Comments on: Cycling in London – How dangerous is it?

By: Citi Bike Share Program In NYC Will Bring Total Carnage « Stephen Robert Morse

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:18:09 +0000

[...] Barclay’s Bikes (nicknamed Boris Bikes for London’s Mayor Boris Johnson), have proved highly controversial. Many London cyclists have been killed, primarily by truck drivers, who fail to see them in the [...]

By: Citi Bike Share Program in NYC Will Bring Total Carnage - The NYC Info News 24-hours in New York City, delivering breaking news and features about the five boroughs. - The Nyc Info

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 02:29:05 +0000

By: Ghost bike « Rudolf Abraham's Blog

Ghost bike « Rudolf Abraham's Blog — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:01:32 +0000

[...] Cycling Intelligence – cycling blog by German journalist Olaf Storbeck http://cycling-intelligence.com/ which includes detailed data on cycle deaths and serious injuries in London [...]

By: Cycling in London: What the Yanks can teach us « Cycling Intelligence

Cycling in London: What the Yanks can teach us « Cycling Intelligence — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:41:56 +0000

[...] When I started to collect detailed statistics about killed and severely injured riders in London last year, I had similar qualms. [...]

By: Arno Schortinghuis

Arno Schortinghuis — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:07:25 +0000

Also, busses typically do not make frequjent turns.

By: Andreas Moser

Andreas Moser — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:06:57 +0000

I started to cycle in London this spring and I was actually surprised how considerate most drivers are. They give me enough space, they let me pass, they are not aggressive, although I have to admit to breaking the rules of the road quite a bit when I am on a bike.
I have the feeling that drivers are more afraid of killing a cyclist (or maybe of their cars getting scratched) than I am of being run over by a car.

By: Olaf Storbeck

Olaf Storbeck — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:21:16 +0000

John, many thanks for your comment. I (mostly) agree with regards to the behavior of cyclists. Road positioning is an important aspect. Another one is the routes you choose. I try to avoid busy roads as much as possible and use small streets instead. I plan to write some posts about these issues, soon. (It’s an intricate topic, however, because there is the risk of blaming the victims…)
With regard to lorries: I wand to do some research how this issue is dealt with in Germany. My gut feeling is that here in Central London much more heavy trucks are on the road than in any German town I know. Interestingly, busses apparantly are not as dangerous for cyclists as lorries. In recent years, only 3 cyclists were killed by public busses in London, while dozens were killed by lorries. Partly this may be due to the fact that bus drivers get much better cyclist awareness training than lorry drivers. LCC’s print magazine “London Cyclist” has recently published an impressive story about that.

By: John S. Allen

John S. Allen — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:54:36 +0000

You get it right about not overtaking a lorry on the left. But you might give more emphasis to the ability of cyclists to look out for their own safety. Cyclists often naively place themselves in situations where motorists can not see them, or can not see them until too late to avoid a collision. Many special bicycle facilities encourage or force this behaviour. The issue is more acute with large lorries because of their size and the large blind areas around them, but avoiding the hazards is a question of being aware of the characteristics of different vehicles, and acting accordingly.

May I recommend my online tutorial, in its left-hand-drive version:

http://bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/lhd/index.htm

and also John Franklin’s Book Cyclecraft:

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/book.html

As to banning large lorries in cities? Certainly, they can be restricted to specific routes, except when it it is necessary to pick up or leave off goods. A city-wide ban is unlikely because of the cost of transfer of goods to smaller lorries, and that some loads can only be carried on larger lorries. Buses, also, pose the same issues with size and blind areas, and there’s no way they are about to be banned in cities!

By: Olaf Storbeck

Olaf Storbeck — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:40:38 +0000

Many thanks for this comment, Aslak – very interesting. I’ve already posted the link in a German cycle forum focused on touring http://rad-forum.de/showflat/Number/704045#Post704045
and will do the same on some English forums.

Norway’s a great country for cycling, by the way. I did a two weeks trip in the southern part in the summer of 2007. Here are some photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redfalo/sets/72157603803273938/

By: Aslak

Aslak — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:10:11 +0000

Thank you for this post. Even though it is vary sad, it is very informative and interesting to make the information available in this manner.

The Norwegian Daily Aftenposten today brought an overview/ map of traffic accidents in Norway from 2000 to 2010. It can easily be filtered for bicycling (“Sykkel”).

http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/trafikkulykker/