'False Flag' Operations !

Thought: if drivers lose their licences - how many become "I'm a cyclist myself" ? Or concern trolls ?
Does it explain the 'person-on-a-bike' 'No True Scotsman' thing ?

A motorist pretending to be a cyclist, making a spoof helmet-cam video, to discredit the real ones !

Note that the YouTube user's other videos are of him on a moped, and the branding at the end is MVAR - MotoVlogsAndRants.

Role-playing childish fantasies ?

Space Lemmings - Peer Pressure - Race to the Bottom

Space Lemming courtesy of lemnet.tripod.com

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.

There's more to life than not being dead ...

In safety statistics, analysts often use KSI (Killed or Seriously Injured) statistics.
Main reasons :

1. Numbers killed often are, thankfully, too low for any statistically-significant conclusions to be drawn until many years have passed.
2. 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.
3. Many other factors affect whether a casualty dies :
   
   • Vehicle engineering - crumple zones, airbags, seat-belts, safety glass
   • Emergency service response, particularly Air Ambulances
   • Medical care in hospital

Further than that, there are many 'Quality of Life' issues that are worth considering.

• Perceived Safety
• Improved lifestyle
• Community well-being
• Stress and Mental Health

Counter-CounterMeasures - Glasses, Goggles, Face-Mask

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.

Traffic Calming - Pedestrian Refuges

You would think a council would re-think dangerous features, instead of erecting 9-word signs.

Pedestrian refuges are certainly an aggravating factor when motorists want to overtake cyclists.
I would be interested to know if they are actually useful to pedestrians, and whether they have a positive or negative effect on overall safety. I suspect that their only effect is to bring traffic speeds down, but at the cost of cyclists' safety.

Motorism and Hate Crime

Martin Porter QC on Twitter: "It's sort of annoying that he knows he can put up a video like that with absolutely no chance of the police taking any interest."

One for the Met's future "Online Hate Crime Hub" ?
London Police now use a very wide definition - 'any other actual or perceived difference' !

Why do people hate cyclists – I Pay Road Tax

Of course, not everyone sees it like this - more discussion can be found here :
The Only '-ism' in the Village ... - [ Motorism - a failure of democracy ! ]

Two Tribes Go To War (people, vehicles, modes)

Some people ask "Why can't we all just get along?"
This is the thinking behind 'Shared Spaces' and 'Share the Road'.
(not to be confused with 'shared space' - roads are shared space by default : exceptions include motorways and 'mandatory cycle lanes').

They generally object to the distinction between cyclists and motorists - "Sometimes I cycle, sometimes I drive, so the distinction is artificial - I am both".

If this approach really worked, there would be no problem.
There is a problem, so maybe it doesn't work ?
Am I missing something ?

No aggro but ... respect the road the way I do ... because I've got registration (OV13 VNM)

There's  a motorcyclist who seems to like to educate London cyclists about mobile phone use by very direct means - a mirror to the elbow.

Education, not war

This video is interesting as it clearly illustrates the "War on Britain's Roads" as an educational process.
The motorist and the cyclist are each trying to educate the other in road-etiquette.