Give cyclists room

[volvoid]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...g-driving.html

daily mail has a sensible artice (that should be headlines itself).


The law requires that motorists give cyclists plenty of room when overtaking.
As people cannot be relied upon to behave decently amd properly this may well be defined soon, with punishments for not doing.

[Harvey1512]

That links to the whole Mail website. I'm happy to give cyclists a wide bearth, I already do, but let's also bring in a law that prosecutes cyclists who ride in packs / 2 abreast and block the road, slowing all traffic. Traffic should flow and if the slowest on the road, be they walkers, cyclists or anyone prevents that from happening by being a deliberate pain in the backside then they should be fined.

I saw a very logical bit of engineering at the weekend. A cycle lane in Tynemouth was painted green. Not just a white line with a cyclist on it but the whole lane was vivid green. This was a clear indication for motorists to stay out of the lane, a clear indication for cyclists to stay in that lane. Very simple, very effective. Hopefully more will copy.

[volvoid]

replaced with correct limk

[domhart10]

I am a cyclist and I always give tonnes of space when behind or over taking.

But outside the city a lot of cyclist ride as if they are aiming to frustrate drivers by spreading right across the road or riding in and unovertakable pack or just general riding in the middle of the lane (even when the road is smooth as I know the side of the road get a bit rough)

This rule isnt going to mean anything unless you have a camera for proof.

I ride a lot abroad and cycle round the cities, rather than coming up with silly things like leaving space which wont help anything at all, they should create bike lanes. for example Barcelona has a brilliant bike lane which goes over paths and also if there is space will be in the middle of the car road.

cyclists keep our the way of the cars and are happy and the cars are happy that they dont need to constantly dodge or watch out for cyclists

[DaveNP]

Reading the article, the content suggests that the minister is watching what happens in Australia to see what effect it has, slightly different from the implication that the law is already passing through the UK parliament.

But to debate the idea behind it
It would seem this would be a definition in a law of something that is already covered in the Highway Code and could be adequately prosecuted as 'without due care' or 'dangerous driving'. There was recently introduced a law which specifically prohibits tailgating and lane hogging on the motorway, there was some hoo-hah in the media when it was introduced but out on the roads it seems to have had little effect and I've only heard of one prosecution which as I recall was a bit of a silly case. Going back further using a mobile phone whilst driving was made illegal yet there's still plenty of people flouting that law too. But in this day and age there seems to be a lot of people ready to shout 'that should be illegal' and successive governments ready to pander to the populist vote on these type of issues, hence we have masses of new laws every year.
Laws only work in two ways, either they have the consent and agreement of those being governed or they have to be rigorously enforced. Laws against tailgating, lane hogging, phone using and carving up cyclists don't have the general consent and agreement of the majority of road users so will not be observed voluntarily, that leaves it to enforcement and I would suggest that there are nowhere near enough Police officers to enforce the laws we already have let alone making more. Furthermore if the Police make an effort to enforce the existing laws they are condemned as draconian and revenue raisers for the government.
All I can see any new legislation regarding cyclists doing is to 'legitimise' the self righteous prigs with cameras who still will not get the prosecutions they want as their evidence will probably be deemed inadmissible in court.

As for the rest of the motorist/cyclist debate - There are some good drivers, there are some bad drivers, there are some good cyclists, there are some bad cyclists - try to be a good one and avoid the bad ones.

[Munro83]

I agree that drivers should give cyclists room. But cyclists can be shocking with thier attitudes towards cars. I can be driving at 60mph on a A road when coming around a double bend I have to slam on the brakes due to cyclist being in a single file line??? Nope! In a bunch or a group riding 2 abreast. What's worse is when they seem to start rotating formation like they are a flock of grease!! This may be acceptable in a city but where I live there are tons of country roads/ b roads and single track roads which seem far more logical to ride on??

Yes give cyclists room but can they please be more considerate to cars as well??

[owyn]

Generally if you can't overtake a group that's 2 abreast then the overtake isn't on even if they were single file.

Its a constant complaint though:-

Cyclists want to ride 2 abreast in order to have a chat, keep the group compact, share the work, protect each other, etc.

Drivers moan that they take up too much space, get in the way etc.

It appears that a satisfactory agreement can't be reached by good road sense and highway code recommendations so it appears that a legislative approach is coming, lets see what happens!

[triumphjon]

ive recently experienced a disgruntled cyclist who shouted the earth that i should give him a meters clearance , i wouldnt mind so much but at the time he was actually UNDERTAKING me , a situation made worse as a parked car opened its door into our paths , i naturally blew the horn & avoided both the door and the **** on a bike along with te oncoming traffic ! if cyclists are insisting a meters clearance & therefore taking up as much space on a carrigeway as a motor vehicle then its about time the riders were made to be insured and pay ved for the push bike too

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by Munro83

I agree that drivers should give cyclists room. But cyclists can be shocking with thier attitudes towards cars. I can be driving at 60mph on a A road when coming around a double bend I have to slam on the brakes due to cyclist being in a single file line??? Nope! In a bunch or a group riding 2 abreast. What's worse is when they seem to start rotating formation like they are a flock of grease!! This may be acceptable in a city but where I live there are tons of country roads/ b roads and single track roads which seem far more logical to ride on??

Yes give cyclists room but can they please be more considerate to cars as well??

Slow down so you don't have to slam on. Perform an overtake. Simples. The speed differential is such that the latter should be easy. As stated, in many scenarios it is safer for cyclists to ride in this way to avoid their being squeezed, as can happen if in single file.

I lost perhaps 30 secs time on a journey to a group of cyclists this evening as I cruised up behind them. Because I maintained a distance they didn't hear me. Once they did they took up single file and one beckoned me past when he could see around the next corner. No drama, no fuss, everyone got along.

Just saying.

[Coventry]

Originally Posted by triumphjon

and pay ved for the push bike too

Bikes emit 0g/km of CO2 so why would anyone need to pay VED on them?

Plenty of cars emit less than 100g/km of CO2 and therefore pay nothing for VED, should all of these motorists suddenly start paying VED?