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

The issue is the car drivers, or at a push the lack of cycle lanes as an alternative route. Often dual carriageways are short sections of road.

It really depends if they are allowed to ride on the pavement or not - absence of pedestrians does not make it a cycle path!

I live close to a dual carriageway which has a wide foot/cycle path on either side. Signs clearly show that cyclists are permitted to ride and it is well maintained. On the rare occasion I encounter a cyclist slowing down traffic on the road, I (and all other drivers) are annoyed (although I do nothing to express my frustration directly to them unlike others).

Clearly what that poster meant is that you are supposed to drive in a way that anticipates that anything may be round a corner - a cyclist, a broken down vehicle, a sheep in the road.

@TheSassyTraybake I do think cyclists are more dangerous than tractors - tractors generally stick to the side of the road, pull in to allow people to overtake and don't try and drive 2-3 abreast on narrow roads.

I live, work and drive rurally and tractors are some of the safest vehicles I see on the road - cyclists on the other hand absolutely terrify me and I dread coming across them!

I’d love to hear how you can see around corners. What an amazing superpower that must be. 😂

I wasn’t saying anything. I have come across a cyclist on this stretch and obviously I slowed down to their speed. They were good enough to stop and pull their bike on to the verge. It’s actually quite steep so I think they are secretly glad of the rest.

I don’t know about anyone else but I have rarely encountered cyclists on a dual carriageway so not sure it’s a major issue, certainly not where I live. And are cyclists more dangerous than tractors? An A road is not a motorway for that reason. There could be slower moving/more vulnerable road users so you need to drive accordingly.

I think most accidents happen on country roads, which are a 60mph limit though lots of them aren’t suited to driving that fast. They tend to also be where you are far more likely to encounter a cyclist and there is unlikely to be cycle lanes.

It’s unfortunate that these threads inevitably descend into a driver vs cyclists debate. Surely we can all agree that cycle lanes are good for everyone because it keeps cyclists out the way, easier to see and therefore safer.

I don’t cycle. I do drive, I just don’t want to hit a cyclist so the easier they are to see the better.

To be fair. I didn't learn this until my son started driving lessons. We weren't taught the difference.

@Emanresuunknown I never said otherwise, I'm just trying to point out that lots of roads are totally unsuitable for cars and cyclists to share, even if they're legally allowed to do so.

So in which case they still should not be overtaking the cyclist.
Yes their journey will be a lot slower - and that's a separate issue.
But it still remains the case that the accidents are caused by drivers overtaking when it is not safe to do so.
The fact that a safe opportunity to overtake has not arisen doesn't mean that it's ok to overtake unsafely.

there’s a pavement (always empty, no pedestrians) that they could easily ride on
Cyclists should never use the pavement.
I’m guessing that as a motorist you are annoyed that they are slowing you down but your solution is to put pedestrians at risk - I know you said there aren’t any but there must be, otherwise there wouldn’t be a pavement.

@Emanresuunknown there are roads where space never materialises unless the cyclist pulls over. And yes, that includes on dual carriageways!

I think it's a mixture of both.

Yes, ultimately it's people who are responsible for their own actions but if you put vulnerable cyclists on a 70mph road with loads of traffic, there are bound to be accidents even if everyone is doing what they're supposed to be.

But in which case cars simply shouldn't be overtaking cyclists then until they reach a section of road where it's safe to do so? You can't say cyclists cannot use any single lane road 😳

I use this one occasionally. 70mph limit.

It doesn't matter how old the road is if there is space for 2 cars abreast no matter how tight, there is space to pass a cyclist safely.

What people don't like is that often you have to wait a while for that space to materialise and in the meantime a queue builds behind the cyclist.

But that doesn't cause accidents. It's frustrating but it's not the cause of accidents, the accidents are caused by people overtaking when they shouldn't.

Even on this thread there is open aggression and animosity between cyclists and motorists. Goodness knows what happens when they're on the roads

It's not the vehicles or the roads that cause the problems it's the knobheads using them.

Wrong. A dual carriageway has a central reservation. Not necessarily two lanes.

Yep, have to agree.

So much cyclist v car driver, that’s what causes accidents.

Stop the aggression on both sides and things will be better.

There's a short stretch of dual carriage way that I drive every day. Single lane each side and on a B road that goes between B roads. Shame I've already been to do my horse this morning or I'd take a photo. It would blow some people's minds on here

Simple question. Have the cyclists been provided with an alternative? A route that is no further than the dual carriageway (ie not on endless winding country lanes!) that is as well surfaced as the dual carriageway (ie not on muddy bridleways), is equally separated from pedestrians so you aren’t endlessly dodging out of control dogs and has as few traffic lights / pedestrian crossings as the dual carriageway? If not, then they have no meaningful alternative and will be on a dual carriageway.

I cycle regularly, but my big bugbears are cycle path that are twice the length of the road option, or where you are expected to go off road, or on shared paths with pedestrians who expect you to slow up to pass them. These ‘cycle paths’ are of no use to someone who needs to get from a to b quickly, and therefore the cyclist is forced to use busy roads which is not pleasant for anyone.

A dual carriageway is one where there is a central reservation between the traffic travelling in opposite directions. They don’t necessarily have two lanes in each direction. You can have single lanes dialled .

I think it's more that many roads aren't really fit for purpose anymore. There are more cars now, they're also bigger and it's much harder than it used to be to find roads where it's safe and practical to cycle on.

So you have too many people sharing the space and it just becomes too dangerous.

The default speed limit on a dual carriageway is 70mph.