This morning's commute and other commuting stories

sorry for cross posting on loads of threads - I dont mean to spam

Just had some bad news that our dearest @spotter has had a nasty off cycling back from work today. He woke up in hospital and can't remember anything from the past week. he seems to be healing up but his bike has gone missing. he was most likely riding this genesis - if anyone sees it please get in touch with me or @JB or @robadob

edit - apparently the crash occured in Kentish Town

Is there a romantic sequel? Feels like there should be....

I was in a Wetherspoons once and it started raining outside and I was grateful for the dry warm shelter tbh.

re ASLs, @Oliver Schick made a great contribution i.e. classic Oliver, not too long. But I think there may be a legal precedent that means:

they actually increase the number of other illegal manoeuvres rather than reduce them, e.g. drivers often overshoot the first stop line and then cyclists move even further ahead, often beyond the second stop line, etc.

isn't quite the case ... in that, although technically not desired, no longer illegal for cycles to advance a reasonable distance over their stop line to wait, if a motor has advanced into the pre-ASL zone then stopped. I now do this regularly, happy that I could argue there's a legal precedent that we can.

Thanks, Skülly. I can't remember hearing about that precedent (can you give a link?), but as far as I'm aware the law hasn't changed. I consider it quite possible that a judge may have seen a scenario in which a cyclist in their judgement was acting reasonably in advancing in this way, although whether that would be applicable generally is probably debatable. It obviously pretty much negates what the point was in the first place.

Ahem as a newly qualified instructor (and therefore open to being challenged) I recall the rules is that a cyclist is breaking the law if he or she (nah, a she wouldn't do this) go forward of a car stopped in the box and beyond the stop line to create their own box.

Watched a taxi driver roll into 2 consecutive ASLs after the light had been red for several seconds

It becomes really annoying when you notice how many motorists do that intentionally. I remember when the evening standard reported the police were going to crack down on it, and for a few days almost every ASL was car-free.

We could have separate bike lanes from here to the Moon,
if we had cameras delivering automatic fpns for vehicle ASL offences
for just a month.

I sometimes get stuck in front of the ASL, because after filtering it then turns out somebody is IN it already. Nothing much you can do, because it's impossible to see until you are nearly on it and then you have to go in it or be stuck between 2 lanes of traffic... sometimes it's so bad I can't avoid being partially in the pedestrian crossing.

Would be fun if plod would then fine both the motorist and me... YOU caused it YOU have no excuse under the law. Yes officer, no officer, yet officer... ;)

@Oliver Schick No reference springs to mind, I may have read it in the ctc rag at some point, or possibly some source like road.cc. My vague recollection of it points to perhaps 4 or 5 years ago ... vague, I know. Let me know if you hear of the case some other way than my 'I read it somewhere' !

Sorry to hear! HealTFU!
And I'll keep my eye out for the bike. Not with paramedics or hospital?

I hope it wasn't nicked while he lay there unconscious, that would be just about the lowest of the low. Let's hope for a happy ending.

Hm, I missed that. I'd recommend not relying on it too much, though. :)

Yeah. Don't do this at the junction of black prince road and Albert embankment.

I see it every morning. A couple of cyclists in front of all stop lines suddenly realise that hgv traffic turning right into BPR needs to use the piece of road they are currently occupying. Cue much backing up and gnashing of teeth.

Hahaha! I hope she's not been waiting in that costa coffee for a week, as I've been off work (kids with sickness bugs - very romantic!).

isn't quite the case ... in that, although technically not desired, no longer illegal for cycles to advance a reasonable distance over their stop line to wait, if a motor has advanced into the pre-ASL zone then stopped. I now do this regularly, happy that I could argue there's a legal precedent that we can.

Passing over a stop line when the light is red will still be illegal, but the law is to be interpreted in the context of the wider situation (e.g. ABH is an offence on its own but may be acceptable if it was in self-defence).

In a situation the judge will consider the intention of the actions too. If you move in front of a motor vehicle that has encroached into the ASL (whether legally or not) then putting half of your bike over the next stop line with no intention to jump the light will probably be looked on favourably.

Of course out on the road you're not at the mercy of a judge but the random Police Officer that is there on the scene. You may get a sensible one that will look at the situation and ignore it, or you may get an over zealous one that decides to FPN you anyway. You've then got a sticky choice of paying a bit and shutting up, or paying lots more to try and challenge it in court and hope for a favourable judgement.

There's usually enough space in the ASL to park sideways in front of the car that is obstructing it without leaving the box.

It also holds the driver up for a few extra seconds as you straighten up to pull away, hopefully encouraging them to do it right next time.

Not recommended at peak commute hour, or in front of a HGV, obviously.

I saw a nice looking screwdriver discarded on the road this morning, I checked behind me before looking for somewhere to pull in but I had a shitty corsa about 3 feet off my back wheel. After I passed it I heard the tell tell sound of thud, thud, thud, thud. I look round to see the car pulling over, I assume it was stuck in one of their tyres, that's what you get for following so close.

As side note I've done alright from roadside finds in the last few years, a particular highlight was a top quality wood saw which is a joy to use.

A couple decided they needed to undertake me when I slowed down with the traffic for a pedestrian crossing, then immediately got abreast of each other, slowed down and started chatting.
Then at the junction on Stroud Green Road they saw a car that had idiotically stopped in the middle of the crossing and decided they HAD to be in front so were just sitting in the path of traffic. It's one thing to move a bit ahead of the ASL if a car's barged into the box but if you're actually in danger of being crushed by a bus you've probably gone too far.

Everybody being chill little bunnies this morning - well done everybody.

Stuffed my bike (the nice one, not my usual commuter) into the verge on the way into work this morning. Lost the front wheel on a wet corner and slid across the lane on my hip and calf. Didn't think it was wise to ride the rest of the way in - another 12 miles - so rode slowly home. Not too badly hurt but have got a stiff leg now and am unlikely to be able to ride this weekend - was planning on riding a 200k audax tomorrow.

lunchtime commute

dafuq?

Fire alarm went off at 15:30 so I went home.

Used the elevators and all.

Fkn Rbl

I also found a wood saw, back in Oz, which is still in the old man's shed.

Quite a large collection of other, normally impractically heavy, tools have been ferried back to his shed on my bike over the years.

Just a flesh wound. Come back and fight.

What was with the slidey roads early this morning? Saw a roadie lockup into a big slide, approaching a t junction, with weavy just about staying up skills in front of me. Even on marathon 28’s I was loosing grip a couple of times. Nasty.