At some point in the last few years, cars have stopped using their indicators (turn signals). This is definitely a recent development, since I cannot remember ever having cause for complaint on this issue before I left London the first time ten years ago.

I passed my driving test about sixteen years ago and I can still remember the adage: mirror, signal, manoeuvre. However, it would seem that most of the drivers in London are amnesiac fucktards, since hardly any of them follow that procedure.

In light of that reality, my general desire to stay alive and the fact that I see so many (newbie?) cyclists behaving as if they aren’t aware of this failure on the part of motorists, my first top tip relates to the safest way I have devised for cycling in the vicinity of large amounts of vehicles safely. The following is just the general rule I go by; there are learned exceptions and also occasional moments of plain idiocy on my part. Feel free to add your own tips about this in the comments section.
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Posted under advice

Without a shadow of a doubt, the worst place I have ever cycled is Philadelphia, USA. Absolutely hands down, no contest, the worst. The only times I have ever actually been hit were there, and there were three instances over the 5 ½ years I was a resident.

Without a shadow of doubt, the best place I have ever cycled is France. Granted I have only ever cycled the French countryside, but cars would literally drive in the ditch in order to give me enough space. They treated me as I was taught to treat horses by my driving instructor 16 years ago: decrease your speed and give them a wide birth. In the year and a half I lived there, the two cars which did not behave in that way had British licence plates.

Spain is next: the cars never slow down out in the countryside, so the speed can give you a shock, but they overtake on practically the other side of the road, so you are perfectly safe. In the three cities we cycled in, the cars treated you with such respect and gave you a lane to yourself, always exhibiting patience and care. We were never an obvious source of irritation even when we didn’t exactly know where we were going.

And so I’m here again in London. The London I left 10 years ago was a much nicer place to cycle. There were fewer people, which means fewer cars and much, much fewer cyclists. London is still nowhere near as bad as Philadelphia, but it’s closer to that than to the continent; not in terms of the amount of cars (London is much more densely packed), but in terms of the maliciousness and carelessness of drivers.

I can’t help but think about courtesy and about care. I understand road rage – I am possibly the least patient person in the world – but I think it so dangerous that the frustration and rage at these packed and often grid-locked roads means that the care, courtesy and consideration which is vital for safe road usage has all but disappeared.

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Posted under ethics, general

This is the second letter I have written, this time at the end of August and to the Ringway Group. Again, I have not received a reply.

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Posted under complaints

Here is the text from the first letter I wrote back in July to the Oakwood Plant Group. To date, I have not received a reply.

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Posted under complaints

Today was a good day for me. I missed the rain on my rides to and work and had a tail wind on my way home. No one was an idiot, apart from this one Mercedes Sprinter van, who was less of an idiot and more just slooooow. Work was easy and my friend is in town on her way to Uzbekistan. All in all, today was good.

I was going to start off this site with random instances of terrible drivers which I’ve been noting over the last few weeks as I’ve been sorting it all out. The John Lewis driver in Crouch End who raised his arms all dramatically and exasperatedly at me, even though I’d waited behind the parked cars so as he could carry on uninterpreted. Or the Mercedes driver who actively swerved into my partner who was cycling in front of me in Newington Green. Or the a list of the myriad cars and lorries who refuse to use their indicators. And so the list grows.

Instead I find that despite my lovely day, another cyclist has been killed by a left turning HGV. See this report for some small details about it, and this clip of the news report.

Whoever you were, RIP.

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Posted under general