2010-03-09 - Rider Down/Fatality, Weston St x Snowsfield

First you say you "get the hump with bikes when there is a bike lane and bikes dont use them", and then you say you get the hump "when we come to traffic lights how they come up the inside to get to the front". You can't have it both ways. It is precisely the stupidly located bike lanes that lead riders up the inside at traffic lights. I should draw your attention to the fact that there is no compulsion on the part of bikes to use bike lanes - and given the useless and dangerous location of most of them its no surprise that experienced cyclists avoid them, choosing the much safer option of riding in (and as part of) the traffic. The only compulsion is on the part of motorists to keep out of those bike lanes bordered with a solid line.

Couldn't have put it better.

You as a cyclist surely know that cyclists move to the front in order to stay safe, and make sure the have been seen, and to make sure they can see the hazards ahead. It's a lot less risk having only traffic behind you than having traffic both front and behind.

I disagree somewhat--there is often no additional risk associated with staying in the queue, as long as you're positioned in the primary position, as you'll still be very visible to people queued up behind you. It depends on the queue--you can't generalise completely. There will undoubtedly be the odd queue in which safety is a concern, but generally I wouldn't over-egg that point.

Being in front also reduces the amount of poisonous filth you are forced to inhale.

That's certainly a major concern, especially for people with an acute sense of smell, and people with bad lungs.

If you don't know this then I recommend you get some cycle training.

Yes, all drivers should have cycle training--it should become part of the driving test.

I'm not a fit or fast rider, but I assure you when the lights go green I will accelerate a lot faster than a big heavy truck, then I'll be travelling at speeds of between 16 and 25 mph depending on gradients and traffic. Being faster than motorised traffic is why I and so many others ride a bike! As you have already pointed out the futility of overtaking the cyclists, seeing as there's always another red light coming up, why don't you just take it easy and stay safely behind them instead of wasting fuel and endangering lives by pointlessly overtaking them.

Spot on, it's uneven speeds that create dangerous situations. Evening out speeds is the major task.

If the saving of having fewer trucks killing cyclists is higher than the cost of drivers being paid to work nightshifts then there's no economic reason not to ban trucks in the peak hours.

The proposal wouldn't necessarily be to have heavy goods traffic moved back to the night-time (that's caused a fair few problems in the past), but to have it more evenly distributed during the day. But how exactly to make it work is a subject for discussion.