Commuting diary

Thought I would try and put down my thoughts on commuting to work every day by bike from Richmond to Brick Lane. I will be periodically posting observations on the ride. Here is a quick top five list to get me going. Top five dangers on the commute.

1. Me - I ride fairly aggressively in order to make good time through the traffic and that style is inherently more dangerous than sticking to the cycle lane and following slow moving traffic at a snails pace.
2. Pedestrians - These moving bollards wander all over the road, singly and in large disorganised groups. They ignore pedestrian signals when there are no cars and are indignant when I come flying through the green lights, dodging the slower ones. They also walk through stationary traffic without looking to se if there is anyone coming along the inside or outside of the cars. Having a startled pedestrian step into your path as you come down the inside of the traffic with nowhere to go is an unfortunately common occurrence.
3. Pot holes - Or the general state of the roads, while not life threatening they can give you a very nasty jolt through the saddle, causing a good deal of pain in a very sensitive place and forcing you unpredictably off the line you are riding.
4. HGV's - Or trucks as they are known in the US, they often don't see cyclists and can turn across the traffic cutting you up as you come along the outside or inside of stationary traffic. In the worst case they turn left over you. HGV's are 30 times more likely to kill you than a car in London.
5. Busses - In general they are well driven and take due not of cyclists, but because they are often forced to share lanes with cyclists there are often times that they will try and pass you with little space to spare forcing you into the gutter.