http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: "Risky cycling behaviour rarely to blame for bike accidents" en Tue, 09 Jun 2026 09:00:58 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1106 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:38:34 +0000 gembo 1106@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Thanks Kim, actually, thinking about it, I wear a helmet when I am walking too, as when I push the bike when walking with the kids I have my helmet on. What a total Woose I am.</p> <p>Gembo The Woose </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1083 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:57:27 +0000 Kim 1083@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hey at least you cycle Gembo! ;-) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1081 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:50:11 +0000 gembo 1081@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I posted on another thread about all school traffic being parents taking kids to school and if everyone stopped driving and started walking there would be no traffic. {I walk with my children but push my bike along]. We cycle in the summer but the traffic scares me at times, though at other times drivers are great. It is the variation that spooks me, but I am a helmet wearing cissy. Kim may wish to retract his prior claim that there should be more children with parents like Gembo.</p> <p>Gembo The Cissy. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1062 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:44:43 +0000 SRD 1062@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>On my home-nursery-work run I cut across south edin - Polwarth-Dalkeith road-George Square. I have posted elsewhere about the traffic backups at particular intersections, but generally - until you hit causewayside, drivers aren't too bad. But as I have written <a href="http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=115#post-484">here</a> (my first post on the site?) Preston St School is a nightmare of drivers not paying any attention to cyclists. And I've still not had an acknowledgement or reply of my letter to the Head, which inter alia compared cycling past it between 8.30 and 9.00 to playing russian roulette. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1061 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:20:10 +0000 kaputnik 1061@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@SRD - no. let's get you started! For me it's the daily slalom past Gylemuir primary, around cars parked here, there and everywhere, appearing from all angles (and naturally, watching proceedings in the back seat, not where they are going). Once you're past that, all you've got to negotiate is the contents of the trains disgorging the commuters from Fife heading to South Gyle. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1060 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:54:48 +0000 SRD 1060@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hey, we got 'double-daylight savings time'in the late 1980s...controversial, but bizarrely, I remember little about it, although I was cycling across town for kayaking training starting at 6am...</p> <p>DON'T get me started on the parents driving their little darlings to (out of catchment) schools. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1059 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:57:06 +0000 gembo 1059@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>When I was 5 they decided not to put the clocks back that winter. It was very dark of a morning and they gave us these daft white plastic helmets like WW2 German Stormtrooper issue (only white plastic) with a wee red light on top (same as I have on my helmet now). We walked to school in them, all very odd but true. In our village in 1972 there were no cars so I presume the helmets were to help the cyclists spot us? Times change and everyone is driven to school now creating major traffic jams and forcing those rational but scared cyclists to wear helmets. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1053 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:40:23 +0000 Kim 1053@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hey it's ice out there, everyone make sure they are wearing their walking helments<br /> <img src="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119262/bin/warm4664.f3.jpg"><br /> <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119262/"><br /> From the BMJ</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1052 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:33:14 +0000 Kim 1052@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><img src="http://www.newyorker.com/images/2009/12/21/cartoons/091221_cartoon_1_a14690_p465.gif"> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1043 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:43:00 +0000 gembo 1043@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Good point kaputnik, you undoubtedly look cool in a helmet. I think it is to do with the combination of head shape and helmet style. Unfortunately, I have not shaved my head for winter yet [I do that about this time of year then wear a speedo nylon swimming cap under my helmet, keeping the heat in]. thus I look a bit like Krusty the Clown's sidekick Sideshow Bob would do if he wore a cycle helmet. Longish curly hair sticking out under the helmet, it ain't cool. Someone whose head/helmet combo I greatly admire is the australian road racer Cadell Evans. He looks totally cool in his specialized helmet. As the great Wayne Coyne, lead singer of The Flaming Lips says - 'there's no virtue in always being cool'. And Cadell would take my sideshow bob look instead of his cool rider look if it meant he could win the Tour. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1037 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:17:54 +0000 kaputnik 1037@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I thought we wore helmets because they make you look cool? No? Just me then... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1036 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:09:42 +0000 gembo 1036@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>many accidents up here where I am [near Pentlands] with cars skidding into each other on non-gritted roads.</p> <p>if you land on your head after being knocked off, falling off in ice etc and you have a helmet on, you will be in slightly better shape than if you are not wearing a helmet. The idea that bike helmets, motor bike helmets or seat belts protect you beyond a certain degree is wrong. A neuro-psychologist once told me that when you are propelled at force through the air the brain can be damaged because of the force of the twisting going on as you travel through the air and then the next bit of damage comes with impact. The neuro-psych chap also seemed to be arguing that the two bits of damage combined in some way to make matters worse. I have pretty much always worn a helmet since then. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1024 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:47:52 +0000 SRD 1024@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>yes, you're probably right and we were agreeing. i wasn't quite sure how you intended your example. cheers! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1023 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:33:16 +0000 chdot 1023@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"@chdot Sorry"</p> <p>Sounds like you're disagreeing with me??</p> <p>Maybe my "mmm" was interpreted in a diferent way from how it was 'said'...???</p> <p>Don't think there are enough people on here to indulge in flaming. </p> <p>But I have powers.... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1022 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:03:04 +0000 SRD 1022@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Look! we're about to have our first flame war (do they still call them that? I recall the term from oldy 'bulletin board' days). Sorry if I've added fuel to flames. Have very much enjoyed temperate tone of debate usually found here. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1021 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:02:29 +0000 SRD 1021@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@chdot Sorry, but I come from a cold place, where everyone (a) learns to drive on packed snow, ice etc and (b) kits out their car properly. Light snow can be as dangerous - and often more dangerous than heavy snow. A bit like the first rain after a dry season in African countries - everyone is extra careful driving because the roads are so slick. Drivers here are too often complacent and inexperienced. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1020 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:59:40 +0000 SRD 1020@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>oh come on. anyone who knows anyone who's had a brain injury knows just how serious such injuries are. no one is claiming that a brain injury is the only thing that causes death, but it's a hell of a lot easier to recuperate from most other injuries, and resume normal life. that's just not always true of head injuries, even when a similar impact to a limb would just break a bone or two. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1019 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:35:42 +0000 chdot 1019@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Mmm </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1018 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:31:17 +0000 Kim 1018@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Ah yes the myth of the helmet...</p> <p><img src="http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/striphandler.ashx?stripid=57f6ca71-73a8-42a3-acc4-29e6d333df27"> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1013 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:46:42 +0000 chdot 1013@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Well last night's TV news about 'small amounts of snow shuts South East' said something like 'modern cars with low profile tyres can't handle these sorts of conditions'. </p> <p>If you saw the piece on the woman whose wedding was 'rescued' by 4-wheel driving strangers you'll know that the snow wasn't exactly deep. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1012 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:38:00 +0000 SRD 1012@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Yup. My worry about cycling in this sort of weather is not me or bike, but that cars do not know how to drive in slippery conditions. That, and the experience of a car door opening that threw me out onto Cowley Road, Oxford (which is a busy artery with lots of buses along the lines of Slateford Road or Dalry Road). But even (or especially) the best intentioned drivers in slush or ice will slam on brakes, fishtail and generally be a menace to all others on the road. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-1011 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:31:20 +0000 gembo 1011@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Not sure if I should start this as people are very peculiar about wearing helmets and come up with all sorts of reasons not to (mine is that it messe with my hairdo). Anyway here goes.</p> <p>Even the great Franklin (who I believe does not wear a helmet, I could be wrong) might not have fully analysed the study which showed that car drivers who spot you wearing a helmet drive more closely to you. I don't care about them, they have spotted me. The driver in 99.97% (ok I am making this up) of accidents says to you - sorry mate, I didn't see you there. These are the drivers I really worry about, they seem to be blind, they can look right at you and not see you. My fear is that these drivers form a considerable section of the car driving population. For this reason I have given up caring about my hairdo and now always wear a helmet even if it only makes a difference in 10% of collisions (again I should be flamed for making this up but the actual stats are not easy to get hold of).</p> <p>Gembo The Crinkle Haired </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-885 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:45:01 +0000 Kim 885@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I find it is always a good idea to go to the source to find out more (<a href="http://www.trl.co.uk/library/reports_publications/latest_publications/">link to TRL</a>), there is a lot of detail to wade through, but there are some interesting points. The group most at risk:<br /> boys between 10-17 years<br /> these also the cyclist most likely to be at fault<br /> the most common cause of collision, leaving pavement to cross side road and not looking<br /> and possible most telling, the vast majority of these have had no formal training. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-882 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:28:24 +0000 SRD 882@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Fascinating. Thanks for the link. I actually tried and failed to find the cycling blog on the website yesterday. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-878 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:00:12 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 878@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"The study, carried out for the Department for Transport, found that in 2% of cases where cyclists were seriously injured in collisions with other road users police said that the rider disobeying a stop sign or traffic light was a likely contributing factor. Wearing dark clothing at night was seen as a potential cause in about 2.5% of cases, and failure to use lights was mentioned 2% of the time."</p> <p>"With adult cyclists, police found the driver solely responsible in about 60%-75% of all cases, and riders solely at fault 17%-25% of the time."</p> <p>How will the Daily Wail spin that then? They're bound to do a story on how they've been wrong to demonise cyclists. Aren't they? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=151#post-877 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:38:34 +0000 chdot 877@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://bit.ly/6qRVYu">Guardian story</a></p> <p>"The cyclists' lobby group CTC said the report showed that the government needed to focus more on driver behaviour rather than on issues such as cyclists wearing helmets." </p>