Safe Speed Forums

I have just returned from a few days in Florence which was interesting not just from the art and culture aspects.

Florence is a very busy city with the usual Italian driving style but also quite a lot of cyclists on the roads. In 5 days I did not see a single lycra clad enthusiast with their head down pedalling fast. All cyclists were on "normal" bicycles wearing normal clothes and proceding quite slowly in the traffic. Car drivers seemed to cope with this and I didn't see any of the antipathy you see in the UK. I also didn't see any very young children out on the road on bikes.

Is our cycling community in the UK causing its own problems by a militant attitude?

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

That’s exactly the same situation I found Malcolm when I was in Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where they all have respect for each other. It’s actually what opened my eyes to our attitude towards merging cars, cyclists and pedestrians over here without any animosity or axe to grind.

But whenever I talk like this there’s always someone, probably a non cyclist, who issues a fatwa on me. “What, you sometimes ride on the pavement?” Well yes and so do others I see all the time, from women and young children to grandpa. But it’s illegal for some reason and they should all be shot at dawn... (Doubtless because someone once got hit and killed ten years ago and ‘something simply must be done about this huge killer’.

So I dare hardly bring it up anymore. It’s far better that I get killed or injured on the road ‘where I belong’ or just declare that I don’t cycle anymore to avoid an argument. It’s precisely this attitude which has created the situation with regard to speed as well I think; one idiot spoils it for the rest of the sensible majority.

Absolutely! I would say the same of drivers and pedestrians too mind. Everyone should be respectful of others and that is the crux of the matter IMHO. You'll never change the British Empire menality and for some resaon the yoof of today are amongst the worst...

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

As a Nation our culture tends to make us all very 'individual'. This is good that we can be independent.

We can be persuaded to act in certain manners and behaviours if given the right incentives or motivations. As a pretty 'independent' lot we like to think for ourselves (which is generally very good), but it needs the best input to produce the right results. Sadly with no 'leading from the top' local Councils have been pretty much left without guidance and without a clear path ... and few want to risk something away from previous 'advice' (scameras).

AFAIK children have always been allowed to cycle on the pavement.

Since Safe Speed has influenced decisions at the top, about speed cameras all things are possible to change, never give up hope.
You should always express what you think, don't let others wear you down !
I suppose if you had an alternative way to show your opinions (a webpage somewhere or FB or so on ...) then you could just link to that or the Safe Speed pages that show those points ?

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Amsterdam and Italy have strict liability type laws that apply to vehicles.

On our urban roads (some of which are designed for motorised speed like motorways) squished cyclists are often just swept aside so traffic can continue. An exaggertation but you get my point.

No wonder, even Big Tone, big man, eschews the carriageway to ride on the pavement, and posters above wonder why we don't see scenes like this on our road network:



Strict liability:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Bq1vxCUvo

Nope, it's illegal full stop.

Police are advised never to stop anybody under 16 riding on the pavement and the prosecution service won't prosecute but it's still illegal (except when the pavement is designated shared use).

This has nothing to do with strict liability. It's to do with the attitude of cyclists. No detail of blame in law will make any difference to what people wear or what equipment they use to go cycling. My point is that I didn't see ANY of the stereotype militant cyclists we seem to have here.

As for the multiple seat "family" cycle, this should be off the road as should all children under 14 years old on their own bicycles.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I do indeed. That's why I have sadly given up on using mine to work; I started to feel I'm getting involved in an accident just waiting to happen. (It’s also responsible for my expanding waistline). On the occasions I have been hit the driver didn’t stop, except when I caught the one guy up in traffic; a taxi driver who was still on his mob. (How I didn’t soccer-punch the c t I don’t know).

Na, not big at all. I wish I'd picked some other name but the sensible ones were gone and so, in desperation, I ended up with this. I never intended it to look like I’m a big anything. I admit I’ve got a big gob sometimes, which is easy for my size 7 feet to fit in.

In all honesty, although I think you have stated you’re a car driver as well I think you have fallen victim to hating a necessary evil. I know the more cycling I do the more contempt I have and blinkered my attitude becomes towards drivers. I have to remind myself it is bad drivers though; not just speed. If only it were that simple I wouldn’t trust some of the numptys I see with a shopping trolley...

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Stereo typical militant cyclists?

You mean like these?

Or this, ho ho ho

Well we may have disagreed on one or two things over the years, but a good SOH always warms me to someone, even if they're wrong about road safety being just down to speed.

Thanks for that weeps, .

(He's good at 'soft trolling'. I said it first ok? MY saying!)

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Now those two DEFINITELY pose a threat to road safety .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Not the one on the grass Botach. She presents a danger to me walking into the nearside pond and drowning a duck.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Tone- never saw that one- the ones i posted seemed more of a danger .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Look back you big tree you!

Pink dress, red bike, legs soft and as smooth as a babies bum!

It ain't me dude, my legs are good and I look great in a frock but....

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Very nice pictures but I'm sure I could find some showing aggressive lycra louts with head cameras pedalling up the inside of artics turning left.

I don't seem to see any "normal" cyclists where I live. They are all Lycra/Helmets/Racing Bikes riding on the road and not on the carefully provided cycle paths running alongside. I can only assume that they all work at places having shower and changing facilities which they have no doubt demanded that their employers provide.

(Hyperbole, oh yes)

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

The one in the pink dress definately looks dangerous....

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

The bloke in the silly hat is a danger...his bike clips aren't on correctly.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Well, it's also a matter of practicality. I'll happily wear jeans for a short bike ride, but wearing jeans for my daily 26 mile round trip commute or a 100 miler at the weekend is simply not an option, so I wear these:



And I disagree with the above. In Holland cyclists have priority which is enshrined in law, if a car so much as taps a cyclist they are in a lot of trouble, they have to prove there was absoluty nothing they could've done to avoid the collision pretty much regardless of what the cyclist did (the same applies to cyclist on pedestrian collisions).

Result, cycling is the norm in Holland. No helmets, hi viz etc... and most wear normal clothes for their commute.

Here in car culture UK your basic Mr toad motorist expects cyclists on his/her road to be head to toe in hi viz with a helmet so if they knock them off after a combination of their crap observation skills, hurried driving and crap control they at least get to think they might not be dealing with a big insurance claim.

(Hyperbole oh yes).

See, now I like it when you talk in these terms because that's my experience of being abroad too.

Again, I think you're spot on. How we got to this crazy situation I don't know. I wish I could turn the clocks back to a time before 24 hour shopping and Sundays were a peaceful time for cyclists.

Oh well, that's what they call progress... Maybe I belong in Holland, I did love their attitude and friendliness..

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Nothing stopping that coming here, well except the attitudes of people like malcolmw, but they can be changed; the car/bike culture in holland is a pretty recent thing!