Watch out at junctions and traffic lights for left turning buses and trucks. More cyclists are killed by being crushed under the swinging in of long vehicles doing left turns than anything else. Apparently the London bendy buses are especially bad for this. Keep either behind or ahead of of heavy vehicles at junctions, last place to be is down alongside them. More women than men suffer this accident because women tend to be more law abiding and wait patiently alongside trucks rather than moving out ahead of them which men tend to do. Certainly, if you see the links below, you'll see that more than half the cyclist killed in London are simply run over by left turning trucks and buses.

Glad you're generally enjoying the rides. You'll be far fitter in the long run, but bear this in mind. Divers of big vehicles simply turn left without checking whether you've sneaked up alongside. I expect that in other countries the problem area will vehicles turning right.

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/arti...y-may-4th-2007

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/arti...in-clerkenwell

http://www.oxfordstudent.com/tt2007w...ragic_accident

http://chat.thisislondon.co.uk/londo...&thread=224129