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!

Well…. Here we go.

You always threads o MN telling us how inconsiderate drivers are and how cyclists are the poor me who can do no harm.
Plenty of PA or sarcastic comments along the lines ‘there fix it for you!’ when people have been highlighting exactly that sort of issues.

And guess what has happened? It seems that cyclists are now showing their true colours and are ready to do their best to hug the roads just for themselves.

Now I don’t need a lot of imagination to know that we’ll also have lots of cyclists who commute into towns telling us how dangerous it is for them, drivers are awful etc…

But maybe, just maybe, this time it would be nice to see those cyclists recognise that some of them are twats too.
That being on the road isn’t about getting one over someone else.
And that the best way to ensure everyone is safe is by being respectful of each other.

Because yes some drivers are crap. But by god, I’d love to see the recognition that some cyclists are just as bad.

@MananaTomorrow

Well…. Here we go.

You always threads o MN telling us how inconsiderate drivers are and how cyclists are the poor me who can do no harm.
Plenty of PA or sarcastic comments along the lines ‘there fix it for you!’ when people have been highlighting exactly that sort of issues.

And guess what has happened? It seems that cyclists are now showing their true colours and are ready to do their best to hug the roads just for themselves.

Now I don’t need a lot of imagination to know that we’ll also have lots of cyclists who commute into towns telling us how dangerous it is for them, drivers are awful etc…

But maybe, just maybe, this time it would be nice to see those cyclists recognise that some of them are twats too.
That being on the road isn’t about getting one over someone else.
And that the best way to ensure everyone is safe is by being respectful of each other.

Because yes some drivers are crap. But by god, I’d love to see the recognition that some cyclists are just as bad.

It must be very draining to be quite this full of bile and venom.

Cyclist bashing or not an awful lot of cyclists make my blood boil especially those clad in lycra with head cameras who seem to think think they are kings of the road and that the rules don’t apply to them.
Whilst out in the car this morning I saw 2 of them go straight through a red light, another one squeeze through the tiniest space between the pavement and a stationary car waiting for another set of lights to turn to green and a third swerve round a pedestrian already on a zebra crossing.
I’d hazard a guess that a large percentage of cyclists who do things like this also drive a car and I can’t for the life of me understand why they think there’s is nothing wrong with jumping lights, undertaking on the inside and ignoring pedestrians crossing the road when they are travelling on two wheels.

Btw, that particular rule is great in a town centre. Crap on a small windy country road.

Another of those thoughts by people who have never been outside of their little bubble.

Of course you can argue that cars could take another road and leave all the small roads to cyclists instead…. That’s going to be a LOT of roads left to a few handful of people who want to have their jollies wo being disturbed…

140 cyclists killed in the UK in 2020 and 4000 seriously injured. 0 people killed walking in the countryside.

How can cycling be a safe 'leisure' activity? Aren't there far safer forms of exercise which don't involve breathing in vehicle emissions. What is enjoyable about cycling and having a cue of traffic behind you?

@mids2019

140 cyclists killed in the UK in 2020 and 4000 seriously injured. 0 people killed walking in the countryside.

How can cycling be a safe 'leisure' activity? Aren't there far safer forms of exercise which don't involve breathing in vehicle emissions. What is enjoyable about cycling and having a cue of traffic behind you?

I agree entirely with this. Our packed roads are t suitable for cyclists. They look so out of place and vulnerable wobbling their way up hilly roads. Surely as a minimum they should have to be registered and insured and have to take a cycling proficiency test before they can use the roads. There really are some cyclists who are utter twats.

@mids2019

140 cyclists killed in the UK in 2020 and 4000 seriously injured. 0 people killed walking in the countryside.

How can cycling be a safe 'leisure' activity? Aren't there far safer forms of exercise which don't involve breathing in vehicle emissions. What is enjoyable about cycling and having a cue of traffic behind you?

Lovely bit of victim blaming there I commute to work on my bike. I also cycle to do all my errands / local trips. Should I stop and use my car instead? So I'm then adding to those emissions you're talking about and adding to the already huge traffic jams caused mostly by people too lazy to walk or cycle themselves?

The new rules just codify what was always safe and considerate road use. If anyone has problems with it, they should consider whether they should be driving at all.

What about the cyclists who still weave through traffic far too close to cars and lorries? Passed one last night, he then caught up with us as we sat in a queue waiting for the lights. He wasn’t maintaining distance from any of the cars, in fact I thought he was going to go under a lorry he was so intent on getting through the traffic.

And can cyclists please obey traffic lights? They are there for all road users, shouldn’t need pedestrians to dodge them as they cross safely only for a Lycra-clad knob to come whizzing through the crossing.

@mids2019

140 cyclists killed in the UK in 2020 and 4000 seriously injured. 0 people killed walking in the countryside.

How can cycling be a safe 'leisure' activity? Aren't there far safer forms of exercise which don't involve breathing in vehicle emissions. What is enjoyable about cycling and having a cue of traffic behind you?

And how many deaths caused by drivers? Car accidents? Hit and runs? Cyclists run over by drivers?

Also, we all know that there were more than zero deaths walking in countryside. Mountain rescue stats would tell you the number of body retrievals they do (more than zero), and how many injured had to be evacuated (more than zero). So how on earth can you expect to be take seriously when you make false claims?

Jeremy Vine posts heaps of videos on Facebook & other social media of nasty car behaviour towards cyclists. you know, in case you thought that kind of thing was rare. July 2021, For starters...

@Octomore yes I’m angry.
I’m angry at how inconsiderate some people are. I believe this is a justified anger. If you dint agree the. That’s your prerogative after all 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

But that sort of comments doesnt make you better than me.
It just shows you are happy to try and kick someone in a bid to show you are ‘better’ than someone else.
Except that everyone knows it’s impossible to keep some zen like calm all the time. And that you will be just angry as that too. and that you are not better than anyone else on this thread.

Make of that whatever you want.

Cyclings race along on pavements
Cyclists jump red lights
Cyclists are a pain in the arse and a major hazard to walkers on shared paths
Cyclists on cycle paths don't stop at pedestrian crossings
They aren't angels!

@millymae

Cyclist bashing or not an awful lot of cyclists make my blood boil especially those clad in lycra with head cameras who seem to think think they are kings of the road and that the rules don’t apply to them. Whilst out in the car this morning I saw 2 of them go straight through a red light, another one squeeze through the tiniest space between the pavement and a stationary car waiting for another set of lights to turn to green and a third swerve round a pedestrian already on a zebra crossing. I’d hazard a guess that a large percentage of cyclists who do things like this also drive a car and I can’t for the life of me understand why they think there’s is nothing wrong with jumping lights, undertaking on the inside and ignoring pedestrians crossing the road when they are travelling on two wheels.

Yes, this exactly.

I want everyone to be safe on the roads, but there are as many bad cyclists are vehicle drivers, it’s just that cyclists seem to be untouchable when it comes to obeying the rules of the road.

Cyclists AS vehicle drivers.

@mids2019

140 cyclists killed in the UK in 2020 and 4000 seriously injured. 0 people killed walking in the countryside.

How can cycling be a safe 'leisure' activity? Aren't there far safer forms of exercise which don't involve breathing in vehicle emissions. What is enjoyable about cycling and having a cue of traffic behind you?

Victim blaming at it's finest.

Do you know why the roads are not safe for vunerable users such as bikes?

Motorists. That's why. The updates to the HC - all of which are just clarifications to how things already were - are there to protect cyclists.

It says a lot that we've already got a thread complaining about it. Here's a thing: if you don't think the roads are safe, and you object to rules and guidelines aimed at keeping people safe maybe it's you who needs to get off the road.

P.S emission levels are higher inside your air-conditioned car than outside so if you are concerned about cyclist lungs I'd be more worried about your own, to be honest.

Pedestrians, NOT cyclists, are at the top of the new hierarchy of road users.

Maybe people should start driving as if there are cyclists on the roads? So far the main complaint seems to be that you have to drive slowly in order not to have an accident. Do that then.
I dont understand why some drivers think they have priority. You don’t. You never have. It’s just the Highway Code now makes that clear.

@ikeepseeingit

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

It has always been advised that cyclists take the "primary position". This means riding in the centre of the carriageway - not the road, so the middle of the lane in front of you, not in the gutter where all the broken glass etc collects - or indeed on the white line in the middle. It also forces drivers onto the other side of the road to overtake - which is what was meant to happen even before the change to the HW Code.

I am on the fence about whether it's better to cycle single file or in groups of two. I think it can be difficult to overtake a long line of single cyclists but it's also not easy when there's a big group.

They should pull over once they realise there's a long line of cars behind them or someone has been behind them a long time. As - incidentally - should a driver if they want to enjoy the scenery and do 30mph in a 60 limit. Let people get past! You may be out for a leisure cycle or drive - the person behind you might be trying to get to work.

I do think cyclists should use cycle paths where they are safe, adequate and available, but too often they don't.

It says a lot that we've already got a thread complaining about it. Here's a thing: if you don't think the roads are safe, and you object to rules and guidelines aimed at keeping people safe maybe it's you who needs to get off the road

Agreed. We have a very car-centric society and there is just one step in the direction of making it easier for people on bikes and two feet.

I was really shocked yesterday that the Times had an editorial about dangerous cycling. I mean - really. How many people die at the hands of drivers every year compared with cyclists and they are going on about cyclists? We have our priorities all wrong.

140 cyclists killed in the UK in 2020 and 4000 seriously injured. 0 people killed walking in the countryside

All killed/injured by drivers other than a few who maybe slipped on ice or oil (or collided with a dog).

Walking is boring. I'd rather go for a bike ride. Not this time of year though, it's too cold!