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A star at Christmas

Joan Collins

Wednesday, 12th December 2007

Joan Collins's Festive Notebook

On many Manhattan street corners New York’s finest, flinty-eyed and (regrettably) slightly corpulent cops keep a stern eye on the madding crowd, which is why New York is now one of the safest cities in which to walk in the world, as opposed to London, which is apparently one of the most dangerous. However, some of the most dangerous and careless individuals in both cities are cyclists. Many of them think nothing of racing along the pavement or sidewalks or roads with little consideration for pedestrians. There were two instances the other week in New York of a cyclist smashing into an innocent walker and inflicting serious injury. A friend of mine was walking to pick up her grandson when a punk on a bike smashed her to the ground on Kensington High Street. He didn’t even stop. Her leg was broken, but Audrey is one brave and fit lady and luckily was in good enough shape to recover after two weeks in hospital, even though she still uses crutches. Why can’t the CCTV cameras that take hundreds of images of each of us every day catch these monstrous morons instead of only recording parking violations? If cyclists had to follow some of the same rules as motorists, Audrey’s assailant would have been caught and I hope jailed for this dastardly hit and run. All bike riders should be made to follow the rules of the road and have licence plates — that way they could be booked for crimes and misdemeanours far more serious than parking offences. Are you listening, Ken Livingstone?

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Duncan

December 14th, 2007 11:29am

Which ‘other week’ were these incidents in New York? I have not been able to track down the details and would like to. When was this incident in Kensington High Street? Recently or in some urban myth time zone? Did the ‘friend’ report it to the police? Is there an incident number? A broken leg is surely quite serious. It is actually rare to see cyclists on the pavement. When you do there are normally extenuating circumstances such as road works that have created additional dangerous choke points. Sometimes beginner cyclists take to the pavement in particularly dangerous areas. Apart from that, cyclists have no interest in being on the pavement. Meanwhile pedestrians are all too often found wandering in the road oblivious to the cyclists around them. Thankfully pedestrians and cyclists rarely harm each other. The real danger comes from drivers. Stand at any major junction and whenever the lights turn red you can see cars, coaches, buses and taxis speeding through. Cycle lanes are ignored and offer little protection. Forward boxes are never enforced. Taxis and buses regard bus lanes as theirs alone and squeeze and cut across cyclists. Van and lorry drivers, often reading a map or using a mobile, seem incapable of using their left mirrors. It is a sad fact that most of the cycling accidents in London are caused by lorries, vans and coaches speeding away from traffic lights and turning left without looking - deaths being regarded by the courts as unfortunate accidents. Instead of whinging at cyclists, we should be striving to create a safe cycling environment in London. Above all, drivers must be taught that a green light is not a license to kill. The roads are there for us all to share: cars do not have priority.

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