Group of cyclists not letting cars past- is this legal?

[Serenity674]

Interested in whether this was legal. Was driving to my parents this morning, they live remotely so it was a single track country road, although not narrow, with wide verges on either side.

i came up behind a group of circa 20 cyclists, probably doing about 15-20mph and ended up stuck behind them for about 10 mins. Round the bends was fine and they actually went faster than I would have gone in my car but there were several very long straight stretches of road where I could have got up to 30-40 mph (it’s a NSL road) but they wouldn’t move to let me past, just rode 2 or 3 abreast taking up the whole road. They definitely knew I was there as the ones at the back kept looking behind at me.

i know the law says cyclists can ride 2 abreast and it’s actually safer as it means cars overtake them properly but surely this doesn’t apply regardless of the road? Were they just doing the safe thing or should they have let me past?

I am a horse rider so i am always on the side of passing more vulnerable road users safely but this just seemed like a bit of a dick move- or were they actually doing this for a reason I’m unaware of? If I was riding my horse on a road like this I would ride 2 abreast until the car slows down then move into single file to let them past.

We aren’t demanding car users are never inconvenienced, though. Op trailed a pack of riders for several miles who had opportunity to allow her to pass but chose not to. That is incredibly rude and has the potential to be dangerous if it results in traffic building up.

I share a great deal of single track with cars, horses, tractors and cyclists quite happily even if not always conveniently- that isn’t the issue. I expect give and take between different road users, though, and what the op described is a group of cyclists taking all the liberties and giving no fucks how others are impacted.

I absolutely agree that they were rude but I'm saying it doesn't give car drivers a right to behave illegally towards cyclists or to put them in danger. (Not that that's what the OP did) And that car drivers perception of rude behaviour is often different to the reasons why the cyclist/s are doing it, ie the cycling in the gutter Vs cycling defensively example. I will always pull over for vehicles when I'm cycling, perhaps not immediately but as soon as I can safely. But I also cycle defensively if I feel it's necessary. And my husband who cycles in groups (as a coach with school children / teens) does point out that the behaviour as in the OP is bad behaviour when we come across it while driving.

Fair enough and I don’t think I have seen anyone advocating for intentionally putting cyclists in danger. I just don’t understand the number of posters trying to justify poor behaviour by cyclists because sometimes there is poor behaviour from drivers - a twat is a twat regardless of how they get about.

I have seen it on other threads and also unfortunately in real life. Agreed on a twat is a twat regardless 😂 In these discussions I just always want to say that most cyclists are nice and considerate and normal people! But there are twats certainly. I just really wish that their bad behaviour didn't negatively impact the considerate cyclists!

I'm a road cyclist and don't even get involved in these arguments any more.
Yes there are plenty of dickhead cyclists but there are an awful lot more dickhead drivers...that's me done 😁

People get far more worked up about twat cyclists than twat drivers. Twat drivers injure and kill people on a daily basis; twat cyclists do much, much less frequently. Hardly ever, in fact. A motorist killed a cyclist on the Etape Loch Ness the other day. No one cares. Had the cyclist killed a pedestrian, there would be hell to pay. It’s really quite strange.

Based on this thread it feels the opposite - innumerable posters making excuses for a group of cyclists who were clearly being dicks.

Have you missed all the posts saying that cyclists are a menace/MAMILs/don’t pay road tax//should ride in the gutter/shouldn’t be on the road at all? That’s strange, because there are a lot of them.

Not really - you might want to read back through the thread to gain a greater sense of proportion.

I have, and there’s loads. Plus, only 30% of the votes are YABU.

You've never paid "road tax" in your life.

Please educate yourself before engaging. The number of people with no understanding of who and what pays for road upkeep , and where vehicle registration income goes (general revenue FYI) , is staggering. Insurance, I agree - and some do arrange it - but who knows who till there's an accident. I agree that insurance and some training ought to be compulsory.

I agree but 'more than; doesnt stand up unless you break it down by percentage. There are far fewer cyclist on the road than drivers so a straight up comparison tells us nothing

What do the death rates tell us

Drivers killing Cyclists

Vs

Cyclists killing drivers

As a driver predominantly, I get very annoyed/ held up by poor drivers, like really crap; dangerously crap. Less so by cyclists. Just my (12000 miles per year) experience….

Ah, but those poor drivers paid “road tax”. And they’re not wearing Lycra shorts. And they’re not operating an oversized child’s toy. Etc etc.

Are you being serious? There's quite a few posts stating that cyclists are putting themselves in danger by being on the roadbecause tou can't blame a driver for losing their temper; and getting in the way of drivers; and several that state explicitly that cyclists deserve to be hurt by drivers.

The OP's question was, is this legal. The answer is, yes. Is it polite - that's a different question. But neither impoliteness nor illegality justifies some of the responses on this thread which threaten cyclists for the unforgivable crime of sitting on a bike, in the road.

In the Highway Code they are supposed to give way if possible. Tractors are under the same rule

Well, op is not being unreasonable- the votes are hardly proof of some sort of anti-cyclist bias. Her expectation of being able to pass slower moving traffic after trailing for MILES is pretty darn reasonable. Most people have no issue inherently with cyclists, are patient and willing to share the road with other users BUT many of us have encountered a similar pack of knobs in Lycra at some point and understand that there are both bad drivers and bad cyclists. The majority of those supporting op have demonstrated that sort of balanced perspective, unlike those who somehow find her unreasonable and want to defend the knobs because cyclists are never wrong.

Who has actually made a threat? That would be against mn guidelines and surely would be reported.

A balanced perspective does not include phrases like 'knobs in lycra'

I commented a while back but would also add to this thread that I've never been held up by a female cyclist or group of females. Only men.

Funny, that.

Perhaps because the roads (and the idiot motorists on them) feel too dangerous for many women to dare cycle on. A place has good infrastructure when your grandmother can cycle to bingo.

As you like. But I have never had issue with a lone female, or the odd commuter, or the family out with kids, or the elderly couple out at a leisurely pace. 90% of cyclists I encounter are lovely and considerate of others, but the 10% who aren’t do fit a certain profile.

same with the cars that race down certain stretches of a local county strait - they aren’t the same ones using the roads for school runs or the local commute.

Grandma cycling to bingo would be fine round here - as long as she used lay-bys and showed some common sense.

There are deleted posts in this thread, yes. Though the one suggesting the OP should "blast them with the horn" is still up.