I have started this blog because British citizens should be able to use bicycles in this country for commuting and pleasure without threats, abuse and risk of injury or death.
There are no motorists or cyclists: I pay taxes, I drive a car, I walk places, I ride a bike.
PART 1: "You should be using a cycle lane"
You don't have to legally, you should cycle where you feel safe Rule 63 of the
highway code, I will however try and use a cycle lane except that they are generally too dangerous
- They stop dead in dangerous places ejecting you in front of moving cars or into pedestrians
- People park cars on them
- Cars drive into even solid cycle lanes like they're not there
- They have trees planted in them, or lamp posts
- People walk on them wearing headphones
- When you arrive at a junction you have to check in 5 directions and over your shoulder, it's far more dangerous than a road junction.
- When Councillor Liam Walker, Oxford Council's transport boss says that he agrees with the statement "Cyclists are constantly wanking off the dutch. Fuck off over there then." and keeps his job you know that Oxford Council is anti-cyclist
- Cars give way to oncoming traffic, obscuring the view of you as I stated
to Oxford council recently when an Oxford council driver almost hit a
female cyclist.
I reported reported this to them and they did nothing.
Do you chance using a cycle lane...? Lucky I didn't else the Stagecoach S1 would have definitely hit me
28th November 2019
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Roads, in Oxford you don't need to bother using roads. Just drive on the footpath.
28 November 2019 |
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| 28 November 2019 |
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Fridewide Square - no space for cyclists.
21 November 2019 |
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Buseses block your access to cross because there are no lights or signs, and there's no room to cycle past the traffic jams.
21 November 2019 |
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| 20th July 2019 |
Here are some pictures from
one single day (10th May 2017) in Oxford including the number plates of people blocking the cycle lanes including a council lorry, and where the council themselves have blocked a cycle lane with a traffic light and a lamp post.
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| You risk being sandwiched between overtaking cars and a blocked cycle lane |
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| Bad council design makes it safer to use roads than try and get around traffic lights (where pedestrians are waiting to cross) |
More from a
one week period in May... There are probably plenty of more examples but this are just what I've taken the time to snapshot from the videos.
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| Didn't look before pulling across luckily I wasn't closer |
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| Pedestrian in the cycle lane using a mobile |
Cars parked in the Cycle lane are ignored by Oxford Councils
Cars parked in the Cycle lane are ignored by Oxford Councils
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Tree in the face |
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It's dangerous to cycle around people walking on the cycle lanes yet Oxford County council blame Oxford City Council's "Uncluttered streets" policy for not marking the lanes more clearly. |
In Frideswide Square you are ejected from the cycle lane and cars force past you (like here with a near crash).
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| The number plate of the drive that almost caused a crash |
OK this isn't a cycle lane (there isn't one here) but this is what happens when you correctly use the traffic lights - people just step out in front of you, then a taxi does a u-turn without looking and another car does a dangerous overtake and almost crashes into the taxi.
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| Why even bother paying to park? |
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| Dangerous just to goto the cash point |
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| What is the point?? |
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| Solid white lines |
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| Solid white lines again |
Then you have roads like High Street which Oxford Council uses as a bus park. Here you can see the bus pulling out without looking and almost crushing me against another bus.
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| 13th July 2019 |
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| 13th July 2019 |
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26th September 2019
Driver drives into the cycle lane into me, then proceeds to scream about me getting the cycle lane. |
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26th September 2019
Brookes bus blocking the cycle lane so you are sandwiched against a huge backlog of traffic. |
26th October 2020
Don't use cycle lanes in Oxford
13th March 2022
Why have Oxford Council blocked this?
13th March 2022
Oxford Council's idiot wide cycle path forces cars into an impossible space meaning the buses are then forced into the cycle lanes on the other side putting lives at risk.
Driver pulls out without looking, almost another serious accident. You can't report anything to Thames Valley Police they don't take it seriously. Where's the cycle lane? Where's the zero emission zone?
PART 2: "Cyclists don't have lights"
Well they should. In the same way as when you drive you see people who have forgotten to put on their lights they get flashed by other car drivers and they just put them on.
I cycled without lights a couple of years ago for a short distance. A police car promptly pulled me over and politely asked me to put lights on, I apologized and put them on and that's how it should be.
Bikes are cheaper than cars so the money you save by cycling can be used to buy a good set of lights.
However, note that bike lights are battery powered (and the rear one out of view) it is possible for them to stop working without the cyclist realizing. Also the battery can die when you're in the middle of nowhere. The AA won't help you if you're not in your car. Maybe they should be duty bound to help you regardless of the vehicle.
PART 3: "Cyclists swerve all over the road to avoid potholes"
Yes. Failure to swerve would lead to a cyclist coming off their bike into the road in your path and that would not be good.
Complain to the council and report the potholes. If you fail to do this you are failing your country and putting lives at risk.
PART 4: "Cyclists don't pay road tax"
There is no such thing as road tax. As I drive and cycle I paid vehicle excise duty (VED) wrongly called road tax. Car manufacturers have come under pressure for mislabelling it as "car tax" or "road fund tax".
British roads are
NOT funded by VED.
I pay VED, corporation tax, tax on petrol when driving and income tax. If you state this you are misleading people and showing your ignorance.
I have experienced all of these in Oxford. I've even been doored by a car whilst in a cycle lane. I've been hit from the side by a van when in a cycle lane crossing a side road, I've had pedestrians step out right in front of me and of course, there are innumerable vehicles parked in bicycle lanes. Some of the issue is behavioural and some is the really poor cycling infrastructure and design. Some of the worst streets in Oxford were specifically designed like that! (I.e. it's not all historical.) All this is not commensurate with a "cycling city". We need to do better and we can do better. We need to humanise our cities and not have primacy for machines, especially ones which create a harm for society in air pollution, climate change, noise, congestion and metal health issues. The solutions are so obvious it beggars belief why we don't have the capacity to improve the health and well-being of our citizens and economy of our city, and protect our environment and heritage for future generations.
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