Cycle campaigning

As I said in another thread, it could well be that the Mayor was advised not to play to the audience at the hustings, but to the wider audience watching the BBC report on TV. It could be political calculation--the views he expressed are very widespread. There is a growing perception of 'cyclists' as smug and self-righteous; perhaps his analysts don't believe that the 'cycling vote' (if enough people really vote on this basis) will be significant. I don't really believe that he would go into such a meeting and misjudge the mood of the audience--it's not really what he usually does. We'll see on Thursday/Friday.

With regards the size of the cycling vote, I'm certain that all the parties are very aware of Londoners on Bikes, and that they have over 6,000 people signed up. I suspect that there are a number of other people who are aware of them, and watching them for a voting recommendation.

Guys,

In terms of the cycling vote are we not seeing the flexing of our muscles with the Addison Lee campaign which if we win it will put pay to the view that cyclists are marginal?

On the Cycling Mayor Hustings yesterday as someone who was there I was gobsmacked when Boris made the comment about Dreadlocked Cyclists even if you take Olivers points that a lot of people think that way they would probably be voting for Boris anyway and what he did was ailienate the middle ground who he should be aiming to get on side. Another thing being there seeing the candidates in the flesh of all the candidates Boris was clearly most on edge he spent most of the time lording lower KSI's under him without explaining what a KSI is. I think it means Killed or Seriously Injured.

Zebs

The authorities still only act on KSIs, the proactive work done by 'interest groups' is still kind of invisible to the mainstream.
When gov./l.a. reverse their reactive stance and start looking at road danger at source it will be progress.
And I just want to add I saw loads of drivers on the phone today - its almost default now-traffic queues, out come the phones.
Fucking unnacceptable so get off cyclists case Bojo

Bike Biz breaks press embargo - Prepare for red-top hate: IAM says half of all cyclists run red lights

Institute of Advanced Motorists to release survey claiming 57% of all cyclists run reds. IAM refuses to add motorist breaches.

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/ready-for-red-top-hate-as-iam-says-half-of-all-cyclists-run-red-lights/013042

Oh for fuck sake, what up with the IAM now? they're generally quite good when it come to cyclists and now they're adding fuel to the fire.

56% is quite high, I'd says definitely less than that.

irrelevant, Bike biz should know better to start crowing, but then who runs Bike biz?
carry on.

who runs Bike biz?

Carlton Reid aka ipayroadtax

http://ipayroadtax.com/
tl:dr

The questions asked for that a truly horrible, it is essentially meaningless. Far too much chance overlap in the categories.

And then there are the categories which allow a very generous range of headlines/conclusions to be applied as mentioned above. Yes 56% report jumping a red, so what? To what amount has scoiety been harmed by this? You cannot tell from this questionnaire.

Finally the fact it is a self reported unverified web survey confirms it is unreliable.

Sorry for slightly incoherent ramble, too much tea today.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/05/navigating-europes-most-congested-city-bike/2030/

Los Angeles

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/us/in-los-angeles-drivers-and-bicyclists-learn-to-co-exist.html?ref=us

Hammersmith Bridge
http://lcc.org.uk/articles/serious-crash-on-hammersmith-bridge-prompts-cyclists-to-organise-calm-the-bridge-protest-ride

I like this one. Calming drivers by taking the lane over the bridge. We should do this all over London one morning

^ agree with the idea, reality being this may just antagonise rather than calm. Be interested to know how it went?

Many things antagonise drivers' who believe people on bikes shouldn't get in their way which is why they hoot swear and scare riders into riding in less visible positions where the drivers don't see them and then they claim smidsy when the knock a rider down

Fully understand that, is potentially antagonizing even more the solution? There'll always be a fine line between raising awareness and pissing people off. I don't have a viable alternative to offer, but it'd be nice to know if this was run in such a way that it did more of the former not the latter.

My take on it is that the issue is with managing drivers expectations. In London more drivers do expect to see riders using the roads more assertively so to me there seems less conflict. People who visit London from the provinces do note how patient drivers here are. If every day riders rode centre of the lane over hammersmith (and tower bridge) drivers would just accept it

Understand your theory, not necessarily in agreement still, there's a few generalisations there. As an occasional visitor I've not noticed much difference in general driver behaviour, there's a sliding scale from polite through to asshole just like in other towns and cities. There could well be a few more assholes if this morning wasn't well thought out.

rhb, the ride this morning obviously antagonised drivers, but we're talking about in general, which won't antagonised drivers (apart from the idiot, but then, bad seeds in apple).

This is all.

Rotten apples
or
bad seeds
wac

Given the current circumstance, warc would be better suited.

'kinel Ed, there's one huge contradiction there for sure. All the antagonised drivers from this morning are likely to recall that feeling next time they see a cyclist in primary position. This cannot necessarily be a good outcome.

At least they'll see the cyclist in primary position

rhb, from my experience, the drivers will forget the incident after five minutes.

I'm pretty sure they can tell the difference between a group of cyclists on a protest ride between a couple of cyclists commuting.

they will remember it if you pressed it further by trying to talk to them/demanding them to stop/etc.

^^ Yup, and could associate that with being pissed off, so more likely leading to intolerance and aggressive behaviour towards that cyclist.

rhb, from my experience, the drivers will forget the incident after five minutes.

I'm pretty sure they can tell the difference between a group of cyclists on a protest ride between a couple of cyclists commuting.

they will remember it if you pressed it further by trying to talk to them/demanding them to stop/etc.

You only have to read the comments on cycling stories in the Daily Hate to understand some drivers never forget cyclists behaviour.

Antagonism is not the way forward.