To think I should be allowed to access my road 24/7?

[poopypants]

Cycle event. Road closures. I mean why is this s thing? People have lives. What if my holiday return flight booked a year ago before cycle events were published flew me in on this day! What if my pet needed the vet? What if I was pregnant and needed to get to an antenatal appointment ? What if I had a shift job that required me to leave home or I finished smack in the middle of the event? Hospital appointment? Dialysis appointment? Chemotherapy session? It's endless. People have lives that require them to be able to come and go. How is it ok to hold people hostage?

I disagree with the OP on this.

Where I do have an opinion not much different is where roads are closed or have restrictions for roadworks, 24 hours a day, and yet repairs are only being carried out for 8 hours at most, especially in summer.

"not really relevant if flights were booked 6-12 months ago"

No, as that means for Ride London you booked after the dates were announced. The 2020 dates are already out.

As pointed out upthread, though, they actually announce it more than 12 months in advance

As pointed out upthread, this is not always the case. Nor do they always let people through in emergencies.

Why the fuck do people keep whanging on about road tax on these threads. It doesn’t exist.

And not all cars pay vehicle tax. I don’t on my car.

The payment idle tax doesn’t give you a bigger say.

Not all events are as advertised as Ride London- I don't have the slightest clue when the ones near me take place and don't even know the names for them as quite frankly I don't care.

Cyclists are the most entitled breed on the planet

Where I used to love the signs went up the day before and unless you where interested in this particular thing you wouldn’t be looking for it online.

We tried to get out in the car every road blocked. Tried to walk nope how dare we try and walk across the road not allowed. You would have to be out or stuck in for at least half the day as we where near the end but they shut the road in the early am. This was joggers rather then cyclists.

I never realised it happened before we moved to that house but now I’d check before moving that I’m not about to move into a known road closure area.

I agree with the op tbh. Road closures for 'events' prioritise that activity above everything else people might do. It's not too bad if it's a rolling closure and you can walk in as long as you are able to do so but not everybody can do that. In my city events have prevented people from getting to church on Sundays in the past. That's pretty annoying.

The world cycling championships are in Harrogate in September.its going to be v challenging for the inhabitants because it's a loop and it's an all day closure for several days.

Ursula - it wasn’t a Hugh bag tbf and the time he spent talking to the marshals he could have walked there

Cyclists are the most entitled breed on the planet

Try meeting an able bodied car driver - they can go for one day without using a car

I realise this applies to half the threads on AIBU, but it's so hard to judge others' situations. If my road was blocked off, I could easily walk the other direction, catch a regular bus from a different road etc.

This definitely. We live in a village at the bottom of some cliffs. There is one road in/out if that's closed...unless you have a boat or you can walk the coastal paths you aren't going anywhere. That's fine for us, I walk up and down regularly and could easily carry dc2 whilst dc1 could walk too. Our neighbour though is 97, if the road is closed she can't go anywhere which would probably be okay for a day. Arriving on the bus to discover it can't go down the hill and that she has to walk home would be a different story entirely.

I took part in a local run organised by the local running club last year. Because it was organised by the community even though it involved road closures they were done with minimial disruption to those impacted. If vets/midwives/GPs had needed to get through, they would have. I think that's key and that perhaps some of these events are too big and/or organised by people with zero local knowledge/interest.

Where I do have an opinion not much different is where roads are closed or have restrictions for roadworks, 24 hours a day, and yet repairs are only being carried out for 8 hours at most, especially in summer.

Sometimes the nature of the work means they need to keep barriers up around them.

But in the case of roadworks, they try to minimise disruption and ensure there are points for access in and out.

A race passing the end of my road is a problem, as the road is a sort of crescent with both ends close together onto the same main road.

Car drivers are the most entitled breed on the planet

Car drivers always think of the disabled & elderly if a road is being closed but never give them a second thought when they park on the pavement.

Go to any street outside of London and you’ll struggle to find a pavement that isn’t parked on by a driver

Totally agree with you OP.
YANBU.

Can't believe that vet wasn't allowed through?!

I'd just fucking drive through if and where I could get away with it (I.e where I'm not being blocked by a tank)

I'm in Paris and we frequently get blocked in by sporting events with no notice. And I mean no leaflets either in letter boxes or put up in the streets. I suppose we could look up the dates of the various running, cycling, roller skating, skateboarding etc. events but there is rarely any information on times or roads that will be blocked. They just don't care. Ditto for filming. Loads of filming going on that take up all the parking spaces for roads and roads for days on end and then keep you up all night being noisy filming under your bedroom window

It is frustrating and rude of the organizers at least not to inform us.

I have also sworn to never live by an embassy again. There were many occasions when there were crowds of protestors meaning we couldn't get in or out of our flat until the riot police dispersed them. And sometimes it got violent which was unpleasant.

The only road closures that have been well advertised are when they shut all roads on a Sunday between 9am and 6pm. But I can only remember it happening once.

That is one hell of a sweeping statement @ivykaty44

2 disabled children here and at least 2 races a year at the end of my road. Rolling road blocks so it's usually an hour morning and afternoon.

Love it. The bunting the atmosphere it's such fun and the local primary schools all cheer and make even more bunting.

It's usually at weekends or outside of normal commute times.

Along one stretch of road alone running from Weybridge to Walton there are approximately 20 side streets which are cul de sacs, we are blocked in each year for normally two cycling events, these are holders, flat owners, hotel and a Care home. Several hundred households on one stretch! We love our sport but am so fed up with this as one year we had to get out (sons football tournament), there was no where to place our car as had rung both council and Prudential (organisers). Am sick to the back teeth and don’t get me started regarding how beneficial it is, as local businesses do suffer. The ones who prosper well from it, are the Council and Prudential .

I feel you. They had one where I live when I was due with my second baby. I was so worried as all the signs said no access at all and my road was completely cut off.

Green eyed..... a few years ago Elmbridge Council sent out a questionnaire regarding this event. I had friends who got it but these friends didn’t live in a cul de sac and, on asking those like us who live in cul de sacs, none had received it.

Your community needs to stand against these 'people'. What about elderly who have carers in several times a day? If there was an emergency it would take a lot of time to access those needing help. People who can't walk well wouldn't be able to walk to a parked car on another road. These bike events are just ego boosts for those participating and others shouldn't suffer because of that.

We had our road closed for some poxy cycle thing. I just moved the sign, drove to the junction and returned it.

Bloody thing didn't start for another 30mins a mile away. There was no need to shut our road yet.

Go to any street outside of London and you’ll struggle to find a pavement that isn’t parked on by a driver

My street doesn't get pavement parking; it's permit only and our wardens like catching people out of hours.

Stray cats
I didn't receive anything either. Nothing through the post box. Just road signs a few days before the event saying road closed between insert time slot it was worrying as I had a lot of complications at the time. I do think they should atleast have some access (like one side of the road open with traffic lights for an example)