have to take a test. Theory and practical. They don't pay road tax, they could at least pay for testing.

ewal

No-one pays road tax. I assume you mean vehicle tax which is emissions based so not applicable to bikes.

Testing - I'm not wholly against the idea, however it would be another barrier to cycling, and there's already more than enough.

p90fool

More regulation is kind of arse backwards. The problem only arises because most people drive cars, when almost everyone cycles in cities the problem will solve itself. 

Not only that, we have enough regulations in this country, it's nice to be able to do something pleasurable and harmless without being hounded by the fucking police. 

scrumhalf

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

crunchman

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Why?

I make more around 80% of my journeys by bike.  It's cheaper.  It's often quicker.

scrumhalf

crunchman said:

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Why?

I make more around 80% of my journeys by bike.  It's cheaper.  It's often quicker.

!) Depends on where you live. For me to cycle into central London it's going to be downhill. Cycling back? Forget it.

2) Age

3) Infirmity/illness

4) Impracticality, carrying things with you.

5) Weather

6) Distance

crunchman

Nationwide, somewhere around two thirds of car journeys are under 5 miles.  The vast majority of those could be cycled.

You also need to remember the possibilites electric bikes bring as they become more commonplace.  With an electric bike, journeys of up to 10 miles are easily possible to cycle - and in cities are likely to be just as quick, if not quicker by bike than car.  Likewise, a hill or two is not a big issue on an electric bike.

breezytele

There’s a difference between anti bureaucratic cycling.. and anti social cycling

Going through a red light close to pedestrians is unpleasant for the pedestrian .
Filtering through a red ,when no one is crossing,  is often safer, and certainly harms no one.

I recall an MP who, years ago, proposed motorcyclists should be banned from filtering to the front of traffic queues... and I could only conclude he was annoyed ‘because it’s not fair’

Sassafras

ewal said:

No-one pays road tax. I assume you mean vehicle tax which is emissions based so not applicable to bikes.

Are you seriously suggesting old men in Lycra don't emit noxious gases as their legs are pumping away?

UnclePsychosis

Sassafras said:

They don't pay road tax, they could at least pay for testing.

Genuinely think one of the first steps to improving driver-cyclist-pedestrian relations is for the general populace to realise that road-tax *isn't* a thing and hasn't been since 1937.

Personally I find it a slightly terrifying insight into humans that so few drivers seem to be aware of that. 

hywelg

crunchman said:

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Why?

I make more around 80% of my journeys by bike.  It's cheaper.  It's often quicker.

Seriously?.  Do you think most people drive cars to just transport themselves? I'd struggle to carry my toolbox on a bike never mind any of the other paraphernalia I need to do a job. Just thinking back over my week and none of the car journeys I've made have just been me. 

Saturday,  took windsurfing gear to the lake
Sunday, ditto
Monday, didn't go anywhere
Tuesday, ditto
Wednesday, helped my son install an rsj lots of tools 
Thursday, builders merchants to fetch a bag of lime and a bag of cement
Friday, to double glazing company to deliver and collect. Took my mother out for birthday meal.
Saturday (today), deliver a keg of homebrew to my sons place for his BBQ. Off to farmers market on my bike.

crunchman

hywelg said:

crunchman said:

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Why?

I make more around 80% of my journeys by bike.  It's cheaper.  It's often quicker.

Seriously?.  Do you think most people drive cars to just transport themselves? I'd struggle to carry my toolbox on a bike never mind any of the other paraphernalia I need to do a job. Just thinking back over my week and none of the car journeys I've made have just been me. 

Saturday,  took windsurfing gear to the lake
Sunday, ditto
Monday, didn't go anywhere
Tuesday, ditto
Wednesday, helped my son install an rsj lots of tools 
Thursday, builders merchants to fetch a bag of lime and a bag of cement
Friday, to double glazing company to deliver and collect. Took my mother out for birthday meal.
Saturday (today), deliver a keg of homebrew to my sons place for his BBQ. Off to farmers market on my bike.

Most people in cities are just transporting themselves.  They are getting themselves to and from work in an office or a shop.  They don't need to carry tools.  You are the exception.  If I go out at 8:30 on a weekday morning, the vast majority of cars I see will be a single occupant, and they won't be carrying any tools.

I use the car if I'm doing a big supermarket shop, or carrying a guitar and amps, or going out with my family, but for getting to work, it would take me longer than the bike, and cost more.  For most people in cities going to their office, it will be the same.

UnclePsychosis

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Tell that to the Danes and the Dutch. 

p90fool

hywelg said:

crunchman said:

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Why?

I make more around 80% of my journeys by bike.  It's cheaper.  It's often quicker.

Seriously?.  Do you think most people drive cars to just transport themselves? I'd struggle to carry my toolbox on a bike never mind any of the other paraphernalia I need to do a job. Just thinking back over my week and none of the car journeys I've made have just been me. 

Saturday,  took windsurfing gear to the lake
Sunday, ditto
Monday, didn't go anywhere
Tuesday, ditto
Wednesday, helped my son install an rsj lots of tools 
Thursday, builders merchants to fetch a bag of lime and a bag of cement
Friday, to double glazing company to deliver and collect. Took my mother out for birthday meal.
Saturday (today), deliver a keg of homebrew to my sons place for his BBQ. Off to farmers market on my bike.

I think you'd have to stop an awful lot of cars during rush hour in one of our major cities before you found someone who was going windsurfing or installing an RSJ. 

Even if we left ALL the windsurfing builders alone that would still remove a lot of traffic. 

scrumhalf

UnclePsychosis said:

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Tell that to the Danes and the Dutch. 

That would be the Dutch for whom a one yard slope over a mile is considered ro be a mountain. I'd like to see them go up Muswell Hill in the wind and rain.

UnclePsychosis

The weather in the netherlands is much the same as it is here. They still cycle all the time. 

It's absolute fantasy to suggest that cycling isn't practical in cities. Yes there are some people who "need" a car but even a reduction in cars by 10% would make a huge difference. 

fandango

UnclePsychosis said:

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Tell that to the Danes and the Dutch. 

He wasn't talking about the cyclists. He was suggesting that impractical for the rest of us who HAVE to drive.

Try driving in Cambridge (or Oxford) if you want a taste of impractical.

UnclePsychosis

fandango said:

UnclePsychosis said:

scrumhalf said:

You'll never get most people cycling in cities, it's utterly impractical.

Tell that to the Danes and the Dutch. 

He wasn't talking about the cyclists. He was suggesting that impractical for the rest of us who HAVE to drive.

Try driving in Cambridge (or Oxford) if you want a taste of impractical.

He literally said he was talking about "most people" so you'll have to excuse me if I'm slightly confused by your comment.