It is fairly common for London cyclists to jump the red lights, and some activists are even advocating that as a safer way of getting across the junctions.
I don't think that's right and usually wait behind the vehicles instead of trying to make it to an ASL and beyond... however, when I'm sure that the road is clear, I don't bother waiting. I didn't stop on the fading amber lights today on my way to work and as it usually happens when you think no one is paying attention, I was stopped by police.
To my surprise instead of being given a fine (which is £30, by the way) I was asked if I had 15 minutes to spare for a training on cycling safety. Certainly I agreed (and got a revenge as the policewoman showing me the way crossed the same empty road on red lights as well).
I've heard before about that campaign started after the Bow roundabout collisions and protests organised by cycling community, but never seen it in North London. Basically, on this training you're asked to get into the driver's seat of an HGV to see how (in)visible are you for them (officers in hi viz and ordinary clothes walk around the cabin to provide an example).
The lorry used for demonstration had its usual blind spots (right in front of the vehicle and by its left front wheel) covered by two smaller square mirrors you can see on the photo below:
The problem is these mirrors are only mandatory since 2007, and owners of the lorries registered earlier are not required to fit them. The other problem is that they provide a very distorted image and dark clothes are really hard to see in them - that's something I can now confirm. That where the hated hi viz vests thanks to which you can instantly recognise a Londoner on a random cycling photo come useful as the yellow spot has way more chances to catch driver's eye.
I tried to make a point that still it only makes sense if driver actually bothers to look in many mirrors they've got, and the necessity to be equipped and dressed properly puts many people off cycling at all, but I was still hurrying to the office and other people were waiting as well, so I didn't start a long argument.
I work in Shoreditch now where cycling is very popular - the photo below shows what a typical crossing look like when people go to work or return home - so there is nothing wrong with Hackney council running campaigns like this. Also it definitely has something to do with the upcoming mayoral elections and Boris Johnson trying to reclaim his "cycling enthusiast" reputation, but whatever the reason is, it's a good thing.
So if anyone have never driven an HGV before and is curious, don't hesitate to stop if you see a group of policemen near a lorry and ask for a training. That's an interesting insight.
For a city as big as London it is hard to stay slow, relaxed and bike-friendly. Activists praise very well organised facilities of Amsterdam and Copenhagen, but it's usually omitted that the population of those two cities combined makes only 15% of the number of Londoners. So yes, maybe you couldn't expect that much in the given circumstances. Those who think otherwise still were witnessing that it was getting a bit better every single year. The death toll for cyclists has been continually decreasing: 21 lethal accidents in 2005, 19 in 2006, 15 in 2007 and 2008, then 13 in 2009, then only 10 in 2010. One too many, but the tendency was optimistic, especially considering that every year more and more people were getting involved as cycling gained its former popularity back.
As a mayor of London, Boris Johnson started with very inspiring pledges. Commuting by bike himself, he established the bike hire scheme (hence the unofficial but widely used name, BorisBikes), backed campaigns encouraging people to get on two wheels and introduced dedicated bike lanes, so called "cycle superhighways". Maybe it wasn't that bad after all.
So it went like that. Until 2011:
It's only November now, it's not snowing or even raining much, and yet there are already 15 cyclists killed on the streets by motorised vehicles - a regrettable record! Tensions were also risen by the contradictory TfL decisions over the redesign of several key junctions and "road bottlenecks", Blackfriars bridge to name. More of that, the city authorities (and "the cycling enthusiast" mayor himself) kept saying "No" to any suggestions, simply declining the existence of the problem.
In last three weeks, two people got killed on the same junction, and even more, on the very much celebrated "cycle superhighway", which suddenly turned out to be nothing more than a stripe of blue paint offering false feeling of protection.
If you managed to forget about the reasons of the event, it was pleasant and smooth. It was different from the SkyRide experience as this time I was the one being marshalled having enough time to ring the bell and raise hand to greet cheering bystanders. Many thanks to today's marshals blocking the roads for us and enduring the yelling motorists' aggression (poor lads, today they reached their undoubtedly urgent Saturday destinations 5 or even 10 minutes later).
I only have videos of minutes before start and finish, and they don't provide the full idea of the event scale. More informative videos are easy to find though (search for #tourdudanger hashtags):
Some pictures (peek into the full Flickr set if interested):
Now a few tips to stay safe. They're trivial and most likely you already know them, but I'm still typing as it should also help me remember these points better myself:
Be careful on left turns - it's surprising but most accidents happen on left turns rather than on more complex right ones requiring your to negotiate through lanes. If you're turning together with a large vehicle as a bus or a lorry, it can get too close to pavement with its long body, hitting you eventually. And if you're not taking a turn moving forward through a junction, it's even more dangerous as you need to make absolutely sure nobody is going to take that turn from the lane right to you. Hence always try to stay behind (not even in front of, when possible, for it wasn't enough for some victims) the larger vehicles when passing junctions.
Ladies, take extra care - most of the victims are females, e.g. 10 out of 13 in 2009. I don't know why, but it is a very disturbing fact considering that there are not so many women cycling at all. So if you're a woman, please think what in your road behaviour could you improve. If you're male, however, it's worth thinking as well.
Consider wearing a helmet - I can understand "Dutch-style" activists who are against wearing lycra and helmets as it turns casual cycling into something you need to be prepared for with a special set of clothes, shoes and stuff, making actually taking a bus a lesser hassle. As to me, lycra is too much indeed, and certainly helmet won't help you if you get run over. Still, if you're just knocked off your bike, it might help you get away with that. Incidents like that also happen. And fasten your chinstrap - many people have them dangling way below their chins rendering their helmets almost useless.
Another thing to remember is that we're having troubles also because of more people cycling, more than ever in last years. I can see that even with my short experience of living in London, there are more and more people on the roads. So don't be afraid and join us. It's fun.
P.S. I was recording the route, see it here. It's not very accurate near the Hyde park - my phone lost the signal there for some reason, so it just shows a straight way through Green park - but apart from that it's fine.
Update: You can see me twice (blue helmet, black beard) in BBC report starting from 31s and 59s.
Update: More decent and numerous photos from another participant (found myself there as well).
An old and yet never ending argument about the necessity of cycling helmets is closed for me now as I saw a young girl today lying at the middle of the Marylebone road near her fallen bike, scarily motionless, her head in a puddle of blood. Apparently she hasn't been run over, more like knocked off her bicycle, and it's hard to tell for sure but to me it looked like the helmet could have been very helpful. I agree that the serious accidents happen mostly when a heavy vehicle traps the victim under its wheel, and in that case even an army helmet is useless. But believe me, that was still a terrible and very convincing scene to witness. Hope the girl is alive and will get well.
I also experienced a very disturbing feeling of my own feebleness - I don't possess any practical first aid knowledge so it was silly just to pass by and even more ridiculous just to stay and stare. Some man from the public gathered was doing something to the unlucky cyclist, and just to do anything instead of simply standing I called an ambulance while being sure it has been already done (and indeed was told they were already on their way). Now I want to get time to attend a special course or something - being just a helpless observer is very uneasy.
Only two days since the last lethal accident. London is still much safer than many other cities of its size, but be careful for it pays off.
Anyway, I managed to get to the life drawing class on time (usually I don't manage to make it there but today got off the office earlier). It's been several months since my last visit so everything felt new once again, plus there was plenty of space and thus a lot of available easels.
I used my Sharpie pen together with a charcoal this time and also made some smaller sketches in my notebook.
As usually, the N1 area is vividly busy even at the evening. I've been suspecting for a long time that every night is a Friday night there.
Today I volunteered as a cycle marshal for the annual so-called Sky Ride event. Basically, on that day main roads are closed to traffic from the Buckingham palace up to the Tower of London, and less experienced cyclists are given an opportunity to ride in the centre.
It is still needed though to get to those closed central streets, and that's what marshals are needed for. People gather in groups all over the city and then are safely escorted to the destination, and our team's task was to get locals from Hackney to Blackfriars.
I was concerned a bit about my own confidence despite taking the planned route yesterday on my own as I had never before cycled in a group. Turned out to be not very hard though I got confused several times blocking the wrong lanes (hopefully I still was more help than hassle to other participants and to the ride leader).
I can recommend volunteering for similar activities to any regular cyclist because even if you're experienced enough the necessity to look after others still provides some valuable insights on what's going on around on the road (as you usually don't pay much attention to that). I can probably tell it widens your perception in some way. You'll find yourself to be much more attentive on junctions, when overtaking etc. - even if you're on your own.
Also, the feeling when after getting though traffic you suddenly see literally an endless flow of cyclists after another turn is very pleasing and inspiring. London is not considered to be very cycle friendly comparing to European capitals, and it is good indeed to learn that the potential is still high and many people are ready to ditch their cars and public transportation:
I still keep misreading those big white triangles for opposite direction arrows, and sometimes that's very confusing:
To be honest, I don't even know what do they stand for. My only idea is that it's an invitation to look around before moving forward, so the apex is for the eye and so the triangle is the field of view (sounds like a weird explanation, doesn't it?)
Back in the days when I was still struggling with the left-hand traffic mistaking with the direction when triangles were the only indicators happened more often to me than I'd rather like.
It looks like I've found a place to host the script which generates OVI Maps landmarks for London cycle hire. Before, every free hosting I tried turned out to have some nasty limitations (like advertisement snippets corrupting the output) or blocked the script in time due to its need to access other site page to scrape the data from. But this one looks okay (so far).
So, fingers crossed, no more repeating updates. When you need to update the docking stations locations in your Nokia phone, just follow this link and download a fresh LDB file (further instructions stay the same).
Sorry for delaying the update for the Cycle Hire docking stations coordinates, and thanks to the one of you who has reminded me today about that.
So, the Fusion table was updated (you can get the CSV and KML versions using its menu), and the new LDB landmarks pack to use with Nokia OVI Maps is here as well:
Stations added in this update:
Alfred Place, Bloomsbury
Butler Place, Westminster
Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia
City Road, Angel
Farm Street, Mayfair
Frith Street, Soho
Harriet Street, Knightsbridge
Harrowby Street, Marylebone
High Holborn , Covent Garden
Howland Street, Fitzrovia
Kensington Town Hall, Kensington
King Edward Walk, Waterloo
Lord's, St. John's Wood
Marloes Road, Kensington
Millbank Tower, Pimlico
Millennium Hotel, Mayfair
Moor Street, Soho
Northumberland Avenue, Strand
Prince Consort Road, Knightsbridge
Rathbone Street, Fitzrovia
Royal College Street, Camden Town
Sardinia Street, Holborn
Southampton Street, Strand
Stanhope Gate, Mayfair
Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair
Victoria Embankment, Temple
Waterloo Bridge, South Bank
Waterloo Station 1, Waterloo
Waterloo Station 2, Waterloo
Waterloo Station 3, Waterloo
Stations removed:
Cheapside, Bank
As I no longer have a Nokia phone to test the OVI Maps coordinates pack, feel free to complain if you face any problems with it.
Update: for an up-to-date version please see the new dynamic solution.
Also, it is impossible to underestimate the importance of this site.
Still all of that above is no more than a theoretical knowledge to me for the time being. Right on the day before the last Tube strike I somehow managed to crack the rear wheel rim - how's that for ironic considering that on the previous strike I got the same wheel punctured. So until the new wheel arrives which may take weeks due to its peculiarity I mind the doors again.
By the way, I have updated Bankers Bike coordinates table I wrote about in August. The Fusion table URL is the same, so is the KML link, and if you use Nokia Ovi maps you need to download the landmarks again and follow the same import instructions as before:
Download updated landmarks database for Nokia Ovi maps:
The TfL Cycle Hire Map recently launched is very handy but still some things could be improved - it is tricky for a casual user to get the list of the stations with their coordinates for offline use. Also, there is no visible way of importing those coordinates into a GPS navigator - you're tied to the TfL website or Google Maps in the best case. So I've done some minor scripting to retrieve the information and published it:
Using Fusion Tables, you can create your own mashups and visualizations in several clicks - e.g. you can add a map like the one below to your page (just select "Visualize" / "Map" and customize your settings):
Also, you can easily get the same table in KML format or as a plain CSV (just select "File" / "Export" to get a CSV file).
What's it all about? With the raw data received in KML or CSV form you can feed those coordinates to almost any navigation system you use with little efforts to change the format to the one your device supports.
For example, here you can download a file for Nokia OVI maps I've created in 5 minutes. To add the docking stations coordinates to your Nokia phone, you need to copy this file to your device, then install free LmManager app and use its "Import" feature to put them all into your landmarks (for some yet unknown reason they may appear uncategorised but it's a 15 seconds deal to select them all in the standard Landmarks application and categorize in a bundle).
As a result, now you can navigate to the nearest station without internet connection required.
Upd. Pay attention that these are only coordinates, with no current state information provided. If you want to see the number of bikes and docking slots available at the moment, the best map you need is here (on the contrary to the official TfL version it shows the numbers right in the marker icons).
