This morning's commute and other commuting stories

If he’s properly parked (ie handbrake on, engine not in gear) he’s allowed to use his phone though, right? I thought that was how the law worked.

Seems a little spurious as grounds for aggravation.

If he’s properly parked (ie handbrake on, engine not in gear) he’s allowed to use his phone though, right? I thought that was how the law worked.

In his own words, they're not allowed them in the cab.

But it wasn't the initial trigger - that was the close pass.

I also recognised him from his phone use at a red light the previous morning.

If you know, as opposed to think:

sheldon.malcolm@goaheadlondon.com - Communications Manager
david.cutts@goaheadlondon.com - Operations Director

Speaking of southwark bridge road. what the fuck is going on with the cars parked all along the contraflow heading south just past the junction with Borough rd. they completely block the entire route forcing you to have to ride down there into oncoming traffic. it's can't be a cycle lane thats only in operation at certain hours otherwise cars can park in it as they please like the shit show that is tooting high st on weekends as it's the only way down that street and it's the only available lane.

either some twat has allowed them to do so or isn't stopping them doing it. either way its fucking ridiculous and dangerous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbwdoJCp7X0

example taken from ride home last night when there was no traffic but can't guarantee it's going to be clear every time and cars do not go slowly along there as it's a bit of a rat run.

Meant to post this earlier as a positive vibes type of thing, before @skidlidsid's tale (best of luck for a good resolution) but - my mood was perked up massively on a soggy Bristol commute this morning. Nice wet ride (but mudflaps for the win, dry shoes) along mostly a shared path, approaching a full-body-soak potential of a puddle on the road, and the double decker bus coming up behind me slows and goes outwards around the puddle to avoid drenching me. Driver & I exchanged thumbs up and big grins - obviously a decent bloke/10

Yeah, I've noticed the same thing. I can't work out what they intended either.

I have a good bus driver story to balance it out too!

I was on a southbound 249 bus recently that got diverted right at Clapham South and didn't rejoin its regular route until Streatham - going to round the houses down Burntwood lane, Garratt Lane and Mitcham Road. The driver was being directed via occasional radio comms, and confessed to not having a clue where he was - I loved the honesty of it.

He drove on like an absolute champ making sure everyone who got off knew where they were, and just generally being awesome, despite his geography having failed him. Big thumbs up from me.

#notallbusdrivers

Speaking of southwark bridge road. what the fuck is going on with the cars parked all along the contraflow heading south just past the junction with Borough rd.

Waterloo Cars on the left there.

They'll be private hire vehicles.

They're there because there's little or no enforcement.

Ah Ok. Well he deserves the book thrown at him then.

I pop round to the front of the bus - no driver number. Someone here will be able to tell me if that's legal. @Oliver Schick? @Skülly?

Sorry, I can't help there. I've had only one annoying incident with a bus and have never looked into requirements of bus drivers, e.g. what needs to be displayed. I'm sure the info is somewhere, e.g. on Tom Kearney's blog--he's very angry about buses.

If you want to bring a successful complaint, you need evidence, e.g. footage of him on the phone.

Speaking of southwark bridge road. what the fuck is going on with the cars parked all along the contraflow heading south just past the junction with Borough rd. they completely block the entire route forcing you to have to ride down there into oncoming traffic. it's can't be a cycle lane thats only in operation at certain hours otherwise cars can park in it as they please like the shit show that is tooting high st on weekends as it's the only way down that street and it's the only available lane.

tl;dr--the cause is probably rubbish signage that means any restrictions can't be enforced.

Longer version:

I haven't been down there for a while, but I take it that 'contraflow' operation is only temporary? None of the signage has been updated and the 'no entry' sign in your video is only temporary, so I assume it must be because of the building works at the southern end.

Most of the time with things like this, you find that enforcement is impossible because the signage is incorrect. I think that's the case here, too. I've never been a signage headbanger, but several required signs seem to be missing, e.g. diagram 959.1, which should be present at the start of the mandatory lane (where the solid white line begins, repeated at every junction where it is interrupted) and repeated at regular intervals, no more than 300m apart.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Traffic_Signs_Manual/Chapter_3/17

With this sign, a single yellow line inside the cycle lane isn't required (I think--but that's something I've never spent too much time looking up), and perhaps there used to be one at the Borough Road junction--it may have been vandalised or stolen. (I know of several cases where this happened because people had certain interests that meant they wanted to violate traffic orders that were in place--if signage is missing, they can't be fined and can get away with it at least for as long as enforcement action is batted back with that defence).

I get the impression that these signs may have been applied incorrectly over a longer distance--the position of the only one I can spot in Southwark Bridge Road south of the Borough Road junction is effectively that of a repeater, similar to the one you can see on the northbound side if you look north up Southwark Bridge Road from the Borough Road junction.

A single yellow line needs plates mounted on the footway along the line to advertise the modalities of its operation. I can't see any such plates here, only ones for the short stretch of double yellow line near the junction. I can't see it clearly on StreetView, but the plate near the Borough Road junction seems to say 'no parking at any time' and I can't read what it says underneath (in the white bit). If, as I assume, the other plate a little further south that's turned away from the carriageway (it should be turned around to face the carriageway again) is also for the double yellows, there don't seem to be any plates concerning the single yellow line section.

So, if that's right, and if StreetView is up-to-date, there is basically no signage here that would make the carriageway markings for the cycle lane or the single yellow line enforceable.

either some twat has allowed them to do so or isn't stopping them doing it. either way its fucking ridiculous and dangerous.

You can report it here ...

https://tfl.gov.uk/help-and-contact/contact-us-about-streets-and-other-road-issues

... if you feel strongly enough about it. It may, of course, be an issue all along 'CS7'. An engineer should look at the traffic orders and design a correct signage scheme. I don't think the temporary measures applied here would/should stand in the way of that, but TfL undoubtedly have a huge backlog of this sort of stuff.

You wait ages for an altercation with a London bus, and then...

Super close pass on Kennington Park Road. I yelled out, he stopped because he thought he'd hit me (which says something about how close he was), I emerged from his left and stopped across his nose to demonstrate with my hands how close he'd got.

This guy, to be fair to him, held up his hands - so although the initial offence felt worse/more dangerous I wasn't inclined to escalate it.

I don't think I've changed my riding style, but it feels like I'm getting into more trouble in recent weeks. Random fluctuation, weird seasonality, or something else?

Witnessed two cabbies getting into a screaming row in the middle of a junction. Should have stopped to film them.

Just come across this...fucking terrifying

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/shocking-moment-furious-cyclist-pulls-massive-zombie-knife-on-car-in-south-london-a3852896.html

f u c k i n g h e l l

#bloodycyclists

Looks like they knew each other in the full clip.

Oh dear. Bloke with bike does not a cyclist make... Lazy clickbait headline, brought to you by Google, Uber and the letter C

It is fucking terrifying though.

I've had quite a few positive experiences with Bristol bus drivers actually. I had one not that long ago thats a bit hard to describe, but basically a bus behind me kind of sped up a bit and almost pulled along side me where it wasn't really wide enough to pass. It turned out she was actually doing so to dissuade a driver (who probably couldn't see me) from pulling out of a side street into me. I didn't really work out what had happened till it was too late to give a big thumbs up, and probably just looked cross :-(

Last night's commute: here in Brissle we started hearing about an amber weather warning, and the message with it was that it starts at four, there may torrential rain and flash floods and the potential for loss of life. It was all very ominous and I thought about leaving early for home back in Cheltenham. 4 o'clock rolled around and granted there was a heavy shower, which then ended. When I left the office at 6:15 it wasn't even raining. So the bike part of the commute was fine, so far anyway.

It was when I got the Temple Meads that the shit hit the fan. A load of trains had been cancelled and the rest were running late because of 'forecasted severe weather'. So not actual severe weather, just forecasted. There was no high wind and it wasn't raining. My train was 15 minutes late which wasn't too bad, after they changed platforms suddenly, but on the train we were just trundling along. Eventually the train manager came on the tannoy to apologise because Network Rail had imposed a region-wide 50mph speed limit because of, you guessed it, forecasted severe weather. A train journey that was supposed to take 40 minutes took twice that. Absolute muppets. After all the down and gloom not a lot happened, no flash floods as far I am aware, no trees down, no lives lost.

Was raining back in Nam, dusted off the rain jacket and cycled home getting back very late, but at least the rain as warm. Spent the evening watching the lightening out my bedroom window. That bit was good at least.

fucking wasteman.

Disappointed they don't have the comments switched on.

the standard only does that for stories where someone a bike has "collided with a car / lorry ".

Interesting commute in the first rain we've had in 4 weeks. Constantly reminding myself not to corner hard. Nice oily rainbow coloured streams on the tarmac.