The most dangerous part of my journey ... just got confusing too

I find that the little cycle lane which goes along the edge of Tavistock Square in WC1 is incredibly dangerous. Cars turn across the cycle path without looking - all the time.

Now, they're digging things up too. And it's just ... chaos. Pedestrians are meant to go over to the other pavement, but of course they don't. It makes for quite a comic ride. I recorded me going through it - and apologies for saying "cyclists, cyclists" so many times - I've gone a bit mad. But this might explain why.

Traffic lights - new evidence that actually we're quite law abiding

I blogged on Tuesday about how most cyclists in London now ignore red lights, unless they're going into the path of oncoming traffic (in other words, the principle of waiting at reds has gone, it's all just about expediency). But today I went to the exact same set of lights at roughly the same time of morning - and lo and behold - I counted 6 cyclists (including me) all waiting patiently for the light to go green. And we all waited the full time. There was one cyclist who didn't bother to stop at all, but still - the majority did stop. So bang goes my theory. Which I'm glad has gone bang. No video evidence today as I hadn't charged my little camera.

One other incident I can't help recounting. I had stopped at a pretty busy intersection (it's the one on Old Street where the pub called the Hat and Feathers is). I was vaguely conscious of a kid on a scooter in front of me, and another one, slightly older on one of those "surf scooters". Then I saw a guy in a big truck leaning out of his window shouting at the boys' dad, berating him, I think, for letting his kids go across one of the most dangerous junctions in London. To be honest, I didn't see the full incident, but I think the kids had been allowed to go diagonally across the square, with traffic waiting impatiently on at least 4 big roads. I think the other thing was that the Dad didn't really seem to be paying much attention to his kids behind him as he sauntered across. And that's why the truck driver was so shocked.

I found it noteworthy because I don't think I've ever seen a truck driver berate someone else for not being safe enough - but I sort of admired him for taking a stand. And also, being a Dad myself, it did make me worry about how safety conscious parents are. And as a cyclist (see note above) I'm also horribly conscious of the fact that cyclists do sail through red lights, green men, anything - so frankly, your kid is not safe crossing the road anywhere in London without heavy parental supervision.

New canal-side cafe opens ... will it be used?

Very excited to see a new cafe on the Regent's Canal between Victoria Park and Islington. It seemed to be called "The Towpath". I'm guessing you buy a coffee or croissant and then ... cycle off? Or maybe stop for a few minutes. Perhaps not great if you're commuting, but you could see that if you're taking a leisurely stroll or cycle, it could be very nice.

Needless to say, I took some video as I went past.



Has anyone else spotted this, or indeed used it?

The majority now ignore a red light. But should we hold on to the principle?

I was struck on my journey in this morning that unless there's a dangerous situation, the norm is now for people (cyclists, that is) in London to go through red lights. Cyclists do stop if they're going to get run over by traffic coming the other way - but when it's merely a matter of principle, we/they chose to run it. I know it's a pretty boring debate, well-rehearsed, but I was struck by it at these lights, and (you guessed it) I have a bit of video to show what I mean. Cue very badly edited, amateur shots with lots of traffic noise. For those interested in such matters, I'm heading West along Theobold's Road, coming up to Gray's Inn Road, WC1. I'm sorry if I sound like a prude - but I did just find it interesting to see that so many jumped these lights.

The dozy dog

You can tell I've got a new toy - yet another piece of video. Here's an encounter with a dog along the Regent's Canal - it was pretty funny as the dog just wouldn't move out of the way. The owner was very good about it - not saying "lousy cyclists" but "sorry, get out the way you dozy dog" (and I'm pretty certain he wasn't talking to me). You just have to slow down and wait in those circumtances. Great to see that I did actually use my bell - there's a "two tings" rule on the Canal to alert pedestrians that you're coming. I must be more law-abiding than I remember ...

The "two tings" rules of conduct are on the Waterscape website

The roundabout of death

This morning I risked the roundabout of death. Some of you may know it - it's a very very strange cycle path which runs along the edge of a roundabout on the edge of Victoria Park - intersecting Grove Road and the Old Ford Road. The main problem with it is that you're actually going the opposite way to traffic, and traffic does not expect you to be crossing their path just as they're trying to turn left off the roundabout.

Thanks to helmet cam, I took a shot of myself traversing it. It looks quite benign in the video as there were no cars coming either way - but hopefully you can get the idea of how dangerous it is.

Here's how you can find it
View Larger Map And here's my rather crappy video from my helmet. Again, apologies for the editing - still not quite there yet.

Don't be too shocked

Sorry, I was just fiddling about with the blog templates, and decided to give an outing to a different design. I quite like the comments being nearer the top - I know it's unlikely to cause many ripples in the online world, but hey, it's good to change things sometimes. If you're new to the blog, you won't know what I'm on about - I just changed the design. Welcome.