what's the point of having drops if you don't use them?

"Check your bike" check that it has mudguards, why would anybody want to ride in winter without mudguards? Infact if you don't have full mudguards ( not crud catchers) you can F**K **F and ride on on your own. By all means get yourself plus your bike wet and covered mud but not everybody else you ride with as well.

Your mum hasn't got mudguards

an impassioned plea for mudguards there

Mmmmmm

"Always try to catch the driver’s eye, as this is your most effective form of communication."

How is this communication being achieved - fecking telepathy? What is being communicated? Just because you 'catch somebodies eye' it does NOT mean -

You know what they will do

They will do what you expect

They will do what is right

They have seen you

They will not pull out

Sunglasses will magically become clear

Their vision is correct (many drivers have poor vision which is never retested)

You have put a magical coat of safety on.

Your eyes will be on the rest of the road

.... and of course - they are looking at your eyes

Why is it that people think that 'catching somebodies eye' will make them safer? Where's the evidence?

Personally I never look at the drivers eyes I assume they will not or have not seen me - I cycle big and take central positions and if seeing a car that looks like it may pull out I stand up out of the saddle to add movement and make myself bigger and begin to slow just in case. If I do see car that's nudged out - I give a stare - but through sun/winter glasses? Do I think that I am communicating anything - No.

I feel that I should not assume anything on the roads.

Safe cycling is quite easily achieved by being pragmatic, training and experience - whereas feeling safe is about the culture, personal feelings and confidence and many more..

If staring into the eyes of a car driver makes you feel safe then do it - but don't forget to watch out for the pot hole as you go past and the car coming from the other direction, or the pedestrian just stepping out or the myriad of other things that are happening..........

Tom.

^^^ Probably a bundle of fun to ride with! ^^^

This article would have been useful about two weeks ago. Before the snow arrived.

Can barley walk on the roads and paths around here in Fife let alone cycle on them,Im climbing the bloody walls,can't wait for the thaw this weekend.

"Take up the primary position and command your space in the road. This has the benefit of allowing you some space if that driver behind hasn’t seen you and tries to squeeze by."

IMHO this is bad advice ... cyclist should keep as close to the inside as is safely possible. This will stop you from being hit from behind by any drivers that haven't seen you. It will also ensure that faster moving vehicles aren't held up by relatively slow moving cyclists, who end up simply pissing-off other road users by causing tailbacks waiting to get past. Even worse when you have cyclists riding side-by-side on a main road ... yes the highway code says its ok, but that doesn't make it sensible to do so. Keep out of the gutter, but keep well in to the side where possible. A pedestrian attempting to cross the road through oncoming traffic is dicing with death ... relative to other much faster veihcles, a cyclist is not much different to a pedestrian ... they both appear very quickly into view due to slow relative speed. No doubt other will disagree, but if they want to risk a rear end shunt, then that's up to them.

to the last comment it seems that the majority of the studies carried out by road traffic agencies in both the uk and around the world disagree with you and advise that you take up a position far off the curb.

http://www.iam.org.uk/latest_news/cyclistsclaimyourlanesaysiam.html

Quote...

"The IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) has urged cyclists to make themselves seen and to “claim their lane”, moving out into the middle of the lane when approaching a junction or parked cars.

Duncan Pickering, IAM Cycling Development Manager, said: “There has been some debate as to whether cyclists should stick to the kerb or push out into the road when riding in built-up areas. Our advice to cyclists, based on a comprehensive study, is to stay near to the kerb on long even stretches, but to assert yourself when approaching a junction, pushing out into the road and putting yourself in the direct view of drivers.

“Sticking to the kerb where drivers are not necessarily looking means they are less likely to see you.”

Studies have shown that drivers primarily pay attention to the major stream of traffic when navigating a junction, paying little attention to auxiliary roads which are more likely to have cyclists on them.

“Drivers are more likely to notice bikes travelling in the same direction as the oncoming traffic and, when turning left, mainly focus their attention on cars coming from the right, as they don’t see the left as posing a particular threat. This means they fail to see cyclists from the left early enough,” added Mr Pickering.

The IAM, the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, recommends cyclists:

Take up a primary position around 75-100m before reaching a junction, in the centre of the lane, providing it is safe to do so. This move will mean that drivers exiting the junction will be more likely to see the cyclist as they are in the same traffic flow as more hazardous vehicles.

Take the “secondary position” when cycling along a straight stretch of road which is clear of junctions and parked cars.

Keep a sensible distance, about half a meter, from the kerb to avoid hazards such as slippery drain-covers.

Remember it is not always sensible or appropriate to take the centre of the lane especially if traffic is heavy.

While a lack of awareness on the part of some motorists is no doubt a huge factor in car/bike collisions, it pays for the cyclist as the more vulnerable road user to ride to be seen where possible."

Please note the second paragraph in my last post...

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Duncan Pickering, IAM Cycling Development Manager, said: “There has been some debate as to whether cyclists should stick to the kerb or push out into the road when riding in built-up areas. Our advice to cyclists, based on a comprehensive study, is to stay near to the kerb on long even stretches, but to assert yourself when approaching a junction, pushing out into the road and putting yourself in the direct view of drivers.

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@nbrus "No doubt other will disagree, but if they want to risk a rear end shunt, then that's up to them."

I do disagree, and I will take the tiny risk of a rear end shunt over the much more likely scenario of a motorist trying to squeeze past when it is not safe to do so, clipping me, and dragging me under their wheels. In my experience, a large section of the motoring public have no idea how wide their vehicles are, and many hulking great 4x4s are driven as if their owners were still behind the wheel of the Mini or Nova they learnt to drive in. So on wide roads I ride as close to the verge as is safe with respect to potholes and the like, but on narrow and twisty roads I ride such that if an overtaking motorist wants to take a chance in order to shave 10 seconds off their commute they have to risk their neck by crossing the line in the middle of the road, not (just) mine.

There is no minimum speed limit in the UK.

@handlebarcam

On narrow twist roads riding nearer the middle is fine (to force large vehicles to pass you using the other side of road), but you should make sure that the vehicle behind you has spotted you first before you make your move.

I'd like to qualify my last post by saying that the only time you are likely to be in danger of being 'clipped' by overtaking vehicles on narrow roads is when there is traffic coming from both directions ... most drivers will give cyclists a lot of room when they overtake, so keeping yourself tucked-in to the side is best, provided there is no oncoming traffic and you are not on a narrow road. Just use common sense to judge. You should not be trying to piss-off other road users ... we need to share road space sensibly.

Just ride on the pavement, then you don't even need lights!

Word.

to handlebarcam, it is not just big 4x4 drivers that have no idea how big their cars are. just ask the lady that nearly ran me of the road and her self in to the bollard in the centre of the road the other day.

Why dose everybody have ago at 4x4 dreivers when it should be just bad drivers. When dose the type of car matter you never read person killed by small family car in the papers but if you driver a 4x4 you must be a mass murderer. So lets get of the hang up of the type of car and be more concered with the standard of driving.

and yes i own a big 4x4 and always give plenty of space to fellow cyclists.

@howie3472: The width of the current Range Rover, for example, is just over 20 centimeters greater than that of the current Ford Focus. So even if a Ford Focus driver is worse than a Range Rover driver, he has about half the width of a road-bike (assuming an average handlebar width of 44cm) more space in which to demonstrate his lack of skill, or express his hatred of cyclists, before he actually runs someone off the road. Interestingly, the original Range Rover was 5cm narrower than the current Ford Focus, which shows just how much all types of cars have grown in width over the last couple of decades. Which is something you never hear mentioned when people like nbrus talk of road-hogging cyclists slowing up traffic. Governments should long ago have set legal maximum widths for private vehicles. 4x4s as they are currently designed should be banned.

Plus many (not all) big 4x4 drivers are jerks. There is a certain degree of self-selection bias given that they pollute like crazy and will crush a normal car like a biscuit tin in a head-on collision.

@ handlebarcam:

I agree that all cars are getting bigger but surley bad driving and not car type is responseable for deaths on the road. You my have a point about some off the people that drive 4x4 but the same can be said about all large luxury cars and driver type, but that said some one in a small beaten up old car who dose not care about his vehical is just as likly to do us harm as the large car when it comes to passing us with on coming traffic and their unwillingness to wait untill it is safe to pass.

ps

I did not know that about the old Range Rover being smaller then the current ford focus mackes you think some thing should be done to limit the size of cars for the sake of every one.