Wicker just started riding to work - I sent her a pep talk and her route maps:
Dear Wicker
Welcome. You are now a cyclist in London, your enemies are the taxi-cab and the traffic light.
Your life has just become less important than the fare on the other side of the road or making the next light change. If you cannot see a drivers eyes whether in their mirror or on their face it means they are about to try and kill you. Every other road user should be regarded as a potential murderer with the means and designs to execute you without a second thought.
Bendy bus drivers have long since forgotten that they are not in a Routemaster and drive them as if they were the same size - these are the people most likely to make an attempt at your life but they are not the most sucessful. Truck and lorry drivers are easily the most prolific asassins on London streets and are most likely to take you out by turning left on top of you while they check their phone for messages or generally pay fuck all attention to anything to do with driving.
To combat this you should always be seen and be big, don't snuggle up to the side of traffic, be in front of it and by all means be in the way if you need to be or if you feel intimidated by a situation. Being told you are a prick/ bitch cyclist is better than being dead one under the wheels of the person who would call you a bitch just because their place in the traffic queue is so much more important that your life.
It is fine to laugh at all the miserable proles on public transport but remember not to laugh so much that you forget the bus driver wants to kill you.
Cycle lanes are good but always bare in mind that cab drivers think that they have the same rights as they do in bus lanes and your presence is a huge inconvenience to them because their business model is based taking as long as they can about getting their passenger somewhere whilst appearing to be desperate to get them there before they even got in the cab.
So to recap:
- be big
- be seen
- be safe
...and above all
- be sexy
> you are now a member of the elite and it is your civic duty to keep cycling sexy.
>>crispin
...and then i saw this on facebook today ~ puts the whole thing in perspective.
Today (Thursday 7th May) is the three month anniversary of Eilidh’s fatal crash which took place near the pedestrian crossing on the westbound carriageway opposite Tescos in Notting Hill Gate. She died shortly afterwards at the Royal London Hospital. The lorry driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of dangerous driving.
To date the police investigation has returned nothing – no CCTV footage, no witnesses and no understanding of what happened in the moments before the collision; despite the fact that the crash happened on a busy main artery route through West London, lined with shops and residential properties, at the high point of morning rush hour.
At 8.45am today (Thursday, 7th May) at the site in Notting Hill Gate, Eilidh’s family and friends will take to the streets for a roadside appeal in handing out leaflets and talking to commuters, residents and passers-by. It will be a renewed attempt to find anyone that may be able to offer information into what happened, and how Eilidh, an experienced and alert cyclist, could end up under the wheels of a tipper lorry in slow moving but accelerating, one-directional traffic.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=83011272326
