Change to Highway Code and cyclists responsibilities

[MattR]

Plenty of motorists get fined everyday.
Just because number plates aren't used elsewhere, doesn't mean they shouldn't be used here.

I'm not surprised some drivers' patience with inconsiderate cyclists is exhausted - the tailbacks caused by a single cyclist who doesn't use the perfectly adequate cycle path alongside*, constructed at no little expense, because he doesn't have to, and has the right to ride on the road.
[*A15 everyday]

Sorry but IMO, cyclists should be insured, and registered like every other road user must be - and forced to use cycle paths where provided.

If you want to introduce something that no other country has got and many countries have abandoned.... Your choice but do you really think that the advantages are worth the considerable disadvantages? The same issues apply to registering and insuring cyclists. Many regular cyclists are insured but you don't hear about that... You do hear about the yobs that cycle recklessly and damage other vehicles and people and then cycle off.... A bit like yobs in cars who do hit and runs... Do they get caught often?

I don't knowing about the A15 cycle path but many are not fit for purpose.

 

[busby]

I could... but to my mind they aren't road users as such... they don't tend to avoid pavements, or prefer to walk in the road, causing massive tailbacks

Can't say that I have ever seen massive tailbacks behind cyclists.In fact in heavy traffic cyclist travel faster than cars.Probably that's the reason for car drivers attitude.I know that on a Friday I can walk the three miles into my local town as quick as drive it.BUSBY

 

[Helen Ariel]

I'm a motorist (drive a small van every day for work), pedestrian (live in a city so often walk places/dog in town or Seafront) and a cyclist (mostly for leisure but sometimes to avoid a road journey) and the general attitude to cyclists is depressing.

The vast majority of people riding bikes will be drivers/walkers too so it's so silly to single out these groups and the majority of these attitudes are coming from typical media sources stiring up conflict for newspaper headlines and click bait just the same as they do with other things it's such a shame so many fall into that clichéd trap of cyclist hate.

I've been annoyed by people using all modes of transport and it's just a fact of living on a crowded island with poor infrastructure that conflict arises. Still no need to blame one group more than another.

By the way I really don't get the obsession with bikes needing bells on. They achieve nothing that a friendly 'good morning or hello could i come by on your left?' couldn't.

I feel it's just yet another media induced stick to beat cyclists with.

I was riding my mountain bike along a wide bridleway the other day and came up to a group of 4 people walking and chatting in a row taking up the whole width (no problem whatsoever with that) as we approached my partner said 'good afternoon, what a lovely day it is' and the group turned and made some space for us and 3 out of the 4 returned my big smile as I passed and thanked them but the older lady of the group had a look of a smacked arse and shouted 'get a bell!'

I was gob smacked there's just no need for that kind of response when there's plenty of space and time for pleasantries instead. Some people are just miserable i guess and want something to moan about or to bring you down to their level.

 

[John Barrett]

….but how many HAVE bells on their bicycles………?

I put a honking bulb horn on my bike. VERY effective!

 

[busby]

I'm a motorist (drive a small van every day for work), pedestrian (live in a city so often walk places/dog in town or Seafront) and a cyclist (mostly for leisure but sometimes to avoid a road journey) and the general attitude to cyclists is depressing.

The vast majority of people riding bikes will be drivers/walkers too so it's so silly to single out these groups and the majority of these attitudes are coming from typical media sources stiring up conflict for newspaper headlines and click bait just the same as they do with other things it's such a shame so many fall into that clichéd trap of cyclist hate.

I've been annoyed by people using all modes of transport and it's just a fact of living on a crowded island with poor infrastructure that conflict arises. Still no need to blame one group more than another.

By the way I really don't get the obsession with bikes needing bells on. They achieve nothing that a friendly 'good morning or hello could i come by on your left?' couldn't.

I feel it's just yet another media induced stick to beat cyclists with.

I was riding my mountain bike along a wide bridleway the other day and came up to a group of 4 people walking and chatting in a row taking up the whole width (no problem whatsoever with that) as we approached my partner said 'good afternoon, what a lovely day it is' and the group turned and made some space for us and 3 out of the 4 returned my big smile as I passed and thanked them but the older lady of the group had a look of a smacked arse and shouted 'get a bell!'

I was gob smacked there's just no need for that kind of response when there's plenty of space and time for pleasantries instead. Some people are just miserable i guess and want something to moan about or to bring you down to their level.

So agree.I cannot work out what is wrong with our fellow countrymen and women.My brother in law cycles and rants about inconsiderate motorists.He also cycles and is a liability with cyclists.Talk about Jeckyl and Hyde.What is wrong with people in this country.What is this obsession with rushing to the next traffic jam or red light.They will virtually kill to be one place up in a traffic jam. I give up trying to understand..Thank goodness I can get away to Europe to cycle in peace.BUSBY.

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[Helen Ariel]

I could... but to my mind they aren't road users as such... they don't tend to avoid pavements, or prefer to walk in the road, causing massive tailbacks

Lol it's cars that make traffic not bicycles. If you sometimes see a road bike using a road rather than a cycle path it's because a lot of cycle paths are not suitable for fast, road bikes. They can be very rough, gravely, litter strewn, broken, often shared with pedestrians with kids/dogs running about on them so someone who, for example has chosen to not add to the traffic by commuting to work on a proper road bike with skinny tyres so they can actually travel at a decent top speed might be on the road for their own safety and to avoid conflict with pedestrians but also so they can maintain a decent speed which gets them where they need to go in good time.

 

[Silver-Fox]

If you sometimes see a road bike using a road rather than a cycle path it's because a lot of cycle paths are not suitable for fast, road bikes

Should the fast road bike be saved for the track or TDF then

 

[Puddleduck]

I'd just like cyclists to be registered with a number plate, just like all other road users, so they can be identified when they transgress the new/old rules... and/or when they cause accidents.

With rights come responsibilities.

And to have insurance if the cycle has a larger than ??? size frame or a smaller frame if the cyclist was not under the supervision of a regoistered and insured cycle user. That would allow children to learn to cycle. Certain types of bike might be exempt (such as BMX competition bikes would not need plates unless on the road).

 

[Langtoftlad]

They can be very rough, gravely, litter strewn, broken, often shared with pedestrians with kids/dogs running about on them

Or not.

 

[The Lord Squid]

I put a honking bulb horn on my bike. VERY effective!

Here's a cheerful tinkler.
Broken Link Removed

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[Helen Ariel]

Or not.

You ride a road bike on lots of cycle paths do you? Things have been improving slightly in my city in relation to new cycle paths but most are shocking. There are so many where cars use them to park in and some here even have lamp posts in the middle of them just to make your trip a bit more exciting!

 

[busby]

Here's a cheerful tinkler.
Broken Link Removed

How much??Ouch.BUSBY.

 

[MattR]

Should the fast road bike be saved for the track or TDF then

Perhaps when every fast car is saved for the track or Grand Prix

 

[busby]

You ride a road bike on lots of cycle paths do you? Things have been improving slightly in my city in relation to new cycle paths but most are shocking. There are so many where cars use them to park in and some here even have lamp posts in the middle of them just to make your trip a bit more exciting!

My nearest cycle track (a white line down the side of the road) is three or four miles away.Would not dare cycle on it with the drivers around here.BUSBY.

 

[funflair]

Number plates are not used used by any country around the world. The cost of administering such a schemes is far greater than any benefits. Number plates don't stop idiotic behaviour - just look at the number of car drivers that haven't number plates front and rear that break laws every day.

If you want to introduce something that no other country has got and many countries have abandoned.... Your choice but do you really think that the advantages are worth the considerable disadvantages? The same issues apply to registering and insuring cyclists. Many regular cyclists are insured but you don't hear about that... You do hear about the yobs that cycle recklessly and damage other vehicles and people and then cycle off.... A bit like yobs in cars who do hit and runs... Do they get caught often?

I don't knowing about the A15 cycle path but many are not fit for purpose.

I have just been having a virtual cycle on the A15 via Google earth and I can confirm that the bits I have looked at are a joke and only somebody who doesn't cycle would think that they were adequate.

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[Langtoftlad]

but most are shocking

the ones around here are in an immeasurably better state than most of our potholed roads .

 

[Langtoftlad]

Perhaps when every fast car is saved for the track or Grand Prix

Remind me again - how much VED does a cyclist pay?
How frequently is a bicycle MOT'd

 

[funflair]

Remind me again - how much VED does a cyclist pay?
How frequently is a bicycle MOT'd

100% of the applicable rate, and all maintenance and testing as per the laws of the land.

 

[busby]

Remind me again - how much VED does a cyclist pay?
How frequently is a bicycle MOT'd

What a silly question.You know the answer to both questions.Tell me if your car did not require to pay road tax would you still go and pay it ? BUSBY.

 

[Paulypaul]

As a driver who does many thousands of miles a year the general attitude of cyclists, not all, but a lot, is $€@& you type of attitude as they ride along in the middle of the road sometimes 2 abreast. As I say, not all but a lot.

The irony is that most of them probably drive cars, so they know what they are doing when they're taking the p##$, but it doesn't stop them turning into a proper tool as soon as they get tarted up in their lycia.

Its only my opinion based on experience but I'll wait for the fall out

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[Puddleduck]

My cycle does have a bell ...... most pedestrians are brilliant and I always thank them if they move out of my way .... (I have always considered pedestrians to have right of way on shared paths). It is annoying when someone has headphones in and a dog on a long lead running back and forth across the path - but live and let live and I can always take a break. I'd dismount and push the bike past but they would probably be faster than me if we were both walking

I don't cycle on roads if I can avoid it. I like old railway tracks and traffic free routes

 

[MattR]

As a driver who does many thousands of miles a year the general attitude of cyclists, not all, but a lot, is $€@& you type of attitude as they ride along in the middle of the road sometimes 2 abreast. As I say, not all but a lot.

The irony is that most of them probably drive cars, so they know what they are doing when they're taking the p##$, but it doesn't stop them turning into a proper tool as soon as they get tarted up in their lycia.

Its only my opinion based on experience but I'll wait for the fall out

Anything wrong with cycling in the middle of the lane or two abreast? I only ask incase you know something better than the Highway code and the new law coming in to place...

 

[Clipgate]

Rules Laws and smoke screens, Pedestrian rights :

Do pedestrians have right of way?​

As Judge Mauger explained in her summing up, even where a motorist or cyclist has right of war on the road ‘pedestrians who are established on the road have right of way’.

Rule 170 of the Highway Code states that if a pedestrian has ‘started to cross’ a road, they have right of way.
New rule maybe, old case law established this right before any changes

 

[Clipgate]

Way but has potential for war.
Typo

 

[busby]

Rules Laws and smoke screens, Pedestrian rights :

Do pedestrians have right of way?​

As Judge Mauger explained in her summing up, even where a motorist or cyclist has right of war on the road ‘pedestrians who are established on the road have right of way’.

Rule 170 of the Highway Code states that if a pedestrian has ‘started to cross’ a road, they have right of way.
New rule maybe, old case law established this right before any changes

Rather obvious I would think but if you don't think so would you just run them over? I don't think so.BUSBY.

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[Puddleduck]

Rather obvious I would think but if you don't think so would you just run them over? I don't think so.BUSBY.

Makes too much mess and paperwork

As I live out in the sticks I may have a different view on things but I have always tried to be courteous when driving (or cycling) and stopped to allow pedestrians to cross the road (whether waiting or actually on the road). I also really welcomed the 20 mph initiative in The Scottish Borders - especially now it has been altered to allow for local circumstances.

 

[kevenh]

I thought well back in Tony Blair's day a law was introduced to make the fitting of a bell mandatory on all new bikes.Never been enforced.BUSBY.

And reversed in 1999
Manufacturers had to sell every bike with a bell.
Lots of owners later then removed them
Easier to save the weight of a bell on your bike than miss a pudding to lose a bit of rider’s weight…

 

[Paulypaul]

Anything wrong with cycling in the middle of the lane or two abreast? I only ask incase you know something better than the Highway code and the new law coming in to place...

Not a law but courtesy springs to mind. For example: I followed a cyclist for nearly 2 miles down a very narrow lane last week. He passed numerous driveways where he could have simply pulled in and let the traffic pass, but no, he wasn't going to do that but would rather hold all the traffic up?

I wonder if you've ever followed a tractor and thought "I wish he would pull in and let us all pass". I'm not a serious cyclist but I can imagine how difficult it might be to pull in and dismount and let traffic pass

 

[MattR]

Not a law but courtesy springs to mind. For example: I followed a cyclist for nearly 2 miles down a very narrow lane last week. He passed numerous driveways where he could have simply pulled in and let the traffic pass, but no, he wasn't going to do that but would rather hold all the traffic up?

I wonder if you've ever followed a tractor and thought "I wish he would pull in and let us all pass". I'm not a serious cyclist but I can imagine how difficult it might be to pull in and dismount and let traffic pass

That is frustrating... I'm sure many would feel the same. However, it isn't the same as "the general attitude of cyclists, not all, but a lot, is $€@& you type of attitude as they ride along in the middle of the road sometimes 2 abreast." Riding in the middle of the lane and 2 abreast is recommended.

 

[kevenh]

I followed a cyclist for nearly 2 miles down a very narrow lane last week. He passed numerous driveways where he could have simply pulled in and let the traffic pass,

The level crossing at Thatcham train station can be closed to traffic for 20min.
A cyclist navigated to the front of the queue.
He set off with the whole tailback of motor vehicles behind him along a winding country road

Took some balls or just ignorance.

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