For my many sins I work in London. However, I live in rural Hampshire so, like so many others these days, I have a substantial commute to deal with every day, a 164 mile round trip in my case. I had three potential transport options to choose from; I could drive the car in; I could avail myself of public transport or I could ride my bike in. Naturally I felt obliged to try all three in the interests of a truly objective assessment.
The trip to the office entails a stretch up the M3 and around the M25 to the A3 before heading into London and the office just south of Tower Bridge.
The Car
Not my favoured option having friends 30-40,000 mile a year for the last 20 years but it had to be considered. Roadworks aside the first 70 miles are fairly easy but then you hit the suburbs. Suffice to say it could take as long to travel the last 12 miles as it did the first 70. In the end I couldn't reliably complete the journey in less than 2 1/2 hours in each direction. Not acceptable.
Public Transport
Now this really didn't appeal. An hour ten minute train journey into Waterloo followed by either the underground or a bus through to the office. In total it amounts to a 1 1/2 hour trip in each direction. That's more like it.
The Bike
My favoured option. I have a lovely BMW R1200RT which should be perfect for the trip. All being equal I should be able to get around any hold ups on the motorways and with you being able to ride down the bus lanes in most of London now that last 12 miles should be much easier than I the car, and so it turned out but for one tiny fly in the ointment. Cyclists. This really surprised me. In the past I had the pleasure of working for a Dutch company. As a result I have driven through Dutch cities where cyclists have priority over all other traffic, and it works very well. So long as you know the rules there are no surprises, the cyclists know where they are supposed to be as do motorists. Everyone respects everybody else's space and it all works very well. This was pretty much what I was expecting in London...how wrong could I be ! As a member of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) I'm well aware of the issues of two wheeled accident rates in London and the steps being taken to overcome those. I'm also aware of the blatant prejudice against powered two wheelers. What I wasn't prepared for was the immense and incredible stupidity of the vast majority of cyclists in the city. The number of traffic violations I witnessed would have kept the courts busy for years had they been prosecuted. If the police could reliably identify the culprits they wouldn't need speed cameras for revenue generation ever again. Legalities aside the levels of stupidity I witnessed actually scared me. I would be riding down a road approaching traffic lights and would get mobbed by a gaggle of cyclists coming from every possible direction. Sat at the lights it was nothing to have 15-20 of them pulling across my front wheel. Why ! Do they really think they can beat a 110HP 1200cc motorcycle away from the lights, seriously. Even when making reasonable progress through heavy traffic I would suddenly find a cyclist appear without warning and without them looking cutting across my path as if I didn't exist. The number of incidents were far to any to mention, suffice to say the car drivers were the least of my worries. There were, of course, all the usual car related incidents with a few pulling out from junctions across my nose and others simply not paying attention but these were of the usual frequency. The cyclists struck fear into my heart. If this is how they behave in London I'm surprised the accident statistics aren't far worse than they are. Given the current state of behaviour it won't matter what TFL do to protect cyclists, there's simply no cure for being stupid.
So there you have it. My preferred method for getting to work would be by motorcycle, but as a result of the most unexpected group of fellow two wheeled road user behaviour I'm scared. As a result I use public transport at a horrendous annual cost. My question to all road users in the UK is this. Why are we so competitive on the roads. Over the years I have observed road users in many countries. Whilst we're not the worst I've seen, we are surely amongst the worst for aggression. In London if cyclists were to behave a little more like their Dutch counterparts we would all be safer. For now I will avoid riding in the city, it's just too much of a risk even if it does cost me money by not doing so.
Take care out there.
The trip to the office entails a stretch up the M3 and around the M25 to the A3 before heading into London and the office just south of Tower Bridge.
The Car
Not my favoured option having friends 30-40,000 mile a year for the last 20 years but it had to be considered. Roadworks aside the first 70 miles are fairly easy but then you hit the suburbs. Suffice to say it could take as long to travel the last 12 miles as it did the first 70. In the end I couldn't reliably complete the journey in less than 2 1/2 hours in each direction. Not acceptable.
Public Transport
Now this really didn't appeal. An hour ten minute train journey into Waterloo followed by either the underground or a bus through to the office. In total it amounts to a 1 1/2 hour trip in each direction. That's more like it.
The Bike
My favoured option. I have a lovely BMW R1200RT which should be perfect for the trip. All being equal I should be able to get around any hold ups on the motorways and with you being able to ride down the bus lanes in most of London now that last 12 miles should be much easier than I the car, and so it turned out but for one tiny fly in the ointment. Cyclists. This really surprised me. In the past I had the pleasure of working for a Dutch company. As a result I have driven through Dutch cities where cyclists have priority over all other traffic, and it works very well. So long as you know the rules there are no surprises, the cyclists know where they are supposed to be as do motorists. Everyone respects everybody else's space and it all works very well. This was pretty much what I was expecting in London...how wrong could I be ! As a member of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) I'm well aware of the issues of two wheeled accident rates in London and the steps being taken to overcome those. I'm also aware of the blatant prejudice against powered two wheelers. What I wasn't prepared for was the immense and incredible stupidity of the vast majority of cyclists in the city. The number of traffic violations I witnessed would have kept the courts busy for years had they been prosecuted. If the police could reliably identify the culprits they wouldn't need speed cameras for revenue generation ever again. Legalities aside the levels of stupidity I witnessed actually scared me. I would be riding down a road approaching traffic lights and would get mobbed by a gaggle of cyclists coming from every possible direction. Sat at the lights it was nothing to have 15-20 of them pulling across my front wheel. Why ! Do they really think they can beat a 110HP 1200cc motorcycle away from the lights, seriously. Even when making reasonable progress through heavy traffic I would suddenly find a cyclist appear without warning and without them looking cutting across my path as if I didn't exist. The number of incidents were far to any to mention, suffice to say the car drivers were the least of my worries. There were, of course, all the usual car related incidents with a few pulling out from junctions across my nose and others simply not paying attention but these were of the usual frequency. The cyclists struck fear into my heart. If this is how they behave in London I'm surprised the accident statistics aren't far worse than they are. Given the current state of behaviour it won't matter what TFL do to protect cyclists, there's simply no cure for being stupid.
So there you have it. My preferred method for getting to work would be by motorcycle, but as a result of the most unexpected group of fellow two wheeled road user behaviour I'm scared. As a result I use public transport at a horrendous annual cost. My question to all road users in the UK is this. Why are we so competitive on the roads. Over the years I have observed road users in many countries. Whilst we're not the worst I've seen, we are surely amongst the worst for aggression. In London if cyclists were to behave a little more like their Dutch counterparts we would all be safer. For now I will avoid riding in the city, it's just too much of a risk even if it does cost me money by not doing so.
Take care out there.
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