Critical mass could be the answer to motorcycle accidents, says someone far away

[cheshirecat]

Here in the London Rag. My experience of London was that cars were far more alert to bikes than other places but then. Also whats not mentioned is traffic densities. Be interesting to get riders experiences in Holland to see why its safer to ride there. Here in Welly I've found traffic seems to have improved over the years, well a bit, but you don't half get some.

[pritch]

Interesting, I see Boris just made a similar comment re cyclists in London following a spate of deaths there.

Motorcyclists in Holland might benefit from the attitude to cyclists in that country. When we were in Holland we were advised that if you hit a cyclist you are in serious shit. Regardless.

[Tazz]

Here in the London Rag. My experience of London was that cars were far more alert to bikes than other places but then. Also whats not mentioned is traffic densities. Be interesting to get riders experiences in Holland to see why its safer to ride there. Here in Welly I've found traffic seems to have improved over the years, well a bit, but you don't half get some.

Their roads are designed and built around bike AND vehicle use. Some streets are bike only and a lot of the lanes are completely separate from the road by guttering and barriers, not just a bit of coloured paint slapped around. They even have their own traffic lights and pedestrian crossings separate at some intersections.
That and the fact there are just so many of them around (enough to have multistoried bike parks) all the time so you're constantly on the watch for them is my opinion on why it is probably safer.

That is for push bikes though, but if you're on the look out for them all the time a motorbike is hardly going to be more difficult to spot.

[Milts]

Love the idea.

Would love to see the evidence behind it even more (assuming there is any).

A large number of countries with a high proportion (I'm betting much greater than 10%) of powered two wheelers have fucking awful stats - think Singapore, India, Vietnam... Yes there are other factors at play there. But still; where is the evidence that a so called critical mass suddenly improves outcomes.

[Zedder]

Love the idea.

Would love to see the evidence behind it even more (assuming there is any).

A large number of countries with a high proportion (I'm betting much greater than 10%) of powered two wheelers have fucking awful stats - think Singapore, India, Vietnam... Yes there are other factors at play there. But still; where is the evidence that a so called critical mass suddenly improves outcomes.

A very good point about the ptw stats in Singapore etc.

From what I understand, and have experienced in Southern Asian countries, there's a large dose of fatalistic belief at work. The mainstay being that an accident is predetermined and therefore there's no point in trying to avoid it by driving properly.

[Voltaire]

They take a bit more personal responsibility in Europe, here you can easily get a licence, drive with no insurance, be half drunk, blame the politicians, the roads, the Police, cagers, cyclists, hi viz, foreigners.......
I used to ride my motorcycle daily in London in the late 80's and far more road courtesy than you will ever get here.