Addison Lee drivers told to defy bus lane law (and to just say SMIDSY)

It isn't.

It's not equal, there are TfL CCTV everywhere. "Your word against his" applies when there are no other records of something, but CCTV covers pretty much all of London's main roads and therefore it's "Your word + CCTV record, against his".

Now being a bit devils advocate as experience makes me wonder if the CCTV is checked. Getting knocked off (the motorbike) on busy junctions with cameras and being told that the cameras weren't recorded. Or that if there is a red route/bus lane the only monitoring is for issue of fines.

The film does seem to be available for somethings.

I had a meeting with one of his senior managers a few months back. I think it would be unprofessional of me to post here what they said about him.

I reckon they ALL criticised his suits. Or they just said he was a tit.

I only see these things happen a few times a month during the 500+mi that I ride each month.

It must be something to do with where you ride I guess.

Often though that but didn't happen in York when I was riding around there. Even had some training and a few things were pointed out such as road positioning at junctions but no issue with road positioning on the road.

fair enough, but the stats are not good either tho, isn't cycling growing out of necessity?

It depends on how you look at them--of course there are too many crashes, and we should always strive to reduce them, especially fatalities and serious injuries.

Numbers can never do justice to the devastation of someone being killed while travelling, or to how a serious injury can wreck someone's life for years. However, London's a busy place--over 20 million trips are made in London every day, out of which an estimated 500,000-600,000 are by pedal cycle. That means around 200 million trips by bike in London per year.

The latest crash stats that are available are here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/Cycling/casualties-in-greater-london-2010.pdf

These result in roughly 400 KSI (killed and seriously injured) per year (2010 had 457, which was very high), out of which 10-20 are fatal crashes (there is some under-reporting of serious injuries). Slight injuries are ones which don't require hospitalisation and are at around 3,500 per year (there is strong evidence of under-reporting of slight injuries and they are thought to be much higher).

So, in terms of actual likelihood of a crash, that's pretty low. However, people are obviously also very concerned about near-misses and general behaviour of other street users, which is often perceived to be poor in London. I have to say that I find London drivers on the whole to be far more alert to cyclists than in other cities I've ridden in, and indeed out in the countryside.

All that said, it is certainly clear that we have had a setback in the quality of London's transport policy in the last couple of years.

It must be something to do with where you ride I guess.

Anecdote tiem:

These things seem to happen disproportionately more often to lynx than they do me, even if we're riding about at the same time on the same roads around the same drivers. One of my theories as to why this might be is that I get less angry about poor driving than he does, so I've forgotten all about it after five minutes.

People who get angry about shit driving will bear a grudge for miles and miles and hours and hours and then develop a perception bias because of it, so they're more likely to be looking for it and remembering it and stewing about it in a frothy rage.

next thing,

Addison Lee will say they are not abiding by air traffic control, Instrument Flight Rules, and using any IFR routes they fancy.

They're certainly not sticking to the rules that state that anyone in charge of a motor vehicle has to have a valid licence. Most of their drivers would have trouble with a dodgem.

Anecdote tiem:

These things seem to happen disproportionately more often to lynx than they do me, even if we're riding about at the same time on the same roads around the same drivers. One of my theories as to why this might be is that I get less angry about poor driving than he does, so I've forgotten all about it after five minutes.

People who get angry about shit driving will bear a grudge for miles and miles and hours and hours and then develop a perception bias because of it, so they're more likely to be looking for it and remembering it and stewing about it in a frothy rage.

Yes. We all know of other people on here who seem to get in more than their fare share of scrapes. And as for Addison Lee, they have 3.500 vehicles, all of them easily recognisable so that's probably why people remember when their drivers do something silly rather than because their drivers are worse than other mini-cab drivers, or possibly drivers in general.
There are still arseholes who go on about women drivers; because they are looking out for them and remembering every incident.
Generally anyone who is paid to drive their vehicle is under pressure to get where they are going as quickly as they can - this includes pushbike couriers - and are more likely to be impatient and reckless.

One of them's even got a "Cunt" sticker on the back.

Anecdote tiem:

These things seem to happen disproportionately more often to lynx than they do me, even if we're riding about at the same time on the same roads around the same drivers. One of my theories as to why this might be is that I get less angry about poor driving than he does, so I've forgotten all about it after five minutes.

People who get angry about shit driving will bear a grudge for miles and miles and hours and hours and then develop a perception bias because of it, so they're more likely to be looking for it and remembering it and stewing about it in a frothy rage.

Or, you just don't notice. Like that chap on the elephant and castle roundabout.

Or I am a magnet, like the almost head on with a black cab going to wrong way down a one way street.

One of them's even got a "Cunt" sticker on the back.

Two of them do, although I would imagine that they have been spotted and removed by now.......... Sadly

A cunt is a beautiful thing.

Or, you just don't notice. Like that chap on the elephant and castle roundabout.

Or I am a magnet, like the almost head on with a black cab going to wrong way down a one way street.

I did notice the guy on E&C roundabout, I just didn't get upset about him. You, OTOH, followed him round the roundabout so you could have an altercation with him. Frothy rage. It's bad for you.

Frothy rage.

Euph?

Euph?

It's like a crywank, but angrier and more painful.

I did notice the guy on E&C roundabout, I just didn't get upset about him. You, OTOH, followed him round the roundabout so you could have an altercation with him. Frothy rage. It's bad for you.

Don't know what you thought, I avoided him as I decided that idiot in metal box would be bad for my health, then wondered what happened.

It's like a crywank, but angrier and more painful.

Does it end with a dramatic reconstruction of the cum flinging scene from Silence of the Lambs?

Does it end with a dramatic reconstruction of the cum flinging scene from Silence of the Lambs?

I'd hope not, bad driving only gets worse when the view out of the windscreen is obscured.

Or I am a magnet, like the almost head on with a black cab going to wrong way down a one way street.

The black cab was going the wrong way down a one way street ?

The black cab was going the wrong way down a one way street ?

Yep near elephant and castle from blackfriars.

A moment of what happened was I going down the wrong way on the street and had to check. It was a little moment of trying to get what was going on.

I'd hope not, bad driving only gets worse when the view out of the windscreen is obscured.

Then how is the object of your rage know how frothy it is?

The knowledge is a pointless rite of passage.

It doesn't make black cabs better, it doesn't make the drivers better, it doesn't make journeys faster or more comfortable.

It does add a layer of money-making bureaucracy, and allows the PCO to maintain their anti-competitive monopoly and monopsony, and it also gives cabbies a massive fucking sense of entitlement and self-righteousness.

But it does mean they can drive through central London without their eyes fixed on sat navs. Which in my opinion represent a far greater danger to cyclists than drivers on phones.
I cannot understand why sat-navs are not banned in Central London. If you don't know where you are going, you should not be a cab driver, or even really in a car

I cannot understand why sat-navs are not banned in Central London.

maybe it's because muppets reading an A3 map of great britain with a small map of central london is not really a better option.