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Cambridge is a particular place because it has historically speaking an interesting geography
there are all these greens, and there's the river, and along the river and through the greens, there is a protected space where the cars do not go
and that is a space that the cyclists and pedestrians have been sharing quite successfully
They're constantly coming far to near to cyclists, far to near
I suppose the big one is, and I do understand it, is people cycling on pavements
I think the argument goes, the roads are dangerous so I'll cycle on the pavement
And there are different modes of transport on the road
there are pedestrians, cyclists and cars, and they share the road they share the common space
and there are conflicts, the pedestrians feel
that the cyclists are coming too fast and too close without acoustic warning and they are upset about that
if the cyclist rides on the pavement. And the cyclists are upset about some of the drivers who they feel sometimes they claim to a road in a manner that is inappropriate
and kind of marginalises the cyclists
I mean all forms of transport are equally valid in my mind
different mixes in different areas are obviously more appropriate
and in Cambridge it's somewhere where cyclists needs to be a big part of the mix
because the city just can't handle the amount of cars people want to put on the roads
From an environmental perspective, social, health perspective, economic perspective, all these things it's better to reduce the amount of cars on the road if possible
but you have to acknowledge that there is a time and a place where a car is necessary as well.
My wife asked me recently 'have you ever had a dangerous situation?'
we sometimes joke about this, and I was thinking about it and I have to say, I have not.
I have sometimes situations where my own assertiveness on the road
that is the way I will claim a certain amount on the road, when my own assertiveness on the road will
find, will be disapproved by other road users.
So I will have a bus driver, or taxi driver, or car driver, behind me, who many want to overtake me, but I find it may be a little too tight to overtake right there
and that he could maybe wait a little bit,and I'm not moving to the side because I can't control my bike so well in a narrow space
so I stay in front of the vehicle, and in that situation I tracked a little anger or aggression, but I stay safe, I stay very safe
I often find that cyclists who are running red lights will either be the extremely confident kind that are just going to bomb through the lights
and they're out of the junction before they have a chance to cause an accident
or people who just sort of turn round the corner and don't really get in anybody's way.
Very rarely have I seen a cyclist going through red lights that has actually almost hit a car, or almost been hit by a car
I don't see that very often to be honest.
Because I think that it's got to the point where cyclists are doing it to save their own lives
I mean it's almost presented as if cyclists are on some kind of kamikaze mission
to exterminate themselves, and it may look dangerous
but in fact the only sensible thing to take a junction like Northampton Street, is to go against the red light.
What should happen is to have a left filter green light just for cyclists to allow them to go ahead
I mean you don't want to die a hideous death being crushed by a bus, just so you can placate some irate person in the Cambridge Evening News who's got a thing about cyclists.
There's quite a lot of instances, just this morning I was cycling back and a 4x4 went bombing up Gilbert Road
went through red lights actually, and literally cut into a cycle lane not far in front of me
I can tell you stories of being hit by cars pulling out, buses running into cycle lanes and these sort of things.
I'm sure have had this experience when you're cycling along and somebody drives past you
very close to you, very dangerously, they hurtle onto the lights, and then you catch up with them at the lights
and then if you're sensible, turn the lights before they do.
If I'm cycling I can pull up to a junction, a traffic light junction and have 5 cyclists around me
and one goes through the lights, and that's the person people remember, just like if you're riding along a road
or walking along the road, on a bus and a car comes bombing past you at twice the speed limit, that's the one you remember as well.
So that you create these stereotypes and then you no longer the person riding on the bike, or in the car, or on the pavement
and you see a representative of a class and then you start hating them, and that's really where the problems begin
the press, the media they do like these hate campaigns and they like to put it forward, to put it to a point and they like to speak about the war on our streets
but what they should really do the press, is remind that we are not modes of traffic we are people.
I think everybody needs to take a step backwards, and I see some good cycling and some good driving, and I see some horrendous cycling and some horrendous driving
and I think everybody should try and stop blaming everybody else and start to see what they might change.
But there are also times where I think increased confidence amongst some of these cyclists would help as well
I mean I've seen people that pull off what they don't release are actually quite dangerous manoeuvres, because they're not
confident enough to get in the way of traffic, sometimes when the traffic lane isn't wide enough for a cyclist and a car to
sit next to each other, people are hugging the kerb so much that it is kind of invites cars to try their luck
sometimes you got to just have the confidence to say 'no, you can wait for me', which I know doesn't make drivers happy, any more than it does sitting behind a car that's doing the same speed.
The understanding that a lot of cyclists don't drive
a lot of cyclists are too young to drive
try and give them extra space and if in doubt just take your foot of the accelerator and let the bike get out of the way
the chances are that the cyclist may make a mistake.
I cycle like I drive, because I am well familar with the high road code, I act as if I am in a car and I find that is the best way
But there are a lot of cyclists who don't know how a car operates affectively, which means it's harder to anticipate what cars are going to do at junctions
and these sorts of things. So having that sort of information available in a way that makes people feel comfortable
using it as opposed to sounding like condescending kind of like lessons on how to cycle, I think that would be a valuable thing.
You have this guy honk behind you allright, the only one you have to fear is the one that doesn't see you
The one who honks behind you he will never touch you, he will be perfectly okay, he will be a little bit angry, but he will not pose a danger.
By the token that all cyclists should be lit up like Christmas trees, you could say that all pedestrians should also be wearing high visible jackets and helmets encase they might get hit
I think the answer is again back in the realm of the motorist who has to just drive more slowly, look more carefully
and if somebody does appear very very quickly in front of you, well you have to be going at the right speed to stop
and in most cases that does work.
Many people think that cycling is easy, 'I can pedal, I move forward, it's easy I'm not falling off'
And that sense of ease is mistaken because what you really need to understand is how to act in traffic
how to move in traffic, how to interact with traffic. What exposes cyclists to dangerous situations
and involves them in dangerous situations is that kind of gut feeling fear that they have
they have the fear of traffic then they go to the side of the street, they ride along the parked cars, and then they allow cars to overtake them
at high speed because they move far to the side of the road, and then it doesn't look so good.
Altogether cycling is not dangerous, it is not dangerous, people say cycling will add years to your life and not take years away from you
cycling is a good idea