CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
What amuses me is when the motorcyclists who come into work start saying things like, "Cycling, it's so dangerous. I would never do it. You can't keep up with the traffic."
Like, you're only about 40 times more likely to get killed on a motorbike. And yes, not keeping up with the "traffic" is exactly what makes cycling safer because you aren't doing 40, 50, 60mph.
@neddie, those motorbikers and their resolution of cognitive dissonance. I was punny passed by a HOG on Whang Sunday. Could hear him coming but boy did he shave my elbow. Fat bar steward
Dalton might be one of those cyclists from the PG Tips tendency (see Roseburn threads passim).
The thing about the myth about respecting the rules leads to being respected... is that it's very persuasive. Most people - not due to ignorance as much as disinterest - will never have thought deeply about what does lead to change. This myth is very easy to believe.- and I think you'll find this discussion mirrored around any other socially disadvantaged group. There will be plenty of those who are disadvantaged who believe firmly in the narrative-of-the-powerful.
It's not in the least surprising that AD believes this (assuming he does). I'm sure there are plenty of people on here who also believe this. I certainly used to - for decades.
Bad cycling annoys me as well, partly because it is bad, and dangerous, and sometimes scary. And yes, because it gives us all a bad name. But it’s infuriating to think that way. Making comparisons with minorities/women who have to be twice as good to succeed is bleh for urban cyclists who are mostly from a socially privileged group. But using that comparison, the driver is seen as the norm, the judge. Drivers do get angry with other drivers texting, passing too close, tail gating, not indicating and otherwise driving badly and dangerously. However they never think “this reflects on my class/group” because they don’t think of themselves as a class/group except when their privileges are threatened. Then they get as furious as a grandee in the early twentieth century having his income tax increased and death duties on his stately homes. That’s when they suddenly become the hard-pressed motorist, unreasonably discriminated against. It’s the squeal of the unthinkingly privileged.
As often said, no other transport group is required to behave itself before money is spent on infrastructure from them. Air fuel duty is not increased because of drunken idiots on aeroplanes and public transport isn’t cut with the idea of this being one in the eye for loutish behaviour on buses.
Cyclists have miniscule amounts spent on their provision. The poor are not treated with respect. If cyclists were universally well behaved they would get no more money spent on them. They would then be the grateful pauper, who still gets more kicks than ha’pence. If they had good, well-designed infrastructure, and their place in the hierarchy of urban travellers, i.e. below pedestrians but above cars, they would get more respect.
@crowriver – AD did write an article a short while ago about how his preferred method of transport is cycling.
Well said!
I don't call out cyclists for jumping red lights anymore, unless they do it three times in a row as then they are just taking the pee pee
I haven't seen a Scotsman newspaper beyond the newsagent or airport in ages. Remember those little portable newspaper kiosks they had, and the big stall on Princes Street beside Woolies/BK/Apple store? Amazing. The circulation figure says they still sell 10k at full-price.
I see the paper boy delivering in Currie area (won't cycle to Balerno) most mornings this is the Scotsman being delivered to its homeland. I tried to get the guardian delivered (as I had a coupon) but the newsagent declined.
Who would have thought paper girl or paper boy jobs would still be available?
I met my neighbour in Scotmid Balerno on Saturday pm, I had been in earlier and bought the times of London by mistake ( was after the guardian of Manchester) very Conservative party mouthpiece The times. I think my neighbour is a Tory voter but she could not get the paper she was after - the Scotsman. She had left it too late in the day. I said she was welcome to have my times as I found it hard to read (.it was making me puke, but I did not say that to her she is a very nice senior citizen and extremely talented botanical artist) she declined and said she would have to drive to sainsbury's at Longstone because she had a coupon. I declined to point out the petrol cost would then cancel out the coupon.
@gembo - I do have a sneaking admiration for the lawless manoeuvres of Deliveroo guys, their agility and courage. Our soft sedentary lives don't give young males much opportunity to act like urban warriors.
@rosie, see also idea of paper boy r paper girl.
Deliveroo too kamikaze for me but the track stander was a three minutes where we could all witness the fitness.
They are flying the flag for bicycle delivery in the future?
@rbrtwtmn - thanks. It's an amplification of your comment.
@gembo - Elite Cycle Deliveries. There's a chapter in Bella Bathurst's The Bicycle Book about the cycle couriers in Edinburgh seeing themselves as a dare-devil tribe. Women as well as blokes.
Saw a Deliveroo getting a tow off of a bus rear emergency exit door last night. Not cool
Just been up at Harlaw (road in closed today supposed to be open to,orrow) noticed in visitor centre that siad neighbour up thread has one first prize in the painting bit of the Pentlands photography/art competition.
Quiet up there today as no way in to the car park if you have a car.
Still not seeing anyone saying that there are things in the HWC that cyclists cannot do. And I'll refer back to the peer reviewed research that drivists will use poor behaviour as their justification for their own transgressions. It may not be fair to expect cyclists to have good standards of adherence to the rules of the road, but there are certainly a lot of drivists out there who will collectively punish the next cyclist they come upon, so it is in our herd interest (think immunisations) to not jump red lights and cycle on the pavement.
And Deliveroo cyclists are a whole new world of danger to those on the pavements of Marchmont. Why is ninja black and no lights their uniform?
Still not seeing anyone saying that there are things in the HWC that cyclists cannot do.
There're plenty of "rules" that it is dangerous for cyclists to follow, even if they're not actually in the HWC.
Stuff like "Don't ride in the middle of the road", "There's a cycle lane there, pal" etc.
@Frenchy Where's yir helmet?
Hand-cyclists, disabled cyclists and cargo bikers cannot always easily dismount
Remind me again where in the HWC it says you must dismount quickly?
Remind me again where in the HWC it says you must dismount quickly?
I understood rbrtwtmn's original point to be less about following the actual laws and rules of the Highway Code and more about the "rules" that many drivers expect cyclists to abide by.
I've been beeped at, sworn at and driven at for riding in primary when there's a (crap) cycle lane, for cycling two abreast, for using a contraflow cycle lane and for just simply cycling. In none of these situations was I breaking the Highway Code, but I was still breaking the "rules" in the minds of these drivers.
An interview with a Deliveroo delivery guy. Money at living wage level and uncertain, no transferable skills, no reference as you are supposedly self-employed, and wears out your body.
I got moaned at for taking a right turn into Featherhall Ave a while back as the idiot moaning didn't understand that bikes were allowed to as per signage. He decided to keep coming out the junction to teach me a lesson!
What is it with some drivers that they behave like that knowing full well they could seriously injure you.
I've had that too. They go a bit sheepish when you point out the wording below the sign...
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