To think that cyclists shouldn’t be allowed on dual carriageways

@Orangeandgold
There are rules for cyclists.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/annex-1-you-and-your-bicycle

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273

https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/other-road-users.html

@Redpeach of course it's scary that people don't know what kind of road they're driving on!

Most dual carriageways very clearly have signs showing the speed limit, though.

That isn't quite true.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6p2nxj0g9po

It's scary that this many people have passed their driving test without knowing pretty basic road knowledge, yes.

It quite possibly is causing accidents if people don't know the speed limit because they don't know what type of road they're on.

The most tolerance and consideration needs to be on the side that causes most harm

Is it that scary? Is it causing accidents?

OP do you mean the road has a central reservation or barrier?
And how many lanes on each side of that barrier.

Normal but not always there are at least 2 lanes going in either direction.

Can you better describe your road?

They do where I live 😕

@JarvisIsland no, I haven't misspelt anything

They scare me because they're so incredibly vulnerable and often (in my experience) behave unpredictably. I've had cyclists veer out in front of me without looking, turn off without signalling and pull over into laybys ahead of me without any indication that they're about to do so. Not so long ago, one was cycling in the pitch black on a 60mph road - no lights, no high-vis gear, nothing. He was lucky not to get killed.

Tractors are wider, but more predictable and visible. They indicate, they pull over, they don't wobble all over the road or stop unpredictably. I feel much, much safer over-taking a tractor than a cyclist.

Tractors pulling over! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Round here I've never seen a tractor narrower than 2 cyclists side by side, they always take up more road.

Please can you elaborate on what terrifies you, about a human being of on average say 80kg, on a bike of say 10kg, travelling at say 20mph (decent flat speed for a roadie) when you are in a 2000kg safety cage, equipped with 4 wheels and brakes that is inherently stable travelling at a speed slower than a 2 wheeled pedal cycle is. I can drive my car at 2mph but if I tried to go that slowly on my bike whilst holding a straight line it would tip over. I think you misspelled 'it makes me cross that there might be a cyclist in my way'.

I drive close to 20k miles a year, including rurally and including in a large van and I've not managed to be terrified by a cyclist yet. I'm also faster on my bike than the milk float, but I don't see daily rants about the milk float doing it's rounds on the industrial estate at rush hour with a queue of cars behind it (which it regularly does as I think it stocks up locally)

Surely all the more reason for drivers to pay attention and drive according to the road conditions.

The table in this suggests the opposite. The most dangerous by far are urban roads and NSL 'rural roads' . Not the '61-70' category 7 which must be dual carriageways.

www.motor1.com/news/415257/most-dangerous-road-types-in-uk/

The much lower number of fatalities may of course be because there's very few pedestrians or cyclists there to be mown down.

The mainproblem there was the HGV - I wish there could be some detection and enforcement against tailgating.

I had to overtake a cyclist on a dual carriageway yesterday- it was quite dangerous as I couldn't see them due to the vehicle in between me and cyclist - that car was able to pull into the other lane and didn't slow down much, whereas I couldn't move over due to having a vehicle alongside me, so had to brake quite hard with an HGV right behind me. You can't just change lanes at will!

D1 class road, dual carriageway, one lane each direction. D2 is your most common two lanes per side.

D2's are probably the most dangerous roads in the UK, motorway speeds but without motorway restrictions (learners allowed, tractors allowed, cyclists allowed etc) and no hard shoulder.

42 ish

The biggest problem is drivers don't read the road much past their bonnet so get taken by surprise far too frequently. Ask any police officer who regularly deals with road incidents.

The issue is speed. Cars travelling at 70mph find themselves upon cyclists travelling 10-20mph before they know it.

yes, small but significant difference. should really proofread before posting

Typo 'now' obviously should be 'not'

cars put cyclists at risks. Do you know how many cyclists are killed every year by cars (no drivers have been killed by cyclists). Your post is completely misinformed. Cyclists are also now allowed to ride on pavements. If you cannot handle a road where cyclists can legally ride, maybe take some driving lessons. your post is nuts!

It would save an awful lot of people a deal of time if they RTWT and noted that I have acknowledged I was mistaken.
But if it makes you feel better to continue to flog a dead horse, fill your boots.

No, thankfully I'm not a driver! Find the distinction fascinating though - I've seen two-lane central reservation dual carriageways with sub-70 limits (e.g. the Euston Road, most central London major roads), but never a single lane national speed limit dual carriageway.