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?

When it happens here there is NO access out of the village. The lady I had to get to needed time dependent medication administered to her and the cone man wouldn't let me through. They were supposed to supply cate companies with a pass to let care workers through but they didn't. The cordon was right the way through the village with either a 12 mile walk to get to her or a 43mile round trip avoiding the other roads that were closed to get to the other side of the cordon. My house happened to inside a triangle of all roads closed so once you're in it you're in it for the day. So I had to leave for work early and couldn't get home until hours after I finished.

Anyway, I moved a cone and drove through it myself. They don't use the two lanes of traffic anyway so why close both??? Just have it single lane traffic with a stop and go man for those who need to move.

What made it worse is there's a cycle route that runs through here, they couldn't used that to alleviate the problem of an entire village being cut off.

We couldn't get a bus in or out of town either, and there are a lot of busy and country roads without pavements here where it really isn't safe or feasible to walk.

YANBU OP.

Completely agree with you OP. I used to live in a town closed off by Ride 100, which almost always landed on my dad’s birthday weekend meaning it was a total faff for me to get there. Not the most severe issue in comparison to some of those raised, but an issue nonetheless. I have no interest in cycling and can’t understand why they get priority over thousands of local people or why they can’t move it every year to save it being the same people inconvenienced every year. Total bollocks.

It's true that nobody 'owns' their road, Fiddlesticks, but if it's public property then all of the public should be able to use it all the time, within reason (obv there are speed limits and limits on types of vehicles that can use residential streets, and more).

There is a health and safety issue at play if the interests of vulnerable residents are compromised in order to facilitate an event that could reasonably be held elsewhere - and most cycling and running events could fit into that category.

Why should I have to jump through hoops to go about my normal day to day business to facilitate someone else's vanity project?

Not closing the road is also a pain in the arse. Around here the main A road (and we only have 2 A roads) is used for time trial cycle races on a regular basis. There is no advance warning as there are no road closures. The result is you have to try and get past 100's of bikes spread out on a 15 mile stretch of single carriageway road. In one particular event they were doing a race up and down the same stretch of road so you had cars overtaking cyclists going South at the same time as the cyclists on the return leg were heading North and being overtaken by cars/trucks too. How no one was killed/seriously injured that day is beyond me. There is seemingly nothing that can be done as the cycling organisations seem to be free to run their events without any special licence.

I used to be a community nurse and covered an area which ride London went straight through. The organisers did try to assist but as we were unable to give them a schedule months in advance (caseload changes daily) it was a very tricky day. Visits were late and disjointed and my day was planned around rolling roadblocks and logistics rather than patient centred care.

I agree that the event does a huge amount for charities and it's great to see so many people coming together but the scale and location just cause far too much disruption.

Is it at the weekend? If so it's unlikely to affect things like medical appointments.

P.S I know that there wouldn't be cars on those busy and country roads but I don't care to play dodge the cyclists either, if that was even an option.

AuntieStella you seem to have a lot of faith in "welfare assistance provision". We were promised this too, but come the week and day of the event the contacts couldn't even be reached and utter chaos followed

Unsurprisingly, when they tried to run the same event the following year, leaflets and signs never appeared - "technical problems", they claimed later - but luckily locals found out and mounted an organised disruption of the whole thing

Oddly enough they didn't appreciate chaos when they were the ones suffering it, and happily I very much doubt they'll be back

welshweasel
we get a pass that enables us to drive on the course (obviously under the guidance of marshals). They make plans for any patients that will need to get treatment e.g. dialysis too. Emergency vehicles obviously allowed also. I really don’t see what the issue is.

Well it's alright for you so you don't see what the issue is. A case of 'it's ok for me Jack, what's your problem'

You can access your road 24/7

It’s just not with a car

It might be easier poopypants if you explain exactly which of the scenarios in your OP is your issue and someone may be able to offer constructive advice.

Get over yourself. The roads belong to all of us, not just car drivers.

OP I’m with you and I don’t even have a car.

Sick to death of cycle events in London, can’t use the buses which are much easier for elderly and disabled. Mum walks with a stick sometimes and I’ve realised most Tube lifts are a long walk from the main route of escalators.

Also any disabled or elderly needing to use cabs are in trouble with all the road closures. And generally London is completely anti car, which I see as a big problem for elderly and disabled.

I agree with you OP.
Where I live, where there is now regularl cycle events it’s a nightmare because there’s only one road in and through the village which gets closed.
Some have said to ‘park outside the event’ but this is about 7 miles away.
I regularly work on calls from home and have not been allowed through in emergencies.

We live incredibly remote and accept where we live hosts these events, but it makes it’s VERY difficult for day to day (and emergency) life.
Plus note is our roads are in great condition because of said cycle events!

In our town a whole wedge of the town is cut off for the whole day as they use one road coming into town and another going out. If you are at the thick end of the wedge you have half a mile or so walk to the edge. Also there is limited parking so thousands of residents wanting to park outside the Corden are not going to find anywhere close to park. Those with disabilities are fucked.

Ugh, I know, right? Who do these disabled people think they are, constantly whinging about wanting to leave their own homes, and access essential medical treatments

Disabled people are people for whom welfare arrangements are made so that they can leave their home and access medical treatments if they need to.

The town I live in regularly has traffic at stand still when there is a crash on M40 or M42 and the cars leave the motorway and completely contest the town. No one can go anywhere by car, no one can get to hospital appointment, caters can’t get to elderly, nurses can’t get to patients emergency vehicles struggle to move as it’s a medieval town and drivers struggle to pull over to let emergency vehicles through. There is never any outcry at this - but shut the roads for a few hours for an event and it seems it’s different, yet the result of one is much worse chaos and happens far more often

@poopypants
You still have t replied how it’s personally affecting you? Is it for health, you have the flights?

I have a disabled customer who is trapped in her home by selfish drivers who park on the pavement and she can’t use the pavement, the cycle event has no effect on her leaving the house as she can’t anyway

In our cul de sac, three bungalows house elderly who have carers three times a day. The carers dread, bikes, marathons, festivals, carnivals, and the car rally, it makes their job so difficult and distresses their clients so I can understand why it is annoying when some areas have events almost every weekend in the season.

Flights are booked up to a year in advance

Ride London happens every year on the same weekend. If you know you will be affected, plan around it. Do people get chemotherapy on a Sunday?

Air quality is massively improved when the London marathon and Ride London are on. I'd say have events like that every Sunday!

Sick to death of cycle events in London

There is one a year - Ride London. And the ladies night-time one which presumably doesn't affect your elderly mother. Seriously, is it that much of an inconvenience on one day a year?

London is completely anti car

Is this the same London that is the capital city of the UK? It's not remotely anti-car. As far as I am concerned, if there is even one private car in Central London, the congestion charge is too cheap (blue badge holders being exempt).

A case of 'it's ok for me Jack, what's your problem

Many of us are wondering poopypants