The normality of a near miss...

Recently I was sat in a car (shock horror!) with some cycling friends, and we were talking about our near misses. Out of the five of us there had been quite a lot of accidents. One friend slipped on a drain, and ended up with a chameo in City Hospital. Everything else involved another vehicle of some kind. The same friend had another experience where she got t-boned by a car, and was lucky to get away relitively unscathed, albeit after an MRI and a stint in hospital.

Into the mix I threw in the two times I was clipped at Elephant and Castle. Once by a guy who actually lived in a castle and seemed to think it was okay to write a check for £50 and be done with it, and another by a van which failed to stop and was a bit to fast to get the reg plate. I then topped things off with my party piece; the day I got hit by a bus on Whitehall. 

The alarming thing about this is that only one person hadn't had a near miss, or a SMIDSY, or a full on wallop with a car. 

And a couple of days ago, James Walsh of The Guardian published this list of near misses. 

These stats shouldn't be normal. It's shouldn't be normal to run the risk of hitting a car, armed only with a merino wool under-layer, and a pair of padded shorts. Sure, if you've got a luxurious mane of hair (and a convoy of security guards and journalists following you, Boris) then I am sure London is a super safe place to cycle. That might explain why there has been very little comment from the Mayor since he insinuated the cyclist who died recently were probably to blame. 

Now at this point if you think I'm coming across a bit anti-vehicle, then remember I was traveling in a car when I was having this accident chat. Like a lot of cyclist, I also own a car. Because this is the thing, I'm not anti-car, I'm pro-bicycle. And I think we need to have more of a presence in London, on dedicated cycle paths away from traffic, so that the next generation can enjoy this efficient mode of transport.

But yeah, Boris has gone a bit quiet. And come to think of it, I've not seen him on his bike recently...