Cycling tip du jour, Wednesday: Never trust people to give-way

This means: give way to traffic
on major road. A full guide can be
found on the Highway Code
website

Had a nasty little scare on the journey in this morning. I was cycling along George Street just West of Marylebone High Street. Manchester Street was coming up on my left, where there's a set of give-way markings - meaning, of course, that anything coming out of Manchester Street should give way or "cede" to those on George Street. Taking the sign at its word, I cycled past it.

But to my horror, a pretty enormous truck, clearly belting down Manchester Street, appeared on my left, and seemed not to be stopping. I started shouting and waving my hand, and he did actually come to a rest, but with the cab of his truck about 2-3 feet extended beyond the give-way sign. He did nearly hit me, and I'm still not clear whether he actually intended to stop, or just habitually stops beyond the dotted line.

Whatever happens, it led me to think that a good cyclist should not go close to the curb, and indeed should be aiming wherever possible to cycle in the middle of the road so if a car or truck doesn't stop properly, you've a fighting chance of being seen.

And the other thing I learned - just because there's a give-way marking, it doesn't mean they're going to stop. Assume the worst.

Do us London cyclists know the rules of the road?

I believe that you can be safer as a cyclist in London if you are also a car driver. When you drive you quickly get a sense of when cyclists appear to "pop up" from nowhere. This is useful information when you are then on a bike.

The other thing - you get a good sense of which side of the road to drive on. Quite often, on the Regent's Canal on my way to work, I'm surprised to find that fellow cyclists don't seem to be riding on the left. I put this down to the fact that they don't want to fall into the canal, so ride as far away from it as possible.

But another explanation might be that people really aren't used to roads, and road signs. A couple of days ago I went past this bit of cycle lane near Tavistock Square in London. I was amazed by how many cyclists did not attempt to follow the directions:

To me, this means: "OK guys, you now have to go over to the right, to the other side of the raised bit of concrete. Oh and by the way, the cyclists coming from the other direction have to give way to you so don't worry, they'll stop..." In fact, that's not how most people read it - certainly the bit about "don't worry they'll stop".  So I guess I'm wrong. Or, perhaps, it's just a really confusing bit of signage.

Sorry, I'm beginning to sound a bit ranty. I'll be quiet now.