Response to a comment about a nice old bike bell, which predictably descended into the usual anti-cycling rant:
I’d really love it if somebody just posted a picture of an old bell and said “that’s a nice bell”, just as you would a classic car lamp.
Guess what – I have a retro bell just like that on one of my bikes, a bog standard one on the other.
Why do I have a bell? Simply because there are certain parts of town – we all know where they are, where pedestrians have a habit of wondering aimlessly into the road, so the bell acts an alert that I’m coming. I still slow down until I know we’ve made eye contact.
Pedestrians don’t have lights, hiviz, helmets or insurance, don’t pay any mythical pavement tax, and generally cross roads where they want, observing lights less often than any other road user (observe it and you will confirm the same).
Yet people rarely have a go, and why is this? Because we are all pedestrians, and most of us are motorists.
Across the board, cyclists’ behaviour is no better or worse than any other road user, but we rarely put others in danger, whereas a well driven car is still a huge risk due to its size and speed.
So please have a little think before having a go, just because people don’t have a bell – it really isn’t that big a deal.
<end rant>
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