Boris Bike Bonanza

The Boris Bike scheme has now extended to Westfield and Limehouse.

So there are now something like another 3000 bikes for hire. I've not yet checked them out so don't know what they cost or how the scheme works but they seem to be popular so at least that's one good thing.

There was more cycling news yesterday evening on tv. They were doing a report on the fact that the number of cyclists being injured on the roads in increasing. The fact that there are mor cyclists might have something to do with it but they did have one amazing fact that had come up in research. You'll never believe this, but...... cyclists who are hit by HGVs tend to sustain worse injuries than those hit by cars! No, surely not. Who'd have believed it!

But more interesting was a report of an accident between cyclist and car filmed by the cyclists on-helmet camera. Now, it was the car drivers fault but this is what happened. The cyclist approached a mini-roundabout with a fork left and right as an exit. The cyclist exits towards the right fork whilst a car comes straight out of the left hand fork and hits him. As I say, the car driver was at fault, he didn't stop as far as I could tell and just entered the roundabout without seeing the cyclist. But what also happened was that as the cyclist approached the roundabout he didn't reduce speed either nor, unless he is particularly adept at steering one hand, did he indicate he was going to move to the right fork. So yes, it was the car drivers fault but the cyclist must be held at least partly responsible. And to be honest, whether I was on my bike or in my car, I would have been watching that approaching car and getting ready to change my course if I thought there was problem.

So we are back to the age old problem of cyclists taking some responsibility for their own safety. And not be like the guy this morning who decided to cycle through a red light whilst chatting on his hand held mobile phone.