Introductions - Open University student project:bicycles and safety on the roads

Hello cyclists!
I am studying with the Open University. My course is called Innovation.
I needed to come up with a project for this year and, being a cyclist myself, I thought I could do something to do with riding bicycles.
What concerns me the most is safety on the roads, specially in big cities such as London.
I would like to hear any comment on this subject. anything at all will be most appreciate it.

Hello raquelisima, there should be plenty of information on this subject from the US standpoint (just look in Advocacy & Safety (http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=8)), but we do have a regional forum for the UK (http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=242) as well, if you'd like to try to get some more area appropriate opinions.

Welcome to BF and good luck with your project!

East Hill

Two books you might find helpful: Effective Cycling, by John Forester, is the ur-text on vehicular cycling, the intersection of bicycles, other traffic, and safety. The other book is The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street, by Robert Hurst; I understand that a 2d edition has just come out with the shortened title of Urban Cycling.

See what data you can collect from police, hospitals, and transport authorities. Then mount video cameras on bicycles to record actual interaction of traffic in certain identified cycling situations, like at traffic lights, other intersections, or bike lanes.

Sounds like you are looking for innovative ways to improve bike safety and mobility.
Well, London is as good a place as you can find in the UK for cycling infrastructure. But there is a HMGOV scheme to turn some cities into cycling beacons, apart from Red Ken's stuff in London. Darlington is one of them (should be a cheap fare on GNER).
However, I'm not sure how innovative London is right now. It seems to me that they are implementing things done elsewhere first (albeit very well). Use of canals for bikes was standard in and around Birmingham ages ago.
One thing that has not been done is an integration of public transport and bikes. In Austria, I could ride to the train station and put my bike on even the smallest local trains since they all had hooks in the roof. That stuff is very poorly done in Britain.
Let us know what you find. I volunteer a little in Virginia, alongside my studies, and have seen biking in the US, Europe and UK.

p.s. (Europe wins)

"See what data you can collect from police, hospitals, and transport authorities. Then mount video cameras on bicycles to record actual interaction of traffic in certain identified cycling situations, like at traffic lights, other intersections, or bike lanes."

thank you for your ideas, they are great! I thought of asking police and hospital for info but the camera on the bike is a very good idea. Ta

Sounds like you are looking for innovative ways to improve bike safety and mobility.
Well, London is as good a place as you can find in the UK for cycling infrastructure. But there is a HMGOV scheme to turn some cities into cycling beacons, apart from Red Ken's stuff in London. Darlington is one of them (should be a cheap fare on GNER).
However, I'm not sure how innovative London is right now. It seems to me that they are implementing things done elsewhere first (albeit very well). Use of canals for bikes was standard in and around Birmingham ages ago.
One thing that has not been done is an integration of public transport and bikes. In Austria, I could ride to the train station and put my bike on even the smallest local trains since they all had hooks in the roof. That stuff is very poorly done in Britain.
Let us know what you find. I volunteer a little in Virginia, alongside my studies, and have seen biking in the US, Europe and UK.

p.s. (Europe wins)

Yes you are right, London is not very innovative on cycling facilities. I am having to look to another countries such as Holland or Germany to check what is already available. It seems incredible I am having to come up with a way to more safely ride in cities like London. I went to Holland last year to visit my uncle and we went for a ride around the city of Groninghen. What strike me was that nobody was riding with safety gear on, NOBODY!, no helmets, no knee pads, nothing!, not the children, not the elderly, NOBODY!That certainly told me a lot about London.