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.

I don't mind being held up by heavy traffic, or RTAs, and can tolerate occasional late trains.

Getting held up for ages, because of a bunch of arrogant entitled lycra clad middle aged men, who can't be fucked to ride single file on a narrow road, is completely different. It CAN be avoided. They CAN ride differently,. But they choose not to.

Also, @CantStopMoving I don't believe for one minute that 'no-one bats an eyelid' when trains and tubes are late. As if everyone just stands there saying nothing and not complaining. Yeah right! 😆

You should have posted that two horse riders had held you up for 10 minutes OP. You would have had hundreds of replies telling you that horse riders are all entitled arseholes, and agreeing with you they were awful. For some reason there is a massive double standard. Cyclists can do what they like, whereas if you are on a horse and you dare to forget to thank someone you've held up for 30 seconds, you are an awful person. Can you tell this winds me up a little. 😂

I don't mind being held up by horses/horse riders, because every single time this has happened, they move as soon as they can to allow you to get past.. eg, they will move into a little layby or the first place/pull in they possibly can (and stop for a few seconds) to let the cars past. MAMILs never do, and seem to get great pleasure in holding drivers up.

Absolute arseholes.

single file on a narrow road

You, are a bad driver for not understanding the Highway Code stipulation for passing with ample room. You cannot do this on a narrow road, but because you’re in your metal box you don’t think…

They annoy all of us in the lane!

It's not the fact that they are there, or even that they never pull in I think. It's their complete rudeness in never acknowledging us pulling over. The lane is so narrow its dangerous to have vehicles going in both directions, but it's always the cars that stop and they never even put their hands up or smile. Just rude!

Please explain how you can ride in a manner that allows a car to leave sufficient room as required by the highway code on a single-track road.

Thanks in advance.

Traffic jams block the road far more than cyclists, horses, tractors etc

They really don’t. It is just part and parcel of going by public transport that you get delayed. 10 minutes is nothing. I accept 30 mins delay would get people huffy but 10 mins is pretty standard! I always add on 10-15 onto a tube journey if I have to get somewhere for that reason.

I always leave plenty of time for any journey I make.

Well, that's the advice not to ride in single file. That's what I would expect. If there is no room to overtake safely then wait until there is.

WTAF are you on about?

How can I pass with AMPLE ROOM when the stupid selfish MAMILs are almost filling the whole road? THEY are the ones who are 'bad drivers' darling! They need to be less selfish and arrogant, and ride in single file on narrow roads!

Horses are usually, on tarmac roads, traveling a lot slower than even your slow mamil… or mawil.

Although technically legal, I've seen police stop and pull selfish cyclists to the side of the road for causing an obstruction when there was a large back up of cars behind, and quite rightly so!

You overtake safety by pulling entirely into the other lane.

These don’t exist on narrow country lanes

Driving test is that way——>

How on earth can 20 riders pull in to let you pass? 1 maybe but not 20.

Getting held up because another driver has knocked over and killed a cyclist = acceptable.

Getting held up because a driver is not killing a cyclist who is cycling defensively = not acceptable.

Thanks for explaining that drivers causing a collision is an ok reason to hold you up, while trying to avoid a collision isn't.

Had a group of cyclists refuse to move out of the way today actually , i was driving an ambulance btw , this is a regular occurance, considering the amount of times we get called out to pick them up off the road you'd think they'd be a bit more considerate, oh and the guy who cycled into the side of us last week, absolute twat

@Lonelycrab makes perfect sense.

you can only overtake by giving by 1.5 metres space. That necessates in all situations practically going into the opposite lane as if you were overtaking a car. So in any event it is unlikely you would ever have the room to overtake a cyclist on a single track road.

Good to hear. I would arrest every one of the feckers if I was a police officer.

I think there is a degree of entitlement with cyclists, and it’s not always about safety. I was once stuck behind a bunch of about 6 of them on the Mendip hills, very twisty and hilly roads so no safe places to overtake, and they were going super slow due to the hills. I was perhaps 10 cars into the queue behind them, and there were at least 10 more behind me. This went on for at least 15 mins. There were plenty of places they could have pulled into a gateway and let people past, but they don’t, because they’re wankers. If it was a tractor going the same speed as them (actually a tractor would be faster), by law the tractor is supposed to pull in and let the traffic by if safe to do so, I don’t know why it’s different for cyclists.

The one that really took the biscuit was a few years ago when I was towing a horse trailer around some narrow lanes, I’d just turned onto one lane onto another very narrow lane, and encountered a cyclist coming the other way. There was no way he could get past me as it was so narrow, and he sat there for 20 seconds or so staring at me obviously expecting me to reverse back to let him by. This would have involved reversing a trailer with a horse in back down a steep hill, onto another narrow road which was a sharp right angle at the junction, with no idea as to whether any traffic was on the other lane. OR the alternative was for him to turn around and cycle around the block (this was a very short detour, imagine a small triangle shape of lanes, perhaps adding 2 mins to his route). When he realised I wasn’t budging he pressed something on his smart watch in a huff, shook his head at me and turned around with his stupid Lycra clad arse waggling up the hill in a strop.

And breathe.

Nope, it's being awkward for the sake of things. It's like when I used to tow my caravan, every time I got chance I'd pull over to give people the chance to overtake if we were on roads where it was otherwise difficult to do so. It's all about being considerate.

It's nothing like being behind a slow tractor. They can't do anything. They're one vehicle. Cyclists could ride in single file to allow the rest of the road to flow.

OP isn't saying she wants to razz it down the road - fully planning to stay within the speed limit.

Let me guess.. you're a cyclist.

Oh goodie. Another cyclist bashing thread.

If they’d been riding single file you wouldn’t have had space (2 metres is the requirement) to pass them safely. So it’s irrelevant how they were riding, you couldn’t have passed them anyway. It’s probably safer that they were riding 2 abreast as that stops you trying to pass them, as you don’t appear to know this part of the Highway Code. If you did you wouldn’t have posted this. Therefore YABU.

Having said this, I am a cyclist, and my group would’ve stopped as soon as there was a safe place to pull in and let you past. Mainly because we don’t like selfish aggressive shithead drivers hassling us from behind.

I personally don’t think the roads should be used for group sport. If cars met in groups and started blocking up the roads, horses, runners - it wouldn’t be allowed (unless a road closure in place for it).

that is omg, any emergency services in my view auto get right of way. soon as i know im being followed i pull over