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?

You don't own the road.

Neither do cyclists! What a stupid comment.

I believe they have to have council permission to close roads, and there has to be notice and a detour. And, yes, a horse died because they wouldn't let an emergency vet through.

Last year a mare and foal died, the mare was in great pain because the vet was unable to get to them due to this. YANBU

Congratulations on your obvious "let's start an argument using emotive examples thread".

You win the pointless argument of the day award. 🏆

Cycle races happen. Parades happen. Race for Life happens. Political rallies happen. Road works happen.

And guess what? Life goes on. I've NEVER seen an example where emergency services cannot respond to an emergency at any of the above events. Just because one foal (sadly) died on one occasion does not mean these events should be banned: it was poor planning at one particular event.

You clearly hate cyclists and this is nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt at attacking cyclists whilst gaining as much attention as possible.

And as for the rude/nasty commenters: get a life.

Sincerely
Non driver/non cyclist.

YANBU.
You should be allowed access 24/7 if you live there,drive or not.
I don't see why I should have to walk to our house and leave the car up the road for whatever reason unless it is actually dangerous or unsafe to access our drive.
Cyclists are an entitled bunch as it is.
Roadworks you are allowed access I think if it's down your road and not outside your house but I could be wrong.
I'm sure legally you can't be prevented from accessing your own drive? I'm not 100% sure on this either.
I can see the issue with farmers markets though as we used to live near a town that closed off the main street for them. There was a big car park nearby, I don't know why they couldn't have had it there!
But yes I do agree. It's not about doing without the car, it's about the right to access your property how you see fit whenever you need to.

Well I want to know which days of the year they will close the parks, cycle trails and running tracks so I can go and drive round them.

No? Then get the fuck outta my road and go and run or cycle in the appropriate place instead of fucking up ordinary folk's day so you can do you can do your wanky 10k or cycle wank that you can wank about on faceache and bore your family and colleagues with.

You sound very miserable. We all have to share spaces and if that means a few times a year your road is closed, so what? I live in the city centre so my road is regularly closed for running events, triathlons, Pride etc. You have plenty of warning about it and can park elsewhere if you need your car.

Share the parks/cycle trails/running tracks and I'll happily share the road

Totally agree! Winds me up!😡😡

I completely and utterly agree with the OP. The selfish, entitled attitude of hobby sports fanatics closing the highways is monstrous. I am toning this down as my real opinion is much stronger.

Roads are for travelling on and any sort of blockage is contrary to the rights and freedoms of the taxpayers who fund them.

The nuisance caused to local people whose roads are cut off for sports events is bad enough but I have also personally known participants whose accidents have caused them catastrophic, life changing injuries. To an extent, that is their choice - though paying to support them for the rest of their lives will fall to the taxpayer. However, the person who dies because the ambulance couldn’t get through has no choice.

Roads should always be open to travel and keeping them open should be the highest priority of public transport bodies.

Jesus, I’m glad I’m not as miserable as the people on here being so aggressive to people because a road is closed for a few hours. Obviously you’ll get some events where they’ve been poorly organised and in these occasions you should complain to the organic and rightly so. Where you’ve been given plenty notice it’s not the end of the world for the sake of a few hours. There is things in place for emergencies and people who really need to cross.
As for those idiots saying they would cross the blockades regardless I hope to fucking god you never hurt or kill anyone doing this because that is a fucking pathetic and awful thing to do! People have been seriously hurt in the past where people have done this and yet it’s horrific that a horse and foal died!?

organisers not organic 🙄

Not all events have a charity component. Even if they do, the participants could have still made a charitable donation without doing an event, especially one that inconveniences so many.

Purple I couldn’t afford to donate £700 to charity off my own back. I wish I could!

I wonder if there's this much huffing and chuffing over the London marathon road closures.

Like the London marathon, big closed road cycle events tend to happen on a Sunday to minimise disruption. Most give plenty of notice of road closures, so there's loads of time to make other arrangements, and emergency services are always allowed through.

The death of the foal during Velo Birmingham was very sad though - a terrible error in judgement from the steward.

And yes, I know what it's like to have your road closed so that you can't drive in or out. My road was closed for three days without even access to frontages (for road works, not an event).

icantstop..

Then how do you do the event? Do you expect other people to find your participation?

Purple they don’t ‘fund’ it they sponsor me. Friends and family know how hard I’ve trained and how difficult this is going to be for me so have kindly sponsored me to raise money for my chosen charity.

Not many hospital treatments take place on Sundays,
Urgent apps can take place on sundays, so you can advertise this in advance but urgent apps can take place on weekends ( including sundays).
Not being able to attend could mean treatment being pushed back.

We have an annual cycle race past our house. It lasts several hours. We live on narrow country lanes. We get a letter asking us to not use the road between the suggested times. But it also says if you do need to use the road please travel the same direction as the cyclists. That is a good compromise. But they don’t stop us going the other direction, there is a safety car that makes us pull over. Though my husband couldn’t resist driving along our road with the combine 🤣

Totally agree with you OP! Why should someone else’s bloody hobby affect residents lives?! If they want to close a road off for an event then they should have the decency to cone one of the lanes for residents to go about their business with Marshalls helping with traffic and health&safety!
Ps disgusted that a vet couldn’t get through because of an event!! If I’d have been that horse owner I would have gone and grabbed the vet myself squishing all and sundry who stood in my way! Entitled tossers

Urgent apps can take place on sundays, so you can advertise this in advance but urgent apps can take place on weekends ( including sundays).

Not quite sure what this means but yes, of course urgent medical needs can arise on Sundays, and race organisers make provision for that eventuality. OP seems to have been talking about more routine appointments, however.

I'm totally with you OP, this is crap! My mum's whole village is cut off every year by a cycle race (same one I expect) - there are only two roads in and out and they're both closed. She's 75 with a heart condition and it's the highest fucking hill in the county so no she's not up for a 4-mile stroll into town! We were going to visit this weekend (flying into Gatwick) but couldn't because we couldn't guarantee we could leave in time to get our flight home.

People wouldn't really mind as access wouldn't be completely blocked off, sometimes for a pointlessly long amount of time, with stewards baffled that I might want to know which way the buses have been redirected... And no, I don't fancy walking until I manage to find it myself.

As I said, none of the other races and events caused such a mess, even when they encountered the odd issue

Totally agree with OP . Velo South tried it on last yr . It wasn't just the fact if it had gone ahead our little village would have been cut off for 8-9 hours . It was the the directorial way the organisers presented it as a done deal aided & abetted by local council . Luckily some villagers started legal proceedings to stop it. Guess what a few days before event it was cancelled , they said it was the weather ! There is talk they are going to try again in 2020 . Bring it on we're waiting for them & the council . We will not be dictated to . Sorry got that of my chest !

Durexcertified

Then get the fuck outta my road

You don’t own the road, what was it you said about cyclists sharing?

Urshula

Indeed, but sadly it’s a reality