What a great way to spend a couple of hours, sitting in the sun watching
your fellow cyclists misuse a busy road junction!
Two years ago when I last did that junction, the pavements were used by
a minority of children and nervous/incompetent cyclists. Now, there are
at least as many bikes on the pavements as in the road: if the lights
are green and the road's clear we ride in the road, if the lights are
red or there's a queue we bypass them on the pavement.
And if a road's one-way out of town, a fifth of us still come into town
that way.
No wonder cyclists have more dependable journey times!
H*lmets are worn by nervous-looking women or by blokes who present
themselves as Serious Cyclists and don't smile. Smiles go with loose
clothing and bare heads. Or in one case, with a h*lmet pushed so far
back as to give virtually no protection.
A young couple rode confidently across my junction, in the road, on a
solo bike. They weren't even Chinese - I didn't think white people
still knew how to double up on a bike.
One woman complained that she'd been counted twice at other junctions -
does this cause extra wear, or will her h*lmet protect her?
I did not see any recumbents.
Strangest of all, the survey forms came with a pencil donated by a
sponsor, stamped "This pencil is made from one recycled vending cup".
They've blown the plastic into foam like plastic wine corks and used it
instead of wood. I'm really impressed that they can make a whole,
full-size pencil from one measly vending cup!
--
Sue ];(🙂