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.

The time you get up and your working day is not the point.

I'm not a cyclist but I think drivers are generally idiots when it comes to cyclists. They get irrationally wound up and impatient and too willing to take chances.
This means cyclists have to ride defensively because it only takes one idiot who thinks there's a gap that they could tuck into to cause an accident. For a driver that could cause some damaged paint work, but for a cyclist it could be life altering if not fatal.

I think the answer is that packs of 20 bikes is not safe. They should be travelling in smaller groups.

antisocial
Motorists in the UK kill/seriously injure c 30k people a year and pollution from road vehicles is responsible for another 30-40k deaths. But yeah it's cyclists that are antisocial.

Then perhaps it isn’t safe for you to be driving if you get angry that easily

Difference is slow tractors find the nearest opportunity to safely move aside and let traffic pass.

in fact I’m sure slow road users like tractors etc are supposed to move aside at the nearest opportunity because they are creating the hazard with backed up traffic queues behind them by going slowly. Would cyclist fall into this going 10-20mph on a 60mph road?

you should also never obstruct drivers that wish to pass and this should apply to cyclists. They shouldnt obstruct safe manoeuvres like overtaking.

its also general thing to be expected to move over when safe to do so if you’re a slow moving to allow traffic to pass.

they were being dicks not following the Highway Code.

Well that didn’t take long.

I don't know why people have to be bashing cyclists all the time. They're road users too. Just take a few more minutes if necessary and don't drive too closely. People forget that cars are not the only things entitled to use the road.

I think the answer is that packs of 20 bikes is not safe.
20 bikes is perfectly safe. What isn't safe is one dickhead driver.

I’ve sat behind a tractor for 30 minutes before so whilst they ought to pull in they don’t always.

Op and others have pointed out that they use the roads in various ways - drivers, walkers, tractors, horses, who all manage to rub along. It is (some) cyclists that behave like entitled assholes which cause issues.

I feel the same way about cars.

No, it really isn’t safe unless you are organising an event and paying for traffic control. Same as with runners/walkers - a handful is no issue, but at a certain point it does become a traffic and safety issue. There is a reason London marathon requires road closures.

It's actually the entitled arseholes in cars that kill people.

They had absolutely no way of knowing whether you were someone who knows to leave a 2m gap or someone who doesn't. In such circumstances it is perfectly reasonable for them to cycle two abreast, and much much safer for them to cycle in a bunch rather than strung out.

It was for 10 minutes. This delay can't have added more than a few minutes to your journey. You have not been damaged by this experience.

Not sure what “So, yeah” means (are you 12?), but the minimum width for a two way road in the UK is 5.5m, so anything narrower than this is single track. Obviously any road between 4.5 and 5.5m would absolutely allow room for a car to pass a bike safely and leaving the required distance.

There is a particular brand of cyclist whose teeny horrifically lycra-clad dicks get hard if they feel like they are inconveniencing a car.

Very easily told apart from normal cyclists by their dogged determination to never show an ounce of courtesy or common sense.

So 1 driver thinks their trip is more important than that of 20 cyclists, and yet it's the cyclists who are entitled?

Ok then.

We're on a rural national cycle route so it's fairly common to get stuck behind groups on summer evenings. It's part of rural life to be fair, and I don't mind so much in the afternoon/evenings but when they're blocking the road at 8am when I'm going to work I do have to take a deep breath or two. Tractor/farm machinery drivers tend to be a lot more considerate.

I cycle a lot with my grandchildren and have taught them to ride side by side until a car comes then you go single file on a narrow road. They're 12 and 10 and understand it.... so I'm not sure why groups of male cyclists fail to do the same.

It’s depressing how many people think saying “It’s not illegal” is a gotcha. A lot of antisocial behaviour isn’t illegal. It’s just something people know they shouldn’t do.
Like not blocking the road just because you can.

In a civilised society, everyone restrains their selfishness /impatience/ bad temper/ rudeness etc a bit so that life is liveable for everyone. When that agreement breaks down, society doesn’t collapse or anything. It is just a lot less pleasant for most of us.

I live rurally and I have never seen a tractor pull over to let traffic pass, even on a major A road. Cyclists do usually pull over when they can but that's not practical for a group of 20 on a single lane road. Sometimes you just have to be patient. The same as when a farmer is moving some sheep or they've suddenly put down some road topping with a 20 mile an hour loose chippings warning, or the bin lorry is blocking the road and can't pull over.

Having had my car crashed into and trashed while stationary by an out of control cyclist, I can say from first hand experience this has less to do with the attitude of cyclists than the physics.

Strange because I’ve driven around 12,000 miles a year for the last 15 years along A/B and unclassified roads yet not once encountered these mythical packs of selfish cyclists. I’ve patiently and safely overtaken cyclists, sure, but you angry, poor quality drivers really are making this out to be something that it’s not.

Perhaps stop reading the DM or watching GB news. That’s probably it.

actually they were, and drivers need 1.5 metres to overtake

Yep. Given the pack of 20 is out for a jolly it is absolutely less important than one person trying to get to work (or hospital or school).