to think cyclists should use cycle lanes not busy dual carriageway ring road?

[mydoorisalwaysopen]

A cyclist was on the ring road this morning when there is a really good cycle lane next to it. Nearly knocked him off his bike and caused havoc by having to drive v slowly til I could get past so all other drivers behind me getting all shirty with me as they couldn't see him.

why did you nearly knock him off?
he has just as much right to be on the road as you

Was the cycle lane blocked? He may have had good reason to be in that lane.

That's my bug bear too.

We have a dedicated cycle path but no they still have to cycle on the road.

A couple of weeks ago a young lad in our village was knocked off his bike and killed. He didn't have any lights and was wearing dark clothing whilst cycling on the road. If he had been on the cycle path he would have been ok. I have sympathy for his family but it's the car driver I feel most sorry for.

Does anyone think that a cyclist would risk his life with so many poor drivers about if he didn't need to? There has to be a reason they were not on the cycle path.

It happens frequently in my village Onager.

I don't know why. There is never any blockages or anything - it is a dedicated cycle path with loads of width. There is no overhanging trees or anything.

was the cycle lane really very good?
some round us often have bits of glass all over them. others are very awkward as they only go so far, after which the cyclist has to re-join the traffic - often in a narrow part of the road.
I do generally use cycle paths around roundabouts on major roads, as it's safer all round. But cyclists do have a right to use the road as well.
cycling without lights after dark though is just dangerous - for them and other road users.

It was 10 0'clock at night when the lad was killed. The cycle path has lights.

Exactly Onager.Around here there are cycle paths which end very abruptly by jettisoning the cyclist headlong into traffic. There are cycle lanes which follow roundabouts but end at each exit - the idiots who designed these obviously expect the cyclists to stop, push across the exit, re-mount for20 metres stop again etc. They have clearly never cycled themselves and have no concept of how a decrease in momentum is so time-wasting.

Other problems I see with cycle paths:

1. People park on them, or across them.

1. Pedestrians wander across or along them.

1. They are sometimes shared with pedestrians, which totally doesn't work.

1. Sometimes you're meant to be going contraflow on a road, and drivers really don't watch out for this.

Exactly, idlingabout. People who argue that cyclists shoudl stay on cycle lanes are rarely regular cyclists, who know how hard it is to do that. Cycle lanes are often notoriously badly planned. They are often full of pedestrians who think it's a walkway. Or full of parked cars with doors opening suddenly.

I get so fed up of cyclists getting stick for cycling. they don't use scarce fossil fuels, they don't belch fumes into the environment, they don't add to the costs to society of obesity, and they don't kill people (one did, once, and it got in the news recently. because it's so very very very rare). Unlike car drivers - every day cars kill people. but people rant against the cyclists not the car drivers.

idlingabout we have lots of those here too!
the one round the roundabout near here is better, there are at least lights which allow you to cross the exits.
if the cyclepath is good I am only too glad to use that instead.
round here we have some which run along the side of the road, at the same level - there's just a painted line. These are OK until you have to pass the parked cars. I've been beeped at for daring to try and get past them..

I am a cyclist. Ours is not a lane but a proper purpose built path, with width. Short of taking a photo of it, I can't really explain properly.

We have a lovely cycle path near us.

Unless you mind getting stung by nettles

you do get dangerous cyclists though, like drivers - there's always going to be those who give us a bad name, cycling without lights, dark clothing, paying no regard at all to the highway code...
'regular' cyclists like some of us won't fall into that category though

I am a cyclist too so can only think he was lost cos you just wouldn't chose to cycle round a five lane roundabout and then onto a ring road where driving at 70 is consdiered slow when you could cycle along a frshly tarmaced cycle path separated from the road by about 5metres of soft verge. Very wide cycle path too.

Someone asked why I nearly knocked him off - I just wasn't expecting to see a cyclist. No excuses. Concentrating on cars merging from my right so didn't see him til last minute.

Roads are not just for cars - roads in general are for bicycles, tractors, horses, pedestrians and cars. Motorways are just for cars, which is why they are called that.

YANBU - if a cycle lane is available a cyclist should use it. As much for their own safety as anything else.

My biggest bugbear is people who walk along cycle lanes. park over cycle lanes or just "forget" that cycle lanes need to be crossed with the same caution as roads. The amount of time I have had to brake suddenly because someone just walks across the cycle path without looking first.

I cycle along our seafront a 30 limit road, there is a cycle path next to it but it is constantly being abused by non cyclists and so it is safer to cycle on the road and indeed perfectly legal.

well, maybe the cyclist didn't see the cycle pat? Sometimes they are hard to get onto if you are already on the road.

Cyclists have just as much right to be on the road as cars, even if they risk their lives by doinbg so!

I agree imum, it is very hard when pedestrians just amble along them and wonder why the cyclists are screatching to a holt inches from them.

Yes YABU. If a cyclist isn't using a cycle path, there is usually a good reason for it - like it's full of potholes or nettles or whatever.

Cyclists, if you are using cycle paths and they are shit, you MUST tell your highways dept about it - if no-one tells them, they don't know, and sometimes if you are lucky, there will be a designated person in a team who deals with cycling issues and liaises with the engineers. Find out who that person is and get on to them - they are usually keen cyclists themselves and will do what they can to help.

roads are for bicycles too so yabu. Cycle paths have a speed limit of 15 mph. Who wants to go that slow? They are badly designed, often shared with pedestrains and covered in glass and debris.
And if its the Bristol-Bath path, you can get mugged and wake up in hhospital. I wouldn't go near most of them.

its worse when they ride on the path and expect you to move your pram so they can get past, even dd1 commented on how come and old man that actually was cycling on the road, in the cycle lane, when everybody else was on the path.

if its a normal path then they are breaking the law, if a shared cycle/pedestrian (what a terrible idea) then pedestrians must stay on 'their' side.
on-raod cycle lanes are generally not wide enough, in the gutter and full of debris swpet their by cars. Safest place to cycle is 3 feet out from the kern so cars muct slow down and overtake with care. Any closer to the kerb they will try and squeeze past.

Some cycle lanes are great, and some are completly unusable. One of the problems with ones that are completely seperate is that if you miss the turn as it were, then you are stuck on the main road. On the other hand some cyclists can be a bit machismo, so I guess yours could have been there by accident or design. Cyclists who don't fully kit themselves out for the road are just incredibly stupid IMO. I wear reflectors and have several lights at night, because you are just invisible otherwise.