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!

The petition I posted is to do with revisiting the cycling changes

@Thebodyshopolive

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

"Maybe get a smaller car .... hmm" Unfortunately I need a 4x4 as I tow for work

@Whatsr

The petition I posted is to do with revisiting the cycling changes

What does it say? You’ve just linked to the signing page.

The only time my horse ever spooked was when a group of cyclists flew down the hill behind us and overtook us closely, without any warning shout, this was a horse that merrily walked past the knob workman who timed starting up the stonecutter just as we drew level, and yes he had seen us and he knew exactly what he was doing. Tractors, Combines, low flying jets, emergency vehicles etc no issue.

If you cycle and there is a horse and rider, please just slow down a little and give a warning shout if coming up behind them, for their benefit and yours, and give them a horses length when passing, so approx 2 metres incase they spin round

Lovethesun, maybe leave some more time for the trip?

@Octomore

Jenkel, if you really do this:

We ride 2 abreast but as soon as cars come up behind we split into single file

all you are doing is making sure that the driver has to spend twice as long on the opposite side of the carriageway in order to pass you. Which is less safe for blindingly obvious reasons.

A car will need to cross to the other side of the road in order t
o safely overtake regardless or where you are positioned - why would you make them do it for longer than needed?

As a cyclist, I recommend you do a bit more research into how to keep yourself safe, and enable safer overtaking by other road users.

I cycle on lanes mainly, if we are two abreast there is now way that a car can overtake, physically not enough road space, if we are single abreast depending on the width of the lane a car could pass quite safely, if it is not safe to do so we pull into a farmers gate so they can pass, or stop and mount the grass verge so we are not on the road at all and the car can safely pass, I fail to see how this is dangerous. Please explain why this is so dangerous.

[quote Benjispruce5]@anon666 I agree but how will people find out? I didn’t know until I read this thread and googled.[/quote]
By the usual way you keep up with current affairs and news - tv, radio, paper, internet.

As a road user you are obliged to keep up with the Highway Code.

In my view it's time for cyclists to be banned from public roads. They have cycle ways.

Can you tell me how to get to my nearest cycle way?
I live in a village.

Hertsgirl10, the best way to keep cyclists safe is to give th separated cycle lanes, failing that, just don't drive dangerously around them

*give them

@callingon

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.

Unless you are a pedestrian as many of them don’t stop at lights or pedestrian crossings, and go far too fast on mixed pedestrian/cycle routes.

I do agree that the problem is the very large groups cycling aggressively for sport. Many have little consideration for anyone else

Bungle, drivers driving aggressively with little consideration for others, cause many more problems on the roads

@angela99999 London roads are clogged up because of the number of cars on them. You can't complain about traffic when you are part of the problem.

@Momicrone

Bungle, drivers driving aggressively with little consideration for others, cause many more problems on the roads

Do they based on equivalent numbers though?

I am a cyclist and have been in position when cars have been dangerously close to me or put me at risk. I am glad that the new laws are there to protect us but in this instance I agree with you that the cyclists were abusing them.

I live in a historic town with narrow streets all through the town centre. I'm resigned to driving everywhere at cycling pace from now on.

It won't make a difference on the way into town. It's nearly all downhill or level and cyclists often get through town at least as quickly as cars. But on the way back, it's uphill and pretty steep in places. Some cyclists are little faster than pedestrians.

The winding, narrow, rural road to the next town is going to be fun, too. There'll be few opportunities to pass a cyclist who's in the middle of the lane.

Bungle, well given that our roads are full of cars and cars cause nearly all the accidents statistically, then yes

Crikey, all the cyclist hate here! The law change is about protecting the vulnerable, remember? That’s not the driver in their airbagged and safe as it can be car, is it? The driver might have a minor inconvenience in a slight delay in their journey while waiting for a space to overtake safely (and that is leaving a 1.5 m gap, not a 15 cm gap, as some drivers think). The cyclist may be killed by the driver’s impatience. Cyclists are not inconsiderate twats who are there to inconvenience people deliberately. They are people whose lives have been put at risk by the cavalier attitudes to their safety by the people on this thread. Cyclists are fathers and mothers too, you know? And they are nearly all drivers too, who also get slowed down on their journeys by other cyclists. And you know what, traffic jams of cars are far more likely to slow down your journey than a cyclist, so go rant about the temerity of other people to be in their cars, rather than people out doing exercise.

Lakielady, so for a stretch of road you have to drive slowly, is that really so bad?

@Momicrone

Bungle, well given that our roads are full of cars and cars cause nearly all the accidents statistically, then yes

Be interesting to see the actual figures for pedestrian accidents, taking in to account the numbers.

@LakieLady

I live in a historic town with narrow streets all through the town centre. I'm resigned to driving everywhere at cycling pace from now on.

It won't make a difference on the way into town. It's nearly all downhill or level and cyclists often get through town at least as quickly as cars. But on the way back, it's uphill and pretty steep in places. Some cyclists are little faster than pedestrians.

The winding, narrow, rural road to the next town is going to be fun, too. There'll be few opportunities to pass a cyclist who's in the middle of the lane.

If they are narrow and winding then it's doubtful a car could safely pass a cyclist even if the cyclist stayed over to the left. So all that will have changed is that the cars will be forced to adhere to (the already existing) laws, and cyclists should be safer.

@Wrongkindofovercoat

The only time my horse ever spooked was when a group of cyclists flew down the hill behind us and overtook us closely, without any warning shout, this was a horse that merrily walked past the knob workman who timed starting up the stonecutter just as we drew level, and yes he had seen us and he knew exactly what he was doing. Tractors, Combines, low flying jets, emergency vehicles etc no issue.

If you cycle and there is a horse and rider, please just slow down a little and give a warning shout if coming up behind them, for their benefit and yours, and give them a horses length when passing, so approx 2 metres incase they spin round

^this ... Cannot be said enough.

Always say hi horsey, lets the horse know i'm human - which a lot of motorists seem to forget, one of my cycling buddies is a Cardiologist - if you ever need his services, Please Please do remember to say he is a complete twat

@Wrongkindofovercoat Its annoying though when some of the worst offenders for close passes on corners is 4x4's towing a horse box :(

Be interesting to see the actual figures for pedestrian accidents, taking in to account the numbers.

Older figures but:

The number of pedestrians involved in cycle collisions last year represents 162 people per billion miles walked.

The number of pedestrians killed by motor vehicles is consistently higher than those suffering injuries from collisions with cyclists. In 2015, 406 pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles and this rose to 467 in 2017. In total, 23,805 pedestrians were hit by motor vehicles last year.

Figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) show that the number of pedestrians hit by cyclists has increased from 466 in 2013 to 531 last year

If you think about it as the horse as a prey animal, the spinning round to face the 'attacker' makes sense, this gives them the opportunity to rear up in defence. So if you give a warning shout, the person on the horse can turn it so it can see it is a harmless pack of cyclists and not wolves