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AIBU?

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Original poster

9hrs is all it took!

770 replies

Finallylostit · 29/01/2022 10:45

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!

OP posts:
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OddSocksSparklyDocsandDungaree · 29/01/2022 12:03

@T00Ts

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!

Really? Actually high-fiving each other? Really?

Glad it wasn't me just thinking this 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Pawprintpaper · 29/01/2022 12:04

@DePfeffoff

I'm quite glad of this. I'm careful only to overtake cyclists when it's safe, and I'm sick of being pressured by other drivers who think I should pass even when it clearly isn't. At least with the cyclist in the middle of the road it should be clearer that passing isn't an option.
This is me too…

Though it does annoy me when they don’t have helmets… I commonly see parents cycling without helmets accompanying children wearing them. Likewise dark clothing, no lights and whizzing past traffic on the RHS down hills. If anything I am over cautious about keeping cyclists safe but they need to take some basic precautions against serious injury, and I think there should be some accountability for dangerous cycling (my friend broke her arm being hit by a cyclist who ran a red light on a pedestrian crossing)

Zandathepanda · 29/01/2022 12:05

Windy you obviously don’t live anywhere near me then. You physically can’t go round the bends much higher than 30 but the roads are wide, twisty and hilly. The speed limit is 60 but lots of cyclists see these roads as a challenge. Except most cyclists don’t get up the big hills. And so end up at the side of the road walking. Which was not great when there’s a twist at the top of the hills too.

Stellaris22 · 29/01/2022 12:05

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ineedsun · 29/01/2022 12:06

@adulthumanfemalemum

Can't believe the amount of hate for cyclists. You might get held up for two minutes behind one. Big deal. They are getting some exercise and not polluting the environment. Why is your journey more important than theirs? We should all be using cars less, and part of that is making it safer to cycle and walk. In the Netherlands everyone cycles because it's so much safer to do so. If it's not safe to overtake a cyclist in the middle of the road it's not safe to overtake them at the edge. Just because you feel nice and safe squeezing past inside a metal box doesn't make it safe for them. Sometimes you'll just have to wait. Tough shit. I say this as a car driver and cyclist.
Two minutes? 😂 someone’s never been stuck on a country road behind a cyclist when they’re off to an appointment or on their way home from work after a twelve hour day. Only to get around them eventually to find another one round the corner. It can be way more than two minutes.

It’s annoying, more so because it’s not always necessary. There are usually places that you can stop and let traffic past if you’re considerate (like tractors will), you can position yourself so that it’s safe for cars to get past, you can use a cycle lane if there is one. This is a green light for cyclists who are dickheads to be even bigger dickheads. That doesn’t mean that every cyclist is one but to pretend that the issue is that everyone is just mean to poor cyclists because they’re impatient and mean is a bit disingenuous.

SamphiretheStickerist · 29/01/2022 12:09

@adulthumanfemalemum

Can't believe the amount of hate for cyclists. You might get held up for two minutes behind one. Big deal. They are getting some exercise and not polluting the environment. Why is your journey more important than theirs? We should all be using cars less, and part of that is making it safer to cycle and walk. In the Netherlands everyone cycles because it's so much safer to do so. If it's not safe to overtake a cyclist in the middle of the road it's not safe to overtake them at the edge. Just because you feel nice and safe squeezing past inside a metal box doesn't make it safe for them. Sometimes you'll just have to wait. Tough shit. I say this as a car driver and cyclist.
It can, and does, add up to half an hour in many journeys here. And many people will consider getting to work to be more important than a leisure experience.

And nobody cycles in the Netherlands because it is safer to do so. They do it because it has become part if the infrastructure in many places. We don't have that infrastructure, or social accept, here. And we won't get the second without the first.

It is entirely possible that these new regs will help build that, but only once we are all used to them and nobody deliberately takes the piss.

RJnomore1 · 29/01/2022 12:10

Lovely, I’m an idiot now for wanting the law to require people to have to take some responsibility for their own safety 😃

No need for road tax, just registration at a minimal cost for the cyclist not the bike but actually now you mention insurance that might not be a bad idea at all.

JinglingHellsBells · 29/01/2022 12:12

Ive not read all of the pages but I think you are a wrong @Finallylostit

The new highway code says larger vehicles give way to smaller ones. So cars give way to bikes, pedestrians and horses.

It's not safe for a cyclist to pull over into the gutter to allow a car to overtake.

The gutters can be full of pot holes.
The drivers may not give them a wide enough berth so the cyclist ends up in the ditch anyway or being clipped by a wing mirror.

As a cyclist you have as much right as a car to be in the centre of the lane. You should NOT be pushed to the inside of the lane by an aggressive driver who wants to overtake.

This is how cyclists are killed - when cars and lorries clip them as they are turning left. The cyclist falls, hits their head, or ends up under a car or lorry's wheels.

Cycling in the centre of a lane is called defensive riding and has been advocated for years.

Sadly, many of the cyclists who die under cars or HGVs are women, who feel they are 'doing the right thing' by riding in the gutter. Men tend to be a bit more assertive and hold their space in the centre of the lanes.

As for cycling groups- most decent cyclists pull over into single file when cars start to queue behind, or pull over into a layby or parking bay to allow cars to pass.

Momicrone · 29/01/2022 12:13

Some cyclists are commuters, also cycling home from a 12 hour shift. But I'm guessing the beef you have is what you consider leisure cyclists? So is your journey back from home more important than some ones 'leisure time'?

Corcory · 29/01/2022 12:13

It's not the law only advisory so these twats giving fingers at motorists are going to get short shrift.

Fedupsotired · 29/01/2022 12:16

@WindyState I don't know as that's not showing me their penis which I don't wish to see 🤷🏼‍♀️

JinglingHellsBells · 29/01/2022 12:16

@Finallylostit It might interest you to know that my brother was part of a pack of experienced cyclists- a club- and one of them was killed on the road by an impatient driver.

They were cycling as a single file on a country road. Old man driving a car didn't know what the hold up was so he overtook another car(s) and ploughed into the back of the cycling pack. Killed the bloke at the back. My brother gave first aid, to no avail.

Cutting two mins off your journey by overtaking at the wrong time. or being impatient can kill someone.

mids2019 · 29/01/2022 12:17

Cyclists are meant to leave the road to allow motorists to pass. This simply does not happen.

The roads are a work place for some (HGV drivers) and obviously a means to get to work. Drivers may arrive at work late due to the behaviour of cyclists and it causes unecessary stress.

I can understand a cycle being a healthy sustainable way to get to a workplace but cycling as a hobby is questionable. Cyclists if involved in an accident are like to be seriously injured (there is no such thing as as an minor 'prang' with a cycle ) and drivers are extremely concious if the likely ramifications of a collision and justifiably anxious.

Alexandra2001 · 29/01/2022 12:18

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JinglingHellsBells · 29/01/2022 12:19

Oh and also @Finallylostit in the pile up, another cyclist of the pack (accidently) ran over my brother's back when they all crashed. He's had problems with it ever since for over 20 years requiring physio and massage to relieve the pain.

So stop bleating about cyclists holding you up.

Fedupsotired · 29/01/2022 12:19

@ineedsun very true it's never 2 mins is it. It's the arrogance that annoys me.

@Zandathepanda yup and very true about how they are in cafes too!!

Octomore · 29/01/2022 12:20

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 used the roads as a pedestrian, cyclist and motorist, and I 100% agree.

JinglingHellsBells · 29/01/2022 12:21

@mids2019

Cyclists are meant to leave the road to allow motorists to pass. This simply does not happen.

The roads are a work place for some (HGV drivers) and obviously a means to get to work. Drivers may arrive at work late due to the behaviour of cyclists and it causes unecessary stress.

I can understand a cycle being a healthy sustainable way to get to a workplace but cycling as a hobby is questionable. Cyclists if involved in an accident are like to be seriously injured (there is no such thing as as an minor 'prang' with a cycle ) and drivers are extremely concious if the likely ramifications of a collision and justifiably anxious.

I think you are mistaken. Cyclists are not meant to leave the road.

Cyclists can pull over into a safe place if it IS safe. Cars or lorries behind have to wait JUST AS THEY WOULD IF IT WAS A CAR IN FRONT.

Don't be so daft as to use excuses like 'late for work'.

As a car driver or a lorry driver, you allow enough time on your journey for bikes, tractors, refuse lorries, or any other hold up.

SapphireSeptember · 29/01/2022 12:21

As a pedestrian who has to walk to and from work in the dark, I'd love to see cyclists charged for riding on the pavements. No bell, no lights, dark clothing. I can't see them or hear them. There's also the numpties who go down the one way streets the wrong way, then swerve onto the path. Dark clothing when it's dark just seems daft to me anyway, I've nearly walked into other pedestrians recently, as I can't see them either!

VodselForDinner · 29/01/2022 12:22

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Octomore · 29/01/2022 12:23

The roads are a work place for some (HGV drivers) and obviously a means to get to work. Drivers may arrive at work late due to the behaviour of cyclists and it causes unecessary stress.

I can understand a cycle being a healthy sustainable way to get to a workplace but cycling as a hobby is questionable.

Right, because nobody ever uses their car for leisure, do they? Every car journey is 100% essential, nobody ever drives to a social engagement, fun activity or hobby. HmmHmm

Motorists have no more right to the roads than anyone else.

theotherfossilsister · 29/01/2022 12:24

Significantly more women than men are killed cycling because women are more likely to be people pleasers and apologetic for taking up space, so cycle in the side which allows dangerous overtaking and lack of visibility. This law makes women safer as it specifies riding in the middle which more men already do.

Frazzled50yrold · 29/01/2022 12:24

I was on a 2 mile scenic forest route recently, not an adopted road but in great condition with lots of really steep hills.The cyclist in front of me adopted the middle of the road position for the 2 miles. I was in first gear most of the time and actually pulled in for a few minutes but he wouldn't move.I watched his fat lycra clad backside struggle up every hill and down the other side.

LoveMyPiano · 29/01/2022 12:24

I sincerely do not understand why a bike taking a position that dominates the lane is a problem..... If the oncoming lane is clear and there are no upcoming hazards, and the road markings state so, then passing the bike is perfectly OK. Do people want to be able to pass the bike WHILST something is coming the other way?

I may be possible on much wider roads/lanes, but still unadvisable and unsafe.