⇒ Update the Highway Code to match Bikeability.
⇒ Motorists need to accept that cyclists may use the lane.
⇒ Driver Training and the Test need to cover overtaking.
There are two tribes of road users, each of which thinks the other is dangerous - the fast and the slow.
Slow motorists often say they feel pressured to drive badly (eg speeding) by other motorists, specifically the one behind them.
Fast motorists say it is the slow motorists (not just cyclists) that are dangerous, because they get in the way, and even get them angry, 'forcing' them to drive badly.
In safety statistics, analysts often use KSI (Killed or Seriously Injured) statistics.
Main reasons :
Numbers killed often are, thankfully, too low for any statistically-significant conclusions to be drawn until many years have passed.
Serious Injuries are usually about ten times more frequent, and often life-changing. So taking measures to reduce them is arguably just as important as reducing fatalities.
Many other factors affect whether a casualty dies :
When I was a Sea Scout (1973-7 Hi to the 1st Scrabster troop!), Dick Message aka 'Skip' taught us how to tell if two vessels were on collision course. There are two equivalent methods:
With a compass take a bearing on the other vessel, wait a minute and take another.
If the bearing hasn't changed, you are on collision course. Change course. Repeat.
Obviously, if both vessels change course and are still on a different collision course, slowing down can help, too !
If there is land on the distant horizon, (or stars above it) see if the other vessel is moving fore or aft relative to the distant land or stars. If neither, ie the vessel is stationary with respect to a distant landscape, you are on collision course. Of course, it won't hold true for a nearby coastline, or if you watch for hours because the stars 'move' (relatively speaking).
"All our eyes on the distant horizon"Join in, everybody !
What does that have to do with cyclists 'weaving all over the road', you ask ? Patience !
In the early days of motoring, there was a law that every vehicle had to be preceded by a man walking with a red flag, and the vehicle had to stop when he waved it, to let horse-drawn traffic past safely.
One father has tried using his car to make it safe for his son to walk to school, as part of a campaign for a footway.
Could be a useful tactic for a Critical Mass ride ?
'Police advised him against this course of action for safety reasons.
'Officers have advised him that he is at risk of causing an unlawful or wilful obstruction should he continue to do this.'
Note that the police are fearful that other motorists might overtake unsafely. Pandering to the lowest level of incompetence can only encourage bad drivers.
Things are moving too fast for me here - I have started several 'Countermeasures' posts-in-draft, but it feels more important to post about Counter-CounterMeasures first !
If motorists have reached the stage of squirting liquids in cyclists' faces, then that is another good reason to consider wearing Glasses, Goggles or Face-Mask.
