9hrs is all it took!

[Finallylostit]

The new highway code to cause anger!

I went for my morning cycle - no issues did nothing different than I normally do.

Home, shower, jump in car to get food shopping. I live down a country road - wide enough for 2 cars to pass with care, wide enough for a car to over take a cyclist sticking to the left of the lane, with the required space at certain points. Locals all know the places to do it safely.

Today 1 cyclist riding down the middle of the lane - now unsafe for car to pull over to other lane and pass - brilliant

Was he considerate of other road users and pulled over- no.

As on the other side were 8 riders riding two abreast high fiving each other and doing the finger to the motorists. Shouting its the law twats!
Were they considerate of other road users no.

Some of the new laws i think are sensible -
but the ride in the middle of the road, even if there is a cycle lane because you don't feel like it - is asinine

2 abreast packs of mamils hunting on weekends as they venture out of London - when they are generally rude enough as it is - gives those cyclists who are arseholes a legal right to now be an arsehole.

Be considerate and pull over to let cars and vans pass -
that is as likely as Downing Street not having another party in a lockdown!

If they were actually high fiving each other and giving motorists the finger (that one I can believe), then they are being extraordinarily stupid.

They do realise drivers haven't just magically gotten rid of their road rage right? Doing the finger at a crap driver that had road rage is likely to get them very injured or killed. They are on a bike, being hit by a car will still hurt. The law hasn't changed that.

Obviously they shouldn't be hit by drivers, but let's not pretend everyone on the road is sane. A larger percentage than you'd like to hope are not sane, and will react badly to behaviour like that. You wouldnt go into a cave and poke the bear repeatedly.. The law won't protect them from broken bones, paralysis or death. Behaviour like that is stupid.

@LadyCatStark

Oh great we have to drive down some county lanes later and you know the knob heads are going to be put on force just coz they can 😡.

Yeah, those fuckers making use of roads when they are fully entitled to do so.

Bastards.

now the weekend is the London Mamil Packs everywhere

why do you think they are Londoners? don't tar us with that brush 😆

So the rules are sensible, but that's are being bigger twats than usual.

The problem does seem tobe groups of cyclists using the roads for sport. Not individual cyclists, or people just trying to get A to B

(I sometimes cycle on the roads with my children. I've been in the centre of the lane protecting them from the beginning. Its only short bits between cycle lanes)

Yes the cycling in the middle of a lane advice has been around for ages 🤷🏻‍♀️ You can get stuck behind anything in the countryside, when I moved to a city I experienced a whole new way of travelling that didn’t involve having to leave about 30mins leeway to get anywhere. Some cyclists are twats but a twat on a bike is a lot less likely to hurt you than a twat on a car so I’d rather encounter them on two wheels.

Windy - no one has an issue with people using the roads if they are entitiled to - it is the be considerate of others part that now seems to sit with everyone but cyclists.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Cycling in the centre of the lane is so cars can only overtake if the other lane is clear. So basically treating them as a car not something that can be squeezed past. Two abreast similar... easy to overtake if the other side is clear.

Its been advised for years, not new.

^^This!

Windy that isn't what has been said. Quite the opposite. Stop being outraged for the sake of it. It helps nobody.

I don't get the Mamil hate. They look like twats sure, but the last I saw, it wasn't cyclists that were killing people on the roads.

I've actually had a cyclist coming the other way deliberately swerve into the middle of the road and come straight at me.

The dreaded MAMILs were entitled fuckwits already and this new law will make them totally insufferable.

It's all very well people stating it's in the Highway Code, you can ride two abreast and you can ride in the middle of the lane

Yes you can do that but if you want to rile motorists and massively up your chances of being knocked off then you carry on

I know a guy who got knocked off his bike after annoying a bus. He's had to have a lot of surgery on one arm and still can't fully straighten it 15 years later

Being on a bike when cars pass you closely at 50mph+ is a scary place. Some motorists will purposely come really close. Piss them off even more and you'll be getting hit

It's worth remembering that unless you have video footage or a witness the police won't investigate. My local force (Warwickshire) state this

Fucking cyclists! 😡

@LadyCatStark

Oh great we have to drive down some county lanes later and you know the knob heads are going to be put on force just coz they can 😡.

I'm hopeful it will wear off quite quickly and they will go back to riding sensibly and everyone can get on with their lives as usual.

I certainly shan't be trialling the new pedestrian rules. I suspect I'd lose that particular game of chicken.

@Finallylostit

Windy - no one has an issue with people using the roads if they are entitiled to - it is the be considerate of others part that now seems to sit with everyone but cyclists.

The revised Highway Code you’re angry about tells cyclists to “be considerate of the needs of other road users when riding in groups.” So you can feel happier now?

And still we see examples of that not happening...

Stupid behaviour is stupid behaviour, on 2 wheels or 4!

@Oakdog

I've got a 6 mile school run, and for 5 miles there is nowhere on that journey that I can pass cyclists if they're in the middle of the lane and have to pass leaving 1.5m. If they are to the left of the lane, but not in the gutter, I could. The rules also ask cyclist to be considerate of drivers behind them, and pull in or stop when safe to do so. Can’t see that happening, especially the stopping!! Also, you should overtake pedestrians allowing 2 meters when no footpath. So 1 mile where I may be stuck at walking pace!! I'm very careful passing cyclists/horses/walkers- and frequently do 2 of those activities on narrow roads, but genuinely can't see this working very well!

I guess the answer is to allow more time for your journey or choose a longer route that uses mostly wider roads (if such an alternative exists). We have to share the roads with other users.

@Finallylostit

Windy - no one has an issue with people using the roads if they are entitiled to - it is the be considerate of others part that now seems to sit with everyone but cyclists.

As someone who uses the roads every day as a driver and cyclist by far the most inconsiderate road users are motorists. They cause the overwhelming majority of accidents, injuries and deaths on the road.

But we don't have a weekly "aren't all motorists wankers thread". Why is that?

I would ride as ive been taught in the middle like a car if it’s somewhere that car drivers who can’t wait will overtake dangerously like a bend and cars do do that . I probably wouldn’t ride the whole way like that even if the law says I can because that gets dangerous with frustrated drivers . But like gong the speed limit in the outside lane and some speeding Twat is up your arse it’s safer to pull over .

The government doesn't understand roads have not magically become wider to accommodate the extra room needed honestly when I take my daughter back to university I set off in the dark to avoid cyclists because I nearly blew my fucking engine up one year driving in first gear uphill in a car packed to the gill's my car was seriously close to overheating and stopping no-one was budging and I had to get past or break down and cause more chaos for all the people behind me so we set off in the dark to avoid this

@SamphiretheStickerist

Windy that isn't what has been said. Quite the opposite. Stop being outraged for the sake of it. It helps nobody.

Yes it is.

People having a go at cyclists just because they get held up for 2 minutes and take a bit of care around vunerable road users.

Has anyone mentioned road tax or helmets yet?

Genuine question, if cyclists ride 2 abreast, taking up the whole lane, and then you allow 1.5m passing space, how many roads are you ever likely to be able to pass cyclists on? Definitely receipe for road rage. People get so angry about tractors that don't pull over every now and then, but this could be whole other level, not just for the cyclists but also the cars who follow the guidelines but end up with a queue behind them.

@Itsnotdeep

I don't get the Mamil hate. They look like twats sure, but the last I saw, it wasn't cyclists that were killing people on the roads.

There was something on the radio the other day about the fact that there is no crime for causing death by dangerous cycling so the figures just aren’t known.

@ikeepseeingit

I have no idea why they made it law to cycle in the centre either OP. Can anyone tell me the logic?

Not a cyclist. But I always thought it was that if there is anything coming towards you you can’t overtake, and you can only overtake if you can fully move into the oncoming lane, so doesn’t matter where in the lane the cyclist is, you can only overtake by fully crossing the line anyway?

The second was right up against the white line so no chance of overtaking in my huge car.

Maybe get a smaller car ....

Leave earlier those who live in the country, including myself in this as live very rurally with lots of cyclists