Men strewn cycle
JC from Hillingdon's letter rightly highlights the danger to cyclists when being overtaken by cars. In London, at traffic lights, spaces are reserved for cyclists at the front of the queue, presumably to reward them for being 'green.' The problem is that they make their way to the front of the queue through the stationary cars and are then overtaken by the cars when the lights change. This exposes them to danger because cyclists wobble the most as they move off from stationary and the lanes are often too narrow for drivers to give them a wide berth. At the next set of lights the cyclists catch up again and weave their way to the front where they are overtaken by the same cars again. Would it not be better if cyclists remained at the back of the queue at traffic lights? They could then move off without being surrounded by cars and they would have ceased wobbling by the time the following bunch of cars from the previous lights overtakes them?
Asked on 30 September 2011 by MW, Chatham, Kent.
Answered by
Honest John
There was a wonderful bit of film of Boris and his bicycling chums wobbling their way up a street in East London when an oncoming truck mounted a speed hump which unlatched its rear doors that then took out a parked Mondeo and very nearly put paid to our Boris. Wobbling cyclists and London traffic will never mix.
Tags:
cyclists
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