Originally Posted by
mulleady
I failed too yay!
That video isn't really a test of periperhal awareness lol! In reality we would have a much more vivid awareness of things around us using normal vision than trying to squint at some low quality youtube video! Awareness applies to cyclists too. We need to respect how cars and lorries view us from their cockpits. I've lost count at the amount of times I see cyclists cutting down the inside of left turning lorries and buses at their blind spot point. Same applies for cars showing due care in their observation and checking both mirrors properly and also looking before they swing open doors.
I find the best way to become a properly aware cyclist in a city like London is to drive first. Drivers are all the better if they have cycled too. Cyclists who haven't driven and are relatively inexperienced might even need proper lessons and amke use of information provided by organisations such as the London Cycling Campaign (LCC):
://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=62
Some people are far too proud to take awareness lessons and think you can just hop on a bike and go. A big mistake in busy urbana! This brings me to back to folding bikes which I think are fantastic in places like London for acceleration away from traffic at lights and the agility of smaller wheels for city based manoeuvreing.
Of course the instructions we got were designed to make us ignore anything in black which we all did. To be fair - even though I really enjoyed being tricked like that, it was a trick and doesn't properly reflect what happens on the road. Having said that, I have almost been run over twice by young girls driving cars as it happened who turned right into a more major road while looking left to make sure they didn't collide with a car coming along the lane they were joining. Problem was, yours truly was pootling along the lane they were crossing. They didn't see me because they had their heads screwed around backwards looking for cars.
I do react a wee bit against your suggestion that cyclists might need training. What irks is that you might suggest it be mandatory. I'm on an anarchist kick at the moment and virulently opposing any who interfere with my spontaneous independence and ability to just 'DO' as I like whenever I take the idea into my head to do it. We live in a very busy body world these days and there are few activities that we can just jump in and get on with. Riding a bike is one of them. I reject all compulsions attached to cycling like training, helmets, registration, insurance and riding on pavements when I have to. I will as always exercise full concern and awareness of other people, but I do that because that's how I was brought up and not because I am being compelled.