This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Even head mounted doesn't get most. I can cycle up the inside of queuing traffic and count half a dozen drivers using the mobile phone but when I review the video from my helmet mounted GoPro most of them aren't visible. Human eyes dart around a crazy amount and your peripheral vision is very wide screen.

If I spot it, I just give a gentle tap on the window and make sure they know I've clocked them, and how easy it is to see.
Made some lady jump out of her skin the other day. We were stopped at some lights, cyclists all around her, she was just gazing down at it, held next to her thigh....lights changed, I knocked, she jumped and the colour drained from her face. Lovely stuff.
I reckon its almost as useful as recording it in terms of deterrent- and lots less admin.

Gentle tap or not that's not gonna go down well with certain drivers. Sadly "touch my car and i'll fuck you up" seems totally acceptable by some.

Green lane has been shut to traffic since before Christmas and it is a long diversion, so fuck it. Actually it wasn’t too bad, it is about 100m long though. I didn’t find the massive pothole that’s meant to be under there anyway.

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Wooof. Get the pedalo out

Fair enough. Tbh the admin of going through the footage would be a pain.

Not technically part of my commute, but.
In the morning I park my bike in the corridor at work while I sort out some stuff, I’m one of the first in, usually this is not an issue, but today I heard a big bang and a shout/scream. I stuck my head out of the office door to find a colleague laying on the floor with a fire extinguisher hose and bottle wrapped around their arm and my bike on top of them. Turns out they thought it would be funny to steal my bike and hide it round the corner. They’d not ridden fixed before so stacked it and made a grab for something to stop them falling. Obviously fire extinguishers come off the wall very easily and he’d managed to smack himself in the eye with it. He apologised and said if there’s any damage he’ll pay. I saw him a minute ago and I think he’s going to have a black eye tonight. I think he’s paid enough:)

That would trigger a full on H&S post mortem here!!!

TBH if we weren’t the only two people on site at 05.30 it would be a major, at least a 4 form 2 interview situation here as well.

Instant karma. Love it.

and they decided to ride it rather than push it?
very silly.

Soggy one tonight! I felt very smug and dry in my new bargain Wiggle clearance Endura waterproof though. Had a quick chat with someone at the lights in Deptford who spotted my forum patch.
I've been riding a borrowed Buzzbike for the last few days so it was nice to get back on my Genesis which ways significantly less than 14kg, felt like I was flying in comparison.

chatted to a friendly commuter from hyde park to chelsea bridge this eve. He was riding a red bike with cantilever brakes that didn't work too well in this weather...Not sure if he's on here, but if he is - cheers for the company!

Closest I’ve ever been to being hit by a bus this morning.

Joining a main road from t junction. Didn’t notice there was one lane closed and the bus hurtling down the ‘wrong side’ of the road. I just fit between curb and bus. Whole body was shaking from adrenaline afterwards. Be safe out there.

Had a similar experience along Princes St (just after the Bank junction), except I was the one going down the wrong side of the road because works are commonly blocking off the left lane (heading north) very dangerously at the bend, so you have to go around the works on the wrong lane in a fucking blind corner for anyone coming the other way, which in my case also happened to be a bus with no intention of slowing even after seeing me (it was accurately judged but still scary as hell; was wondering what he'd have done if I was a car).

Is there any way this can be reported and rectified, and who to? It's not a permanent thing but the lane is blocked off more often than not.

Are you sure the northbound lane wasn't completely closed? If it wasn't, there should have been temporary traffic lights. I have to say I'd be very surprised if contractors made a mistake like how you describe it, but if they did you could always contact the City's Highways department.

https://mycity.cityoflondon.gov.uk/en/service/Contact_the_City?sid=17

(Hope this works without clicking through to there.)

Glad there wasn't a crash.

Doesn’t look closed to me. Bloody dangerous since you can't tell if a car is coming from the other side the moment you've started down, and from the other side you can't see if there's anything in the lane when you're crossing the traffic light and rounding the bend.

How this has been tolerated for so long, without any crash so far, is beyond me. Thanks for the link - have submitted an enquiry.

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Ah, it's outside a development site, obviously to accommodate vehicles delivering or picking up, not roadworks. That's really not a good arrangement. I don't know if there are clear guidelines covering this sort of thing, but with roadworks there are--you'd have to put temporary traffic lights in. I'll see if I can find anything.

Hm, I've never looked this up before and can't find anything with the first couple of searches that come to mind. The arrangement must be subject to a traffic order, and this must have been made by the highway authority, i.e. the City (e.g., the bus stop is clearly closed). I'm not sure why they may have thought this acceptable when roadworks of this size would have much more elaborate arrangements around them. I doubt it was set up incorrectly.

Setting up temporary traffic management measures is more difficult if large vehicles have to access the space around which you might want to manage traffic, but you mainly have to make a longer site. I suppose it may in part be because of Bank junction being partially filtered and there not being as much through motor traffic as there used to be, but yes, not a good arrangement. Hope you get something sensible back from your query.

There is no way those roadworks meet the Roads and Street Works Act 1991. I bet they have at best a temporary lane closure order. Which means you can block the lane for a short time and they are just leaving signs out all the time.

Thanks. I don't know the law, only the guidance arising from it.

I wonder if City Highways will come back with anything.

congratulations to the Boris biker and the Rapha MAMIL on Constitution Hill this morning who had a near-miss followed by verbals which then escalated to spitting at each other and swerving into oncoming cyclists. Last seen chasing each other through Green Park. Grow up you idiots

An interesting one in Ball's Pond Road just east of the Mildmay Park junction. The eastbound lane was barriered off and only the two westbound lanes open. There was clear 'Road closed' signage facing west. I thought that meant the eastbound direction was not available; rather, what happened was that drivers drove eastbound along the outer westbound lane and the other westbound lane was used, well, westbound. I didn't get too close a look, but I got the impression that this wasn't as intended.

Sounds about right. Normally the way to tell if a road is closed is the cones/signage is flat across the lane ie a barricade. Where was a lane closure/narrowing of a lane is tapered ie a guide to ease flow. Of course cones can be moved or rearranged. If there is a road closed sign in these parts (Norfolk) they are usually accompanied by a cctv anpr camera.

Yes, it was flat across and looked clear to me. What was interesting was that even though people were doing it wrong, everyone seemed to be doing it wrong (except for some drivers who turned left into Mildmay Park when they saw the sign, but of course they didn't get in the way), and so it 'worked'. Westbound drivers didn't use the middle lane, eastbound drivers did.