safety first

On my first day back in Hong Kong last month, Paula and I did what we always do—go for a bike ride. Since 2013, that has meant the frontier road, which has no serious hills and presents no major technical difficulties. On this occasion though, as we approached the end of the road:

…we were stopped by two policemen. I hasten to add that we were not transgressing any traffic regulations; nor were we riding dangerously. They just wanted to give us a safety leaflet and take a photo with us, presumably to show their superiors how many cyclists they had passed the safety message on to.

The leaflet contained advice in twelve bullet points, in Chinese and English. Most were merely common sense, the kind of thing that any switched-on cyclist would do without being told, but there were some that I feel bound to comment on:

Wear a helmet, pads and other protective gear.

I certainly don’t advocate that wearing a helmet be made compulsory, as is the case in Australia and New Zealand, but in Hong Kong the cyclists that are most likely not to be seen wearing a helmet are also the least competent. However, I was utterly astounded to discover that the leaflet recommended the wearing of knee and elbow pads (I haven’t misunderstood this point, because there are photos of the kind of pads often used by skateboarders). This might be fine on a skateboard, but I would have thought that the alternate bending and straightening of one’s knees when cycling would make wearing pads extremely uncomfortable.

…obey traffic rules, traffic signs, road markings and traffic light signals.

I would like to emphasize this point, because in both the UK and Hong Kong, there are far too many cyclists who appear to believe that none of this applies to them. It is also the case that the majority of riders using dedicated cycle tracks in the New Territories appear not to be aware of the meaning of double white lines and give way markings at junctions, probably because nobody told them!

Ride in single file along the left side of the road near the kerb….

Large groups of cyclists are invariably a nuisance, mainly because they do not follow this advice and are likely to spread out across the entire road if there isn’t much traffic, with individuals showing no awareness that the group, as a group, constitutes a serious traffic hazard. However, I did see a group of about forty a while ago near the frontier east of Ta Kwu Ling who followed this rule impeccably. Kudos to them.

Control your speed when riding on an inclined surface and allow room for braking.

When I wrote about the sign instructing cyclists to get off their bikes and push a year ago, I wasn’t aware that a young woman had been killed after losing control of her bike on this particular hill. However, I’m not surprised that someone would lose their life in such a situation, because far too many local and weekend cyclists have no idea how to stop!

It is a common conceit that once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget, but this applies only to staying upright while moving forward. So what happens when you want to stop? It is very common here to see a cyclist’s feet come off the pedals to scrape along the ground, which implies that they haven’t learned how to use their brakes. I would amend this point as follows:

Be aware of your speed when riding downhill and learn how to use your brakes.

You will notice that I’ve amended the first part of this point too, because I do like to see how fast I can go on downhill sections, provided that there is a safe runout at the bottom. A good example of this is the switchback, part of the final frontier.

When passing, turning or stopping, always look around and make hand signals to alert other road users of [sic] your intentions.

I had to suppress a chuckle here, because the only cyclist whom I’ve ever seen using hand signals is Paula, and she picked up the habit from me. To me, letting other people know what you’re about to do is simple common sense.

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Those were my comments on the advice, but there were also some glaring omissions. I would add the following:

Never listen to music while cycling.

A few days ago, I was cycling along a wide and relatively quiet road in Sheung Shui on my way out west. I was approaching a junction to the left, which I would pass, when I heard a car behind me. The sound made me suspect that the driver was slowing down to turn left, so although I didn’t change my own speed, I was aware that this might happen. I was right. The car came alongside and immediately started its turn. It was almost as if I wasn’t there. Had I not suspected that this might happen, this clown would have taken me out. And I wouldn’t even have been aware of his/her existence if I’d been listening to music. I depend on my sense of hearing when cycling. So should every cyclist.

Use your bell correctly.

This may seem like a statement of the obvious. However, weekend cyclists seem to think that their bike’s bell is some kind of esoteric communication device. That was certainly my impression when I last ventured onto the cycle track between Shatin and Taipo on a weekend. I would ring my bell to let a group of weekenders know that I was about to overtake them, and they would all ring their own bells in response. Perhaps things have changed, because I keep away from busy areas at weekends nowadays.

And there are two contexts in which local cyclists should use their bells, but don’t. The first is when overtaking pedestrians or other cyclists on a shared section that has plenty of room for you to do so. Why would you need to do that? Because the pedestrian or cyclist may change direction suddenly if they are unaware that a bike is approaching from behind. Failing to sound your bell in the second context is a particularly egregious error. You must ring it when approaching a blind bend or corner, in case there is someone you can’t see around that corner.

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While I applaud the efforts of the Road Safety Council—the producers of this leaflet—to promote safer cycling, I do wonder how many experienced cyclists it consulted before issuing its guidelines. And I also wonder how many people will see a copy of its leaflet, because the way many local, weekend and recreational cyclists ride suggests a complete ignorance of safe practices.

footnote
For definitions of the terms local, weekend and recreational cyclist, see Cycling in Hong Kong.