road cycling

[TRITON]

You may be surprised, just reading this thread has made my head do that a number of times.

You know the answer to that one.

 

[doctor Bob]

You know the answer to that one.

Yes, indeed, I am now wearing my tin foil helmet.

 

[Sandyn]

Cycling Micky's you tube channel there are a hell of a lot that speed through red lights, without slowing or showing any consideration.

For any cyclist going through a red light dangerously, they should get a fixed penalty and 3 points!!. If you don't have a licence, added to your driver record. Cyclists have to obey the rules of the road.

 

[TRITON]

For any cyclist going through a red light dangerously, they should get a fixed penalty and 3 points!!. If you don't have a licence, added to your driver record. Cyclists have to obey the rules of the road.

Nice add 'to go through a red light dangerously' as in many instances it isnt dangerous, as in there's no other traffic. or the traffic is backed up and not moving.
Cyclists, as the vast majority of car drivers obey the rules, though possibly more so with cyclists who in any accident come off far worst, and are acutely aware of this fact.
But to give an example of a pedestrian crossing on a straight road, where the light is red and there are no pedestrians for a 100m from that crossing, most road users would stop, and if a cyclist goes through, that is because it is safe to do so. Im more than sure any self respecting driver would also like to go straight through as they too can see there's nobody on it, near it or needing to use it. Unless of course its at night, when most will use their own judgement and 'sneak' through
Cyclists have a clearer view of all around them, which is something car/van etc drivers do not, due to their view being hampered by the construction of the vehicle they are in. I can see more of whats around me than any driver driving next to me.
Cyclists have no 'blind side'

One of the biggest problems are car, as well as van and (not so much) bus drivers in cutting in. where the road or lane user sees someone to the side of them start to pull in making the area they are in get narrower and narrower and they are forced to reduce speed to allow it or risk being sideswiped. Perhaps we should allow articulated lorries, when seeing a car or van on their inside and level with their truck to pull the same maneuver, which does happen and the subsequent car/van driver rightly poos himself, but it is a driving infraction where the offender 99% of the time is a car or van.
It looks like these users at least have a sense of entitlement and also an inherent selfishness, to disclude everyone around them as having the same rights to the road as themselves.
But and i should add these idiots are not the normal road user.

Perhaps the real problem that society should be addressing, is the concept of self entitlement that has become normal for all in and outside driving a car/van/bicycle, where they now care little about the health, safety or fair use of any and all around them.
But that is a concept too alien for the majority of the daily mail readership to grasp.

I am a daily road user of some 30 years experience.

 

[TRITON]

Yes, indeed, I am now wearing my tin foil helmet.

You and the cat

 

[Valhalla]

Rather than cyclists blocking lanes and preventing vehicle drivers from getting on with their business it should be mandatory for them to pull over if there are 3 or more vehicles behind them and the cyclist(s) has covered - say a mile for example. This would prevent situations where cyclists have hogged the road for 8 miles! In towns and cities this hogging of roads will slow down traffic and increase pollution for sure.

 

[Droogs]

That is one very impressed cat - not

 

[TRITON]

Rather than cyclists blocking lanes

Blocking lanes ?
You mean as in the car/van/bus in front of you. Preventing you from speeding ahead. Saving those precious seconds.

Perhaps they should stop, dismount and perform a bow or courtesy as you pass.

 

[Jacob]

Rather than cyclists blocking lanes and preventing vehicle drivers from getting on with their business it should be mandatory for them to pull over if there are 3 or more vehicles behind them and the cyclist(s) has covered - say a mile for example. This would prevent situations where cyclists have hogged the road for 8 miles! In towns and cities this hogging of roads will slow down traffic and increase pollution for sure.

Yes but it hardly ever happens for more than a few hundred yards, certainly not 8 miles of road hogging.
Some places it's problematic to stop and give way e.g. if labouring up a hill on a narrow road. If you stop you can't get started again and could end up slowing even more traffic down. The Clarksons would get even angrier if they had to follow behind a cyclist walking up a steep hill instead of pedalling.
The anti cycling brigade gets a bit tedious - cycles are not the problem, motor traffic is. And gets billions spent on infrastructure.
Maybe they should have to complete some cycle training with the driving test, perhaps take a refresher as cycling becomes more important in view of air pollution and traffic overcrowding.

 

[Valhalla]

Blocking lanes ?
You mean as in the car/van/bus in front of you. Preventing you from speeding ahead. Saving those precious seconds.

Perhaps they should stop, dismount and perform a bow or courtesy as you pass.

No - I'm talking about the cyclist sitting in the middle of a lane when it is the only lane in the direction of travel. If they want to get off their bikes and give a bow.....who am I to deny them that little pleasure?

 

[doctor Bob]

Perhaps they should stop, dismount and perform a bow or courtesy as you pass.

I knew eventually someone would come up with a good idea, well done that man, maybe a doff of the helmet as well?

 

[HamsterJam]

Now maybe if we brought back the man carrying a red flag walking ahead of all motor vehicles….

 

[Phil Pascoe]

But if Deema's calcs are correct, that cyclist are nearly as dangerous as HGVs, then you'd expect HGV/bike collisions to produce nearly as many injuries to the drivers as to the cyclists. Could this be true?

My grandfather was an atrocious driver. He always boasted he'd driven for sixty years and never had an accident. Christ knows how many he'd caused.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

As my route is inevitable on the normally stopped direction I have no option but to jump it.

Yeah ..... that's why I jump red lights as well.

 

[TRITON]

No - I'm talking about the cyclist sitting in the middle of a lane when it is the only lane in the direction of travel. If they want to get off their bikes and give a bow.....who am I to deny them that little pleasure?

Using 'you' as a generic term

I know what you are saying and a cyclist doing that has zero road sense, or is just a ********.

Personally I check behind me and if i see a build up of traffic, pul into the side and stop and wave the cars behind through.
Thats not just because im a nice guy, but because I know that tightened up traffic is a dangerous situation to be in, so im doing it for myself.
With the physical act of waving them through they actually think im acting in their interest when the opposite is true But that said, its usually in familiar areas with drivers ill likely see again and again. so not just causing little harm but it adds up to PR for cyclists.

 

[flying haggis]