Cyclists should use cycle lanes where they exist

[TychosNose]

Apologies if this sounds like I'm cyclist bashing. I don't mean to.

A road a regularly drive down has a completely separate cycle path which is along the footpath, separated from the road by a grass verge, but every single day I have to hover behind cyclists who insist on riding along the road rather than on the cycle lane (I'm driving a car obv.)

I have no idea why they do this. It's safer for them on the cycle lane surely?

It would also be faster because there are traffic lights on the road but not on the cycle lane (unless they jump the red light ... ).

Aibu to suggest they should be fined for using the road when there is a perfectly adequate, dedicated, safe, probably expensive cycle path?

[TychosNose]

mudandmayhem
Actually the cyclists on this particular route Possibly do cause more pollution because they create such a traffic jam.

thedancingbear actually I have said I see people's point about unsafe cycle lanes but I guess that doesn't fit with your narrative of the nasty car driver.

[hedgehogsdontbite]

So do you think you're more important? Your journey should be disrupted by unpredictable toddlers, but mine should by cyclists?

Cyclists like pedestrians use the highways by right. You use it with permission. You, as the car driver, are the interloper.

[TychosNose]

I didn't know cycle paths weren't for commuters tarantula

[pileoflaundry]

If a cyclist joins the road at a T junction, turning right, there might be no way to get onto the cycle lane. Or the cycle lane might have been badly sign posted, so the cyclist(s) didn't realise it existed until they were well on their way. If as you say the traffic is fast moving, it can be petrifying, or dangerous, for a cyclist to stop at the side and carry their bike over to the cycle lane. Especially if there is an irate driver right behind. Then the only option is to carry on.

And even then, for the reasons mentioned above, the cycle lane might be less safe (debris, pot holes, toddlers and dogs).

[BaronessEllaSaturday]

www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.8565523,-2.8613899,3a,75y,288.46h,68.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soW2zoSSX6qAhI2brMtthmQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

don't know if that will work but it should give a clear indication if it does that cycle paths that are separate from the road can be even more dangerous for the cyclist than being on the road in the first place. Who fancies trying to go straight ahead when the cycle path throws you into a left hand turn lane. Please take good note of the state of the cycle path as well. I probably first used it 30 years ago and I don't think it has been resurfaced in all that time

[InsufficientlyCaffeinated]

Actually the cyclists on this particular route Possibly do cause more pollution because they create such a traffic jam

Cyclists produce zero pollution. Cars produce pollution, too many people using cars cause traffic jams which increases pollution.

[TychosNose]

hedgehogsdontbite so am in in interloper or do I have permission? Pretty sure the two are mutually exclusive.

osmiornica I live rurally and often come across pedestrians on the road where there is no footpath. I'm more than happy to slow down completely for them. As I am for horses. If however, there were lots of pedestrians choosing to use the road when there is a pavement then I would question why. Just as I have about the cyclists.

I am always very considerate of learner drivers and motorcyclists. I give them lots of room and I don't find that in the least irritating.

I'm really not the horrible person people are trying to make out. I just had one small gripe and suddenly it's assumed that I'm a total arsehole.

[herecomethepotatoes]

I don't think so. You believe that others (in this case cyclists) should use a cyclepath so you aren't held up.

I'm very happy to share the road with cyclists

A fact not borne out by writing this thread. Perhaps I was a little harsh. I think this is a fair edit.

While your post has shown nothing more than short-sighted ignorance, I think that most here can guess as to your general style of driving and attitude in daily life. A self-centred one.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

We paid £490 x 2 for our cars which, if you do want to start talking about taxation, gives me more right than most to ride on the road

Your choice of car is absolutely up to you, but I can't quite see why the increased tax gives you more right than most?

[mudandmayhem01]

Air pollution caused by cars causes 5000 deaths a year in the UK. Every car journey that is replaced by walking, cycling, car sharing reduces air pollution. I just don't believe I am contributing to air pollution by riding my bike. Cars are the main cause of traffic jams, not bikes. Its always easier to blame a cyclist for congestion rather than a car driver as it would be blaming yourself!

[TychosNose]

No, that's still rude potatoes

[53rdAndBird]

Another problem with those line-painted-down-the-middle-of-the-path cycle lanes: they're often very narrow. There's at least one near me that just isn't wide enough for cyclists coming in opposite directions to safely pass, without slowing to a stop or swerving on to the footpath or road.

[amarmai]

walk a mile in my shoes= cycle a mile on my bike=you`ll understand then,maybe.

[TychosNose]

I accept that I cause pollution and congestion as a driver. I think most of us cause pollution with our lifestyles in general so we all need to take responsibility for those deaths from air pollution. Not just me. In fact, potatoes seems to drive a more powerful car than me and has two of them so I'm not the worst here.

[thedancingbear]

I'm very happy to share the road with cyclists

Are you fuck.

[TychosNose]

53rdandbird that's kind of my point I think. That the cyclists think it's fine for all the drivers to have to slow down for them but they shouldn't have to slow down for anyone else and that's why some of them choose the road but not the cycle path. I've been corrected though and said iabu and apologised.

[merrymouse]

One of the disadvantages of a car is that you are limited to the road. Different forms of transport have different pros and cons.

[53rdAndBird]

If you as a driver have to slow down for me on a bike, that's delaying your journey by about eight seconds.

If I as a cyclist have to slow down to a stop every time someone comes the other way, that's delaying my journey by about, what, 45 minutes?

You wouldn't drive down a road where you had to stop every time a driver came the other way, if there was a two-lane road you could use instead. You just wouldn't.

[53rdAndBird]

(And I think it's perfectly fine to ask why cyclists aren't using a cycle path! Lots of times there are problems with cycle paths that aren't obvious to non-cyclists, and it's always good to learn about things like that.)

[InsufficientlyCaffeinated]

That the cyclists think it's fine for all the drivers to have to slow down for them but they shouldn't have to slow down for anyone else

And yet you said it's ridiculous for you to have to pull aside to let cyclists past when you are in slow or stationary traffic...

Like all traffic, cycling involves lots of stopping and starting but using cycle paths often involves too much of it. You make the best choice out of the infrastructure available to you. Often when a cyclist is on the road instead of a cycle path you should be taking your complaint to the council because of their wasting money on shoddy infrastructure rather than getting irate at cyclists.

I can no longer use a road near me since my local council wasted nearly £1 million on a cycle lane because that lane is in between parked cars and traffic which means that somebody could open a door on you at any time and because drivers see painted lines, they think it's OK for them to pass at speed close by

[TychosNose]

Yes 53rd I get that now. since the cycle path is so rarely used I didn't think that it might be too narrow for cyclists to pass each other as I've never seen two cyclists riding in opposite directions on it. That could well be the answer.

[TravellingLoon]

My husband used to cycle to work (about 4 miles, of which 1 stretch of maybe less than a mile was a cycle path). He used the cycle path for a while (separate to the road, had a line down separating pedestrians and cyclists) but he nearly came off so many times due to idiot pedestrians not being able to distinguish between the two sides, deaf elderly people who couldn't hear his bell to suggest they move to the other side, children running out in front of him, and dog walkers with extendable leads who thought it was ok to basically create a trip wire across the cycle path because they didn't keep their dogs to their side. Plus, as someone has mentioned, he had to stop to cross all the roads.

So he stopped using it and the amount of abuse he used to get - in fact, it wasn't just at this bit, regardless of where he would have drivers wind down their windows and shout 'get off the fucking road' at him for no other reason than he was cycling. He was also very conscientious, wore all the high vis gear, signalled correctly etc (and used the highway code rules - very carefully studied them before starting cycling) but people still tried to take him out at roundabouts because they couldn't be bothered to wait for him to exit.

He hated it, but had no other choice. Drivers in their huge tin boxes are both safe and can be very intimidating.

So OP, basically what most other people have said: YABU. I'm sure your journey is not held up significantly by some cyclists, you're taking a minute or two at most, no more than you'd be held up by the lights all being on red instead of green on a particular journey.

[snowgirl1]

I cycle at weekends and find that many cycle paths are, imho, rather dangerous. As a PP has said they cross side roads or they end, spitting you back out onto the road and having to try to enter much faster flowing traffic from a standstill, or they disappear, or pedestrians walk into them without even looking. So sometimes I use cycle paths, sometimes I don't. When I drive, I am happy to have to slow down for cyclists and horse riders (something that frequently happens as I live near a stable) as I realise that roads have to be shared - one type of road-user doesn't have priority over the other. BTW, it may be a 40mph road, but that is a limit not a target, so the fact you have to drive at 15mph behind a cyclist is pretty irrelevant.

[BertPuttocks]

*"The bikes are actually causing loads more pollution because of all the cars having to drive at 15"

By that logic it's the non-smoking pedestrians who walk slowly who are responsible for causing passive smoking. If they moved a bit faster, the man puffing away on his cigarettes as he walks down the street wouldn't be smoking near anyone.