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How it's done across the pond
Tue, 04/10/2007 - 4:31am
Tue, 04/10/2007 - 8:23pm
#1
Gotta stop and hug the trees.
Tue, 04/10/2007 - 8:29pm
#2
At least they have the option. Look at that bike cruisin' the yellow line.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 5:39am
#3
Photoshop? (nm)
Tue, 04/10/2007 - 8:55pm
#4
I've lived and cycled in London. It's much more cycling-friendly than NYC.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 4:43am
#5
Unless you live in SW London, I prefer cycling in NYC. Although the government has implemented some initiatives to increase cycling (like charging a fee for cars to enter the center of the city, adding cycling lanes and signed cycling routes), there is only so much you can do with an infrastructure (and possibly many drivers) who are hostile towards it. In London you have narrow, winding, medieval roads with a 4-inch clearance for diesel trucks, buses and black cabs (many cyclists wear special exhaust masks); bike lanes that go 20 yards and end; and heavier traffic than here. I found that when drivers weren't stuck in traffic, they took the opportunity to gun it between each stop sign--it's playing leap frog with aggravated Mazaratti drivers and white van men.
Maybe a psychoanalyst could provide insight on the inverse relationship between polite (repressed?) British society and maniacal driving.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 6:35am
#6
I commuted from NW London through the center of town to Canary Wharf, almost 10 miles in each direction. I would be very reluctant to commute a similar distance in NYC.
There are plenty of idiots gunning it between lights and stop signs in NY as well. London has far more miles of bike lanes, and more of a cycling culture (in so far as bike commuting is concerned) than NY. Also, I found drivers were more aware that they were not the only ones on the road; to be sure, not as aware as I would prefer, but certainly more so than drivers in NYC.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 7:34am
#7
I haven't commuted in NYC for 5 years, so maybe my fond memories are a bit distorted. Riding from Central Park to the GW bridge via Riverside seems like heaven.
I think that you're right about a stronger cycle-commuter culture in London and you can find good routes to stick with.
Forget London and New York: too bad I don't live in Amsterdam! or Scandinavia or Germany for that matter. I guess that I would become spoiled there too and complain about the slow riders on the bike paths lengthening my commute from 9 to 11 minutes.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 8:28am
#8
Riverside is definitely one of the nicest roadways to bike in NYC. Very different from trying to commute into midtown or downtown.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 9:00am
#9
I didn't cycle when I was in London but I do have to say being a pedestrian there is harder than it is here, so I would think the same is true for cycling.
In London, cars that are making a left turn (akin to a right turn here), do not pause and wait for the pedestrians who are crossing before veering quickly into the road they're turning into. That's unlike the generally accepted idea here that pedestrians crossing with the light have right-of-way over turning vehicles.
I imagine this situation is very dangerous for cyclists.
When I lived in London, I thought about getting a bike, but the idea seemed suicidal. However, I'm happy cycling here. NYC is much better with its wide avenues and, believe-it-or-not more careful drivers (on average).
I also cycled in Amsterdam while visiting for a week, and it is NIRVANA.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 11:57am
#10
I think you will find that the above statement is false. In the UK, traffic cannot make a left turn by law if the pedestrian has the light / crossing signal. This makes crossing roads much safer. Unlike New York, it also means that vehicles making a left turn are much less likely to make a turn over a cyclist!
Believe me, having lived most of my life in the UK I know which is the safer place to cycle! Just look at the statistics of those killed in 2006 cycling.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 12:27pm
#11
Did you live in london? Maybe traffic habits are more civil elsewhere in the UK. Whatever the law is, I found that cars almost never slow down or pause when making a left. They will just keep moving and force pedestrians to step back or sprint across. I once nearly got hit once from behind by a grinning driver who was moving at high speed while I was crossing to the opposite corner on a green light.
The difference between there and here is unmistakable. Here, a car signals or begins a right turn (the equivalent of a left in the UK), then pauses until pedestrians walk out of its path, and only then continues making the right.
And I even noticed this as a passenger while riding in a car driven by a life-long Londoner. I noticed how she always went right around the left turn and drove her car through intersections busy with pedestrians, forcing them to move out of her way. A few times I pointed out to her that you couldn't do that in the States, and each time she would just shrug.
Maybe in London, with the streets so narrow, drivers just grow to do this regardless of the law, because otherwise, they would keep misses their chances to turn.
Wed, 04/11/2007 - 5:56pm
#12
I don't know why I find these back and forth comparisons fun--i guess that I have issues.
Anyway, the statistics are startling! 500,000 cyclists ride every weekday in London! (I actually find that hard to believe. My beloved Guardian might be wrong in this instance. I think that the reporter might mean all of England or the UK) 20 cyclists are killed in London every year.
check out this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2039596,00.html
It turns out that NYC has about the same number of fatalities each year, but I'm certain that fewer people cycle.
http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/bike-ndx.htm
London's traffic, narrow streets, road rage, and pedestrian bullying are all annoying, but apparently it is a safer place to bicycle. (Or are the cyclists just better riders?)
Despite its faults, London is a fantastic city.
Thu, 04/12/2007 - 6:15am
#13
"""the generally accepted idea here that pedestrians crossing with the light have right-of-way over turning vehicles""
- are you kidding me? do you ever walk in manhattan?"
Thu, 04/12/2007 - 7:45am
#14
"I'm not saying there aren't bad apples, but trust me, it's even worse over there. That's why I said ""generally""."
Thu, 04/12/2007 - 9:20am
#15
even though it may be the law, in practice it most certainly is NOT 'generally' accepted by drivers here.
Thu, 04/12/2007 - 10:36am
#16
We may be talking about different things. If you're NOT already on the crosswalk, cars will usually turn in before you. But more often than not, if you're already on the cross-walk and in the path of a car that wants to turn in, they'll pause rather than keep rolling. Believe it or not, over there, they'll force you to basically run out of their path. And that's typical.
Thu, 04/12/2007 - 1:01pm
#17
um, i don't know what city you live in, but your last sentences are exactly my experience here every single day when i walk to work; taxis are especially bad.
Thu, 04/12/2007 - 11:52am
#18
Funny thread my girlfriend sent me I had to answer, noone you have major issues, a lot of people use Bicyles on an everday basis to and from work come rain or shine, the recreational side may be fewer I am sure. But as a ped you have no right of way crossing on a corner unless there is a ped crossing, the thing is you need to look back and see if the car coming up is indicating rather than changing the tune on your i-pod...
London is a dangerous place with dispatch riders and taxis trying to kill you at every turn.
But cycling in Amsterdam is a nightmare I have been there a dozen times and if other cyclists don't get you the peds will along with the cars who hate cyclists because they don't pay road tax...
You need to get outside your hotel next time you visit these places..
My girlfriend says that riding in New York is fun but she always heads out NJ as soon as possible... I wonder why...
