Traffic

Only a short post today but, when in traffic, it can pay miles to filter through it but if it's at traffic lights and you're only a few cars away on an old set of reds, it's not worth the risk of becoming trapped between 2 lanes of traffic, this is when it's best to take primary or "take the lane", 9 times out of 10, if you do this as you approach stationary traffic, following vehicles won't overtake to cut in front, but STAY IN PRIMARY, even when traffic starts moving again, especially on multi lane roads that have a lot of traffic lights BUT, even if you do these things you can still come across morons like this:

People pulling stunts like that can and does get people injured or killed, also if and when you do filter, always look ahead for sizeable gaps in front of vehicles, always be aware that doors could still fly open, filter down the side that has the most space but is also the safest and NEVER filter past a large vehicle on the left or on either side if you don't know how long the lights have been red as that is one of the biggest killers of cyclists and if or when you get behind the wheel at any time, please, keep your mind set to the "I'm a vulnerable road user" mentality, not be like this numpty who tried undertaking a coach that was turning left with clear indication of the coach drivers intentions:

As you can see, even the average driver is vulnerable in the perceived safety of their cage, hopefully the polo driver learnt their lesson... Anyway, as I said, short post, so I will see you on Sunday with the weekly awards, hopefully this time I'll have some clips from other road users nominated for the awards but we'll see, also there will be no posts next week due to Christmas unless something urgent comes up that needs to be brought to light, as always, leave your comments below, thank you for reading, good bye and ride safe.

Sorry I've missed 2 posts

Sorry I missed 2 posts, been hectic what with Christmas around the corner but I'm posting now to make up for it but anyway, the show must go on.
So, we kick this off with tragic news, on Monday morning this week just before 9AM, a cyclist was struck by 2 vehicles and killed on the A33 coming into Southampton from the west, the A33 has 3 lanes and a 50mph limit, the vehicles that struck and ultimately killed the cyclist were a mercedes and a transit, the cyclist was wearing hi-vis gear and it would appear that his bike was fitted with lights and he most likely had a helmet on but what got me that day was that even after that was reported, I myself almost became a victim as shown in this video:

I do apologise for my language but it did scare me due to how close it was but may the cyclist from that morning rest in piece.

Moving on now to the awards that I was going to give out on Sunday, first up is Good driving of the week, this goes to the driver of the HGV in this clip:

As you can see they left me the whole lane that I was occupying and didn't come back across until they were absolutely sure they were past, good work.

Next is bad driving of the week, this one goes to a driver from a little while ago but the memory of the fear they caused me is still fresh, here's the clip:

Can you believe that the email I got back after reporting it to the company came from the company owner/director and tried saying the driver left ample room and that I should have been further to the left? Anyway, moving on.

Now we have bad cycling of the week, again it's from quite a while ago:

Please don't ride like this, it's what causes some motorists to hate cyclists.
Now we have good cycling of the week, another clip from a while ago:

Some good riding there.

Next we have good deed of the week is from about a month ago but it shows that not all cyclists ignore buses trying to pull out:

Now of course the cyclist here is me but hey, it's all I could find.

And finally we have, dick of the week, this clip was from only yesterday:

As you can see, I had pulled up behind the traffic and a van to my right tries pulling across into the space I'm already occupying and seems to think I shouldn't be there but what does she know.

So this was a blog to make up for the lack of any on Sunday and Monday, thank you for reading, as always please leave comments below but no troll or abusive comments otherwise they will be deleted and I will end up having to moderate the comments which I don't want, also if you would like to make nominations for the awards then please, comment below with a link to the video, thank you for reading, good bye for now and ride safe.

The good, the bad and the chimps

I know I know, I said it would be up yesterday but I had things to deal with, anyway, let's dive straight in shall we? To start off, here's my disclaimer, I do not in anyway intend this blog post to be provocative nor do I insinuate that everyone of one group are out to get the others or completely crap in how they use the road.

Over the years I have seen a lot of inconsideration from many people, be they cyclists, motorists or pedestrians, so out of fairness, let's look at some of the good things and bad things I've seen each group do, I shall go in no particular order:
CYCLIST NO NO's
I decided to look at the no no's of cyclists first to show to my motoring counterparts, that as a cyclist myself, I also get annoyed at things I've sometimes seen other cyclists do, I shall put a sub-heading for each item of concern with a shortish description of why I don't like and we kick it off with my most disliked which is...

NO LIGHTS AT NIGHT
Yes, I hate seeing people riding at night or in poor light/visibility without lights or without adequate lights, there is absolutely no excuse for it, you can pick up a set of bright(albeit of questionable quality) lights for as little as 99P from 99p stores, if you can't even come to spend that to be able to be seen, then quite frankly there is something extremely wrong with you and you really shouldn't be on the road with a bike because not only is it dangerous to you but it is also potentially dangerous for others, such as drivers who may just see you at the last moment, panic and swerve around you into oncoming traffic, pedestrians who might not see you, think the road is clear and BANG, you just knocked a granny over and broke her hip which is potentially lethal or a cycling parent with a child in a seat on the back who swerves at the last minute because they didn't see you, comes off and the force of the bike hitting the deck could give that child neck and/or brain injuries, could you live with yourself if you caused any of that? I doubt it but I know those are extreme cases that rarely happen BUT they indeed CAN happen, so guys please, light up for crying out loud.

JUMPING LIGHTS
Another one I hate is seeing cyclists jumping lights, it's not often I see it but it really gets on my nerves when I do, it's not safe, it's not smart and it's not legal, as with the no lights scenario, it is not only dangerous to you but it's also potentially dangerous to others, so DON'T do it.

BEING ABUSIVE
Though I haven't witnessed it personally I do know that it happens, more often towards pedestrians but also towards motorists and even towards other cyclists.

RIDING ON FOOTWAYS
It's illegal unless it's otherwise stated though there can be a little bit of leeway with this since it seems many local authorities often fail to mark the end of sections you're allowed to cycle along or even fail to mark them at all such as a shared use path near me, completely unmarked yet is recognised as part of the national cycle network.

NO SIGNAL
 This one is quite bad as well, letting others know of your intentions means they know how to react, not signalling makes you unpredictable and could cause a collision.

INATTENTIVE RIDING
When you're riding it is important to be as aware as possible of things around you, even if you can't see them, hence many cyclists seem as if they have eyes in the back of their heads at times but another way you can be inattentive is by listening to music with the volume on full in both ears, sure, if you're going to listen to music then by all means do so but not on full volume or in both ears, also using a phone while riding, though it isn't illegal so to speak, it is still as bad if not worse than doing it while driving.

2 ON A NON TANDEM
Why ride with 2 people on a single person bike? Would you try putting 2 hands in one glove? No? Then don't put 2 or more people on a bike that wasn't made for it.

SALMONING
This is what I call it when a cyclist rides the wrong way, like a salmon swimming against the flow, no excuse and anyone who tries to make an excuse for it should hand their bike into the nearest bike shop to be sold.


CYCLIST'S DO'S

Something I've seen a lot is people saying all cyclists are bad, are we? Of course not, they see a handful of bad ones in a couple of months and then tar us all with the same brush but here are the good things I've done or have seen others do.

STOP AND CHECK
No, not check their bike but stop and check if a person they just witnessed have a fall or an accident is ok.

STOP AT REDS
The majority of cyclists around including myself do stop at reds, I've sat at the lights before and a further 3 or 4 cyclists pull up and wait with me, maybe it's because they were aware of the camera, I don't know but they did stop.

SIGNAL
Most cyclists do let others know when they're turning left or right.

BEING POLITE
Most cyclists are polite so please, don't think that just because a few are assholes that we all are.

HELP OTHERS
I have seen a lot of cyclists help others out, whether it's traffic droid in London feeding the homeless or a local turning off lights that have been left switched on.

Then there's the opposites to the bad stuff I said about above, such as riding with the flow, 1 person on a bike, good lights, highly attentive and not riding on footways.

PEDESTRIAN NO NO'S

Even pedestrians who have the most priority of all road users and the most right to use the road can get it wrong, here are some of the ways it's possible.

CROSSING WITHOUT LOOKING

This should be a no brainer really, if you don't stop, look and listen, you could end up dead, considering how many people I've personally witness crossing without looking or not waiting for the lights at pelican crossings to even change is unbelievable, personally I think they should start teaching the green cross code in schoos again, even in the work place with the amount of ADULTS that should know better.

"PLAYING CHICKEN"

Yes, it's something we've all done before but really it shouldn't be allowed to happen.

BEING ABUSIVE OR VIOLENT

Yes, even pedestrians can get road rage which again brings me back to the unmarked shared use facility near me where a local was cycling along legally, carefully approached the pedestrians while saying excuse me with their bell, the pedestrians took no notice so the cyclist went off the path onto the grass to go around safely at which point one of the pedestrians shouted that it wasn't a cycle path, the cyclist politely replied that it was, further along the road, the cyclist is now on the road in traffic and the guy who shouted at him began attacking before walking off, now I hadn't witnessed it myself but it was well covered by the local paper.

WALKING ALONG SEGREGATED CYCLE PATHS

Even though it's not illegal as such, I still wouldn't recommend it.


PEDESTRIAN DO'S

As I said, no single group is worse or better than another.

STOPPING TO LOOK AND LISTEN

As I said, it should be a no brainer and for some it is exactly that, hell, I've even seen dogs do it, so it must be easy.
I've of course mostly seen pedestrians be good so There is no point to continue on them.


MOTORISTS DO'S

Ah, caught you out there didn't I? No? Fine then, here we go with the last group.

DRIVING WITH CAUTION

Many motorists I see when I'm out and about DO give me plenty of space when overtaking, don't tail gate, abuse their horn or hurl abuse at me and for that I thank them, I also thank those who are considerate to pedestrians and other motorists.

OFFERING ASSISTANCE

Yes, just like cyclists I have seen and had motorists stop and offer assistance, a couple of years ago I was riding a bike with a dodgy skewer and it caused me to crash at 30mph+ when it came loose as I went down a dropped curb and a passing motorist who happened to be an off duty fireman pulled over and called an ambulance for me.

MOTORIST NO NO'S

A majority of motorists as I said are brilliant but not all of them.

DANGEROUS DRIVING

Now this could be anything from passing a cyclist far too close to speeding at 150 down a residential road, no matter who you do it to, pulling out without looking or cutting them up is dangerous driving and is an offence.

JUMPING REDS

But motorists don't do they? Yes, yes they do, I've witnessed it AND captured it on camera, so there is no escaping the truth.

BEING ABUSIVE

I myself have received abuse from motorists before, normally being told to get off the effing road or out of the effing way, sorry but I don't have and will not move over just because you tell me too, if I'm in the middle of the lane then there is good reason for it, not so I piss you off.

I think I've covered everything to show that no one minority are any better or worse than another, if you can think of anything I should add then let me know in the comments, as always, please leave comments, no trolling or abuse and I will see you on Sunday for our first round of awards.

Good bye and as always, RIDE SAFE.

Cycle lanes and the cycle lane mentality

Yes yes, I know, I've started with a very big topic to begin with but it's something I've seen coming up a lot of lately in videos on youtube where a video cyclist has been riding along at a fair pace in primary and a car pulls level with them as if they're overtaking, the window winds down and the occupants complain that the cyclist should be in the cycle lane or even worse, that they should be on the footway (pavement to those who don't realise) where it's illegal to ride, now I've had a couple of incidents like that myself before I got my own camera, one driver even shouted at me with these exact words "Get out the fucking road!!!" in a typical Southampton chav way and I shouted back that I was where I should be which technically is true, I mean there was a shared use path next to the road, should I have used it? At the time it might have been the better choice as all I was doing was running it into the ground until I could buy a new bike, did I HAVE to use the shared use facility? NO, a big problem for cyclists is that motorists can sometimes (I say sometimes as most aren't like it) believe that if there's a cycle lane that cyclists HAVE to use it or that they HAVE to ride in the gutter and that cyclists in the cycle lane are safe so long as their motorvehicle doesn't cross the dividing line yet contrary to these 3 beliefs, cyclists or not obliged by law to use cycle lanes or to stay over to the left in the gutter, cyclists are allowed to fully utilize the road just like any other road vehicle and cyclists are NOT safe if the motorist doesn't cross the dividing line no matter how close they are (There is a clip from my youtube channel at the bottom of the page, showing an exelent example of this last piece of cycle lane mentality that the driver of a double decker bus had), the only major difference between a bicycle and a motorcycle is the rather obvious lack of an engine and electronics on the bicycle, other than that there is no difference as in the eyes of the law, a bicycle is technically a road vehicle, also most cyclists who ride with good road positioning, generally only take primary when it's necessary such as at pinch points, passing parked cars, at roundabouts, at red lights, in traffic queues that are impossible to filter through, when passing junctions to make people waiting to pull out see them, when making a turn and when travelling along multi lane roads, another issue I have with cycle lanes is how inadequate they are, most are not wide enough and on many occasions I have found that they end without warning and rather abruptly only to restart a mile down the road for a few hundred meters before it stops again, shared use and segregated paths are even worse, to start with most are poorly sign posted, there is even one not even half a mile from me, it is designated as a shared facility on a map supplied by SOUTHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL(which can be found here Soton cycle map), yet there are absolutely 0 signs to indicate this, recently this led to a local cyclist being attacked by a pedestrian, the cyclist was riding along the shared path and came to a point where it narrows due to a deep ditch on one side and a bus stop/lay by on the other, the cyclist slowed and politely said "excuse me" to the pedestrians in front who didn't allow him to pass so he waited until he could safely go off onto the grass to pass them, as he did so one of the pedestrians said it wasn't a cycle path and the cyclist rightly so replied that it was, further down the road, the cyclist is sat in traffic and the pedestrian comes from behind and starts punching the cyclist in the back of the head until he's on the floor and then starts kicking him before walking off, now, that would probably not have happened had the path been adequately sign posted, it's the same in the city centre, the pedestrianized areas of the high street are marked on that very same map as being cycle routes yet they are completely devoid of any signs that say so and they also stop abruptly forcing you to take to the road at dangerous locations, bridle ways are just as bad, if not worse than shared use paths, not that I've used any bridle ways as the only ones I can find that are marked don't take me anywhere that I want to go to but pedestrians will assume that because they're often not marked as being usable by cyclists, that cyclists shouldn't be there which is wrong and this brings me onto off-road cycle paths which in my mind, are completely useless most of the time, most have pedestrians walking on them(not illegal but a bit of common sense please), they're hardly sign posted, they're often full of crap like sharp objects and actual CRAP that some lazy dog owner didn't pick up, they're often very short and many dump you off into the road after a sharp turn in front of traffic, tomorrow I will pay Southampton City Council a visit to ask why many of the off-road facilities in and around Southampton are inadequately sign posted and I will not leave without an answer, thank you for reading, Thursday I will be talking about the chimps from all sides, that is pedestrians, motorists and cyclists, again, thank you for reading and please comment your thoughts(but please keep it civil, trolls and abuse will not be tolerated), good bye for now and ride safe.

Intro

Hello, I have started this thrice weekly blog to bring up issues that as a cyclist, really get on my nerves but more on that in later posts, as some of you may know, I am a video cyclist from Southampton who has appeared on youtube in recent months, I have been met with much positive and constructive criticism and I use such comments to help improve my cycling on a daily basis, I also learn from watching others on youtube such as CycleGaz, SonofthewindsInc and CyclingMikey but as they have been, I have been met by negative and potentially destructive criticism along with a wide range of abuse but since school I have grown thick skinned to such comments but like anyone, push me enough and I'll go into a little rage, whether it's keyboard rage or verbal rage but I tend to try not letting myself get out of hand, for those reading this and are new to the concept of video cyclists and such or think video cyclists are just out to make videos all day, people like me are not out to cause trouble just to make a video and most of us video cyclists have jobs or go to school or something along those lines so we aren't out all day everyday looking for trouble as we neither have the want to do so or the time to do so, yes you may see the odd video or 2 that was recorded around mid day but those are normally recorded when most people would have their lunch break, some people will work through lunch, some work and eat, some go to the onsite cafeteria and others go out for lunch, whether they're cyclists or not, like when I was at college, I would sometimes walk to the nearby village (Sparsholt college is literally in the middle of nowhere other than the village it got its name from) and go to the local post office/shop and sit on the grass under a big tree next to the church, it was really peaceful but then college came to an end, more recently I completed the prince's trust 12 week program with Soton team 26, had a 6 month contract with Groundwork Solent after completing the phase 2 course with the Wheatsheaf Trust and most recently I gained the Cytech level 1 qualification but that's enough about me, I'm sure the avid cyclists among you are wondering what my steed is and what she looks like, well for now I can only give descriptives as I have no pictures of my girl and I'm not prepared to go and photograph her right now as it's dark, it's late and she's very dirty but she is a Halcyon Monteray, 21 inch frame, 700c wheels, 38c wide tires which are still the original set, tektro v-brakes, Kalloy adjustable rise A-head headset, swept back Kalloy handlebars (makes sense for a hybrid), suntour nex v2 suspension forks, 24 speed shimano transmission, chromo plastic mudguards, velo ergo grips, shimano v-brake/trigger shift pods, suntour crank set, aluminium flat pedals with anti-slip inserts, Kalloy suspension seat post and a canyon saddle, the accessories I have put on her are a bar end mirror from halfrauds, an ultrafire cree xml-t6 1000 lumens torch with bike mount, a T-one waterproof phone holder/case, a samui airzound 3, a specialized speed zone sport computer with 416 miles on the clock in the 3 months I have owned my bike, a topeak plastic bottle cage that holds the air bottle for the airzound and a cateye TL-170 on the left seat stay just below the brake, other lights I have which I've mounted to my helmet include a cateye EL-120, a topeak whitelite II and a topeak redlite II, I will be getting more lights as and when I can, can never be too bright in my mind, other stuff I carry is a full size topeak track pump, spare inner tubes, some tools, a big chain and padlock normally used for motorcycles that has saved my bikes a few times, an abus cable lock, a little, alarmed, combination lock with a thin, retractable steel cable and other bits and pieces in a large hiking style bag that I bought from tesco for when I was at college, something I use for my bike that people might think impossible to do on a bike is to go fishing, no, I don't ride along one handed with my rod/s in one and the handle bars in the other with buckets hanging off the bars, I actually tie the rod/s to the side of the bike in a way that allows me to mount and dismount easily and that they don't foul the gear or brake cables and so that my lights can still be seen, everthing else like bait, line, reels etc, are carried in my bag, my net is carried on my bag unless it's my larger collapsible net, then that along with it's pole go with the rods but on the other side of the frame, this way I can carry a bit more gear without compromising mobility, anyway, that's me, my bike and some of the antics I have been and do get up to, also on the third blog post of each week I will give awards to 6 categories, these will be good cycling, bad cycling, good driving, bad/dangerous driving, good deed and dick of the week, I will also have an award for best person or "saint of the month" and worst person or "sinner of the month" to those who I think deserve it, they may be a person showing brilliant driving/cycling who would be the saint of the week or they could be a pedestrian or any member of the public who gives abuse or road rage who would the sinner of the week, I will try to keep the awards from stalling on certain types of people and behaviour, so know you know a little about me and what the blog will be about, I will bid you farewell for now. If you do not know my youtube channel then just follow this link; Angry Ginger Cyclist
Ride hard and ride SAFER.