Cyclotherapy: This is what we have to put up with
A couple of weeks ago, a frustrated London commuter filmed a stretch of his ride to work and stuck it on YouTube.
I know it may not look like the most gruelling journey - and I'm sure everyone who commutes to work in a city has a worse example - but this is the very stretch of road where father-of-two Nick Wright ended up killed by a lorry just days before this footage was shot. And with so little space for cyclists, it's easy to see how that kind of accident could have happened.
For me, the video typifies the difficulties of cycling in London. While there might be plenty of cycle lanes all over the city, they tend to either be ignored by cars, taken up by motorcycles or blocked off with roadworks.
I cycle along this stretch of road every day, and it drives me crazy. In most parts of Upper Thames Street, the cycle lanes are not even separated from the rest of the carriageway by a white line. Instead, there's merely a slight discolouring of the road, which is barely discernible and far too easy to ignore. By not putting a line there, the implication is that it's ok for drivers to share the space with us - but it really isn't!
Furthermore, if you're riding down this stretch at night, many of the street lights are broken or switched off, and it's almost impossible to navigate through the street's many potholes.
I was very sad to hear the story of Nick Wright, and I hope that videos like this one will help encourage the local authority to clean this street up. Hundreds of cyclists use it every day - and should be able to do so without dicing with death.
I'll be writing more about the dangers of lorries in the Cyclotherapy column in a couple of weeks. In case, you wondered where the column went, it's now relocated to the Saturday Magazine - somewhere towards the back alongside the motoring slot! Very apt.
Is it just me, or is this chap cycling badly? At 1:17, the lorry could have turned left and killed him.
Posted by: Max C | Thursday, 16 October 2008 at 02:21 AM
My work address and gym are on Upper Thames Street. I've been cycling in London for many years and this road frightens me the most. Speeding vehicles and frequent disregard for traffic lights, in addition to the poor rod conditions mentioned. My condolences to the family and friends of Nick Wright.
Posted by: Elisabeth | Thursday, 16 October 2008 at 05:31 AM
James write: "I'm sure everyone who commutes to work in a city has a worse example"
I'm afraid not. While I am quite familiar enough with such conditions from when I lived in the UK, I have never seen anything remotely comparable with this anywhere over here in the Netherlands.
I offer my condolences to those who knew Nick Wright, but what do we say to politicians and planners who didn't improve conditions for cyclists as their equivalents did on this side of the the North Sea, and whose inactions are in part responsible for the danger faced daily by cyclists on Britain's roads.
Posted by: David | Thursday, 16 October 2008 at 06:33 AM
To Max C -- I think it's just you. What should he have done, stopped at the junction and waited for the whole queue of traffic to pass, in case any of it was turning left? Possibly (if he is wise) he had a look behind him at that point to check if anything was about to turn left, and seeing no indication, carried on.
Posted by: Stuart | Thursday, 16 October 2008 at 11:29 AM
I would recommend this cyclist undertakes some cycle training with a National Standards qualified instructor. He is the fastest road user and is undertaking queuing traffic on the kerb side.
A more effective road position would be on the outside of the queuing vehicles enabling him to filter to the front of the traffic maintaining a position where he has more ability to see and be seen by other road users. Drivers expect to be overtaken on the outside.
This would also result in him never being caught out by vehicles turning left.
Posted by: J Mitchel | Friday, 17 October 2008 at 10:21 AM
Problem with the initial cycle lane is that it shouldn't be one. It isn't wide enough to be one, and just restricts the road space for other vehicles, which as far as I can see from the footage, would struggle to stay inside their own lane.
This is unfortunately a typical design, the kind which is put in place on the cheap to allow green lines to be drawn on a map, without actually having to spend any money providing any more road space.
It is bad further as it suggests that is where a cyclist should be and not riding with the traffic which is where it would be considerably easier to be seen, e.g. by the lorries that were cutting him up because he probably couldn't be seen.
Doesn't help that it is quite legal to drive there!
Riding on the isn't always the answer though, frequently not enough room there either, and drivers don't always indicate when turning right!
If the roads were wider it would help, only way I can see that happening though is for paradoxically the traffic to be reduced to one wider lane which would help motorcycles too and cope with large trucks and buses (narrow lanes that are provided are really too narrow for these), with a wider cycle lane to be provided.
That would lead to a reduction in road capacity though so would never happen, cheaper for councils to leave dangerous designs in place, and let someone pay the price, while encouraging us all to cycle to work!
Posted by: Charles | Friday, 17 October 2008 at 11:02 AM
As a qualified cycling instructor I agree heartely with John's comments. Just take a look at how a motorcyclist would negotiate traffic - overtaking slow traffic on the drivers side where they are visible. We teach cyclists to ride more assertively and to be visible to other road users at all times.
Posted by: marcus | Friday, 17 October 2008 at 11:02 AM
It's fine for people to say the cyclist shouldn't have been undertaking, but instead riding on the right - but cycle lanes in Britain are always on the left. The assumption from designers seems to be that we are always the slowest traffic, which is clearly wrong. The Highway Code suggests cyclists use cycle lanes, where available, but then we get lectured for undertaking.
Posted by: Morag | Friday, 17 October 2008 at 04:06 PM
For potholes, use www.fillthathole.org.uk. It works, and if they don't fill it properly, report it again.
The council should also have a hotline for reporting defective streetlamps. Don't tell Independent readers - tell the council!
Posted by: Duncan | Saturday, 18 October 2008 at 12:02 AM
So according to the cycling instructor, the cyclist should not have been in the cycle lane, but on the other side of the stationary and sometimes moving traffic, perhaps being forced across into oncoming traffic - and probably being made to swerve through the traffic as is slowed or accelerated...
Yes, the cycle lane is terrible, and would not be accepted in the Netherlands - but most UK politicians do not ride a bike or are called Boris...
What this does shoe is that cycling is far quicker, quieter and potentially pleasant than driving... Plus there is the emissions PM10/CO2 factor
Posted by: Ian | Saturday, 18 October 2008 at 12:40 AM
I think we all just need to be more aware of each other. Traffic in London is busy, just as it is in New York or Paris, or any other big city.
I think that the British should take a look at how the Dutch do it: how they drive cars, and how they ride bicycles. They demonstrate respect and care for each other.
Posted by: Richard | Saturday, 18 October 2008 at 05:40 PM
Couldn't agree more with the need to all be more generally aware (which dare i say it grows from a mutual adherence to the highway code?)
Whilst it does look like an awful stretch of road please be grateful you have at least some sort of cycle lane adhered to by at least some of the people, other cyclists around the country have to negotiate similarly congested roads with no lane at all and even less driver awareness.
Posted by: Tom | Tuesday, 21 October 2008 at 03:40 PM
I can agree with the comments on road positioning to some extent, but when faced with standing traffic in my own city it's a choice between risking the assertive in-the-middle-of-the-road position or using the kerbside. Overtaking on the right on a road bending to the left, with no sightline? As a driver I know better than to try that. All too often locally there isn't any room on the right anyway.
Thankfully most local drivers are more bike-aware than London drivers, from the evidence of this and other Youtube clips I've just watched, so the kerbside is where most local riders will go. Nine drivers out of ten will be leaving a decent bike's width gap. The cyclists who tend to get hit are those who try to undertake moving traffic (I just "love" passing 18 metres of bendy bus running alongside a cycle lane), or in my case by some impatient stationary passenger beside a cycle lane who decides to bail out and walk without checking the mirror...
Posted by: Andrew | Thursday, 23 October 2008 at 12:58 PM
I'd echo the thoughts posted about councils and their approach to cycle lanes. Exeter is apparently a flagship cycle-friendly city...uhhhhhh..not from my saddle. What it is is a mish-mash of badly-placed on-road lanes supplemented by shared pavements full of clueless, ipod-wearing pedestrians, with very few smooth transitions between the two. I'm also reliably informed that there will be no gritting or salting of cycle paths in winter.
And I wouldn't say provincial drivers were any more aware of cyclists, or tolerant of them. Priceless (and bewildering) insult hurled at me today when crossing a main road using a pedestrian / cycle crossing joining two shared paths: 'Oi, use the road, you c***!' Say what?
Posted by: Paul | Thursday, 23 October 2008 at 08:30 PM
I heartliy agree with Morag's comments. Cyclists are claimed to be the biggest annoyance on the road today. I myself have had fingers pointed at me for apparently causing accidents and most of all, undertaking.
What many people who point these fingers at cyclists don't realise, is that we have very little choice in the matter. Riding on (usually empty) pavements is illegal so that's out of the question. All we have left is a shabby, poorly thought out cycle lane on the left. Yes, the left, the undertaking position. We are slightly segregated from the road, therefore we are not actually undertaking, rather following our own road away from motorists.
My biggest annoyance comes from motorists who blame cyclists for not looking. Doesn't anyone realise that cyclists have right-of-way over motorists?? If I am on the road and someone wants to overtake me, they will wait, I should not have to move over since I have the right of way. I passed my driver's test years ago, and I still know all the rules of the highway code and I know that we cyclists have priority over the road over motorists. Cars have mirrors, cars don't have priority: so to the motorists complaining constantly about cyclists, please take a look in your mirrors when you turn left (or right) to check for cyclists.
Think about it, you'd have failed your practical driving test if you didn't look. Therefore when the inevitable day comes that you knock over a cyclist it'll only be you that the blame is placed upon
Posted by: Mark H | Sunday, 26 October 2008 at 02:37 PM
Another one querying why on earth the cyclist is trying to filter up in the gutter... just because a cycle lane is there does not mean you have to use it, and especially when it's so dangerous. It is silly to cycle in such a way - get some cycle training and learn to cycle in traffic properly. Here you go for the link on how to get some training to nationally approved cycle training standards.
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4135
Posted by: helen simmons | Tuesday, 28 October 2008 at 05:49 PM
I cycle this route with my friend every day to work.
It's a shame the person stopped videoing when they did because the 500 metres beyond where they stopped recording at the top of the hill on Byward Street ( http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.50939,-0.079533&spn=0.002467,0.006866&t=h&z=18 ) is a disgrace to cyclists. The cycle lane there has no visible line distinguishing between the road and the cycle lane - and EVERY lorry/taxi/car goes in it. Something really needs to be done about that stretch.
Posted by: Phil K | Saturday, 22 November 2008 at 03:02 AM
I'd have stayed behind that truck!. Satisfying to breeze past a long queue of stationary vehicles though.
Posted by: Pete M | Tuesday, 25 November 2008 at 08:34 PM
I agree some of the comments her, but i have been wondering what is wrong with UK people and Cycling. its relly oad that drivers down`t want cyclers on the road and people down`t want them to sidewalk. where i come from we down`t have roads for bikes, you just have to ride on the road, and thats dangerous, But why complain about danger when you have your own space. Ok i noticed that drivers apperently down`t have any respect lines....( Just wondering why, what is so hard of that).
Just doing reseach from cycling in UK and i was so supriced that here people are not cycling as much as in Europe.
Posted by: Kartza | Friday, 28 November 2008 at 10:26 AM
Video proves that most drivers are considerate, and a minority are dim wits, just like the small minority of dim wits on two wheels and on two feet otherwise known as pedestrians.
When on the road, assume that that other party will make a mistake, that might just save you being involved in an accident.
When you are on two wheels or on two feet, trying to prove you are in the right, will end up with your being the loser against a ton or more of steel.
All road users should respect each others right of use of the road that way we might try avoid "accidents", but accidents will happen.
And yes I ride a bike and use the car.
Posted by: feladunder | Tuesday, 09 December 2008 at 11:23 AM