Highway Code changes Changes are being introduced on January 29

[Buckman]

If you are driving that fast round a rural bend that 2 bikes abreast cause you an issue you are sadly driving too fast.

Sorry have to disagree with the above statement as cyclists should be on their side of the road or at least to their left and not in the middle of the road. They have a duty of care to other road users and themselves! Tractors travel at speeds higher than 20mph.
I don't think 20mph is fast around a bend as you can easily see another vehicle coming from the opposite direction especially a tractor and brake according without having to stand on the pedals. I would think that many cyclists travel at speeds higher than 20mph.
As said it is only a minority of cyclists in our area that have no respect for other road users and they are probably from a town or city.

 

[JezzerB]

We'll have to agree to differ there then . Having done a recent(!!!) test I'll stick to my advice. My argument is what happens if it's not bike but a tractor or horse? Combine?

 

[Parksy]

Sorry have to disagree with the above statement as cyclists should be on their side of the road or at least to their left and not in the middle of the road. They have a duty of care to other road users and themselves! Tractors travel at speeds higher than 20mph.
I don't think 20mph is fast around a bend as you can easily see another vehicle coming from the opposite direction especially a tractor and brake according without having to stand on the pedals. I would think that many cyclists travel at speeds higher than 20mph.
As said it is only a minority of cyclists in our area that have no respect for other road users and they are probably from a town or city.

The Highway Code says otherwise.
So you say that you can see a tractor around a bend, which is unusual if not unique.
If you can see a tractor you can see two cyclists riding abreast.
Presumably this ability to see around bends includes the ability to see children, dogs, cats etc.
If you have to stand on your brakes you're travelling too fast for what you can see, you're assuming that the road will be clear ahead.

 

[Buckman]

The Highway Code says otherwise.
So you say that you can see a tractor around a bend, which is unusual if not unique.
If you can see a tractor you can see two cyclists riding abreast.
Presumably this ability to see around bends includes the ability to see children, dogs, cats etc.
If you have to stand on your brakes you're travelling too fast for what you can see, you're assuming that the road will be clear ahead.

I think you missed the point that at 20mph you do not have to stand on your brakes. Reading the thread again I think I now understand who those cyclists are who have decided that no matter what they have right of way whether on a pavement or on the road and to them the Highway Code is a meaningless booklet to be ignored as the motorist will always be blamed.

 

[otherclive]

The other advantage of them cycling two abreast is coming to a bend the driver has a bit of extra warning of their presence compared to if they were single and tucked into the side.

 

[Darren.H]

The Highway Code says otherwise.
So you say that you can see a tractor around a bend, which is unusual if not unique.
If you can see a tractor you can see two cyclists riding abreast.
Presumably this ability to see around bends includes the ability to see children, dogs, cats etc.
If you have to stand on your brakes you're travelling too fast for what you can see, you're assuming that the road will be clear ahead.

I think maybe the poster was referring to the height of tractors?

I'm currently living in rural Cornwall, extensively use the small roads, well to be honest "A" roads down here would be classed as "B" roads anywhere else, but they are pretty much all small. You can see tractors well in advance as they are above the hedge level, some have Amber flashing lights too.

I drive a huge lorry around Cornwall, its a challenge at times not being used to the road widths and other unique to Cornwall conditions. An example before Christmas was a pair of lycra clad cycling on a narrow B road, me at a safe distance behind in my Daf Xf double deck artic, fuming.
My wife and I cycle for leisure, we don't own lycra or clip our shoes into the pedals, trainers and shorts thats us, in that situation and many more we pull in, let the traffic move on then plod on our way.
So these pair couldn't careless, mile after mile I'm sat behind them only to be able to overtake about 1/2 mile from my destination, so I didnt bother, the queue behind was large.

 

[GeorgeandAde]

A little bit of thought and consideration from cyclists would help as Darren said.
If safe,pull over and let traffic pass.
I'm sure they would get a few thankful waves or toots on the horn.

I've been driving along with cyclists on the public footpath,then all of a sudden,without looking behind to check,just decide to re-join the road right in front of me.

One day(I do hope not)the dashcam will come in very handy.😲

 

[JezzerB]

I agree some cyclists are loons too. Every type of road user has the inconsiderate and dangerous minority and I use the roads expecting this from everyone. Safer imo! I do cycle occasionally but far less these days as it feels v dangert but would rather pull over than be passed at speed within a whisker.

 

[Tobes]

I am a cyclist, and have been since I was about 3. Sometimes it's jeans, T-shirt and trainers. Sometimes its "lycra" and clipless pedals. It's always with a helmet and lights, and these days always with a rear facing radar so I know what is coming up behind me. When I ride, I always engage with the traffic around me, waving it forward to pass when I can see it's safe, gesturing to stay back if I can see oncoming traffic. If I see a queue is forming (and my radar will show me up to 8 cars behind, so I am aware, even if I am not looking over my shoulder), I will pull over when its safe to do so.
Being on a bike I have a much better view forward than the car behind me (I am in front and higher up) and relay that information with simple gestures, always with a wave of thanks as they pass. Usually I get a hazards flash or "toot toot" in thanks.

There will always be idiots on the road. Yesterday I was out cycling with friends and neighbours, seven of us in total, on a 27 mile ride. The only incident, was coming out of a village, where we had just stopped to regroup. We rode off single file (having let all traffic around us pass), still in a 30 zone approaching a 40 zone, before national speed limit with a junction perhaps 1/4 of a mile ahead. A driver decided to overtake us, round a bend, and ended up cutting up the lead cycle because two cars were coming the other way. The overtaking car got a hooted at by the on coming car for being on the wrong side of the road, going faster than 30 while still approaching the 40 zone.

But all the other drivers were considerate and carful - and interacted with us in a positive manner.

What annoys me about these conversations is the tarring everyone who rides a bike with the same brush. The suggestion that riding two abreast should be banned, or that riding with headphones in should be banned, or that cyclists never give way, or pullover to allow other road users to pass, is belittling and infuriating.

Cyclists, pedestrians, horse riders, motorbikers, car users and other vehicle drivers are all valid road users, with different capabilities, different safety profiles and different needs. calling out one group because of some ingrained imagined bias based on tiny subset of users is futile and irrelevant.

Learn to live and let live, grow up, and move on.

 

[Beachball]

This morning on my mobility scooter at 5am often see this coming down on the main road i cannot tell if it has lights because the person was not using them
foldable up electric scooter ..
Apologies if i have gone off thread

 

[Tobes]

This morning on my mobility scooter at 5am often see this coming down on the main road i cannot tell if it has lights because the person was not using them
foldable up electric scooter ..
Apologies if i have gone off thread

These things make a lot of sense but need to be homologated. The towns where there are govenment backed trials, they seem to work well. You need to be over16, have a driving license, they have lights, are speed controlled via GPS, can be ridden on cycle and bridalways and roads, but will stop on footpaths and in some areas so have to be pushed.

 

[Beachball]

These things make a lot of sense but need to be homologated. The towns where there are govenment backed trials, they seem to work well. You need to be over16, have a driving license, they have lights, are speed controlled via GPS, can be ridden on cycle and bridalways and roads, but will stop on footpaths and in some areas so have to be pushed.

Why i ask about lights is because he nearly got hit by passing cars .

 

[Tobes]

Why i ask about lights is because he nearly got hit by passing cars .

Highly likely that if it had no light, it was privately owned, and therefor illegally being ridden on the road. Idiots will be idiots, they walk (and ride and drive, in the dark with no lights) among us. There is a girl who must live near us that rides a monowheel board. Its an amazing looking thing, quite fast, and a very efficient way of travelling. I suspect it is currently illegal on the road as its another form of powered vehicle. However, it has lights (front and rear), has a brake light when she slows down, she rides sensibly, wears a full motorbike / F1 style helmet and protective clothes when she rides, and presumably takes an ICE breathing car off the road for the journeys she makes.

In general I wholly approve of personal electric transport, be it scooter, monowheel, powered skate board, e-bike, or whatever. It's cheap, clean, small, reliable and removes the need for ICE from towns and cities. As someone somewhere (maybe in this thread) already mentioned, they can't be uninvented - we have to figure out how to make them mainstream, safe and integrated into the traffic on the roads.

Evolving the highway code will be a part of that.

 

[Jcloughie]

Highly likely that if it had no light, it was privately owned, and therefor illegally being ridden on the road. Idiots will be idiots, they walk (and ride and drive, in the dark with no lights) among us. There is a girl who must live near us that rides a monowheel board. Its an amazing looking thing, quite fast, and a very efficient way of travelling. I suspect it is currently illegal on the road as its another form of powered vehicle. However, it has lights (front and rear), has a brake light when she slows down, she rides sensibly, wears a full motorbike / F1 style helmet and protective clothes when she rides, and presumably takes an ICE breathing car off the road for the journeys she makes.

In general I wholly approve of personal electric transport, be it scooter, monowheel, powered skate board, e-bike, or whatever. It's cheap, clean, small, reliable and removes the need for ICE from towns and cities. As someone somewhere (maybe in this thread) already mentioned, they can't be uninvented - we have to figure out how to make them mainstream, safe and integrated into the traffic on the roads.

Evolving the highway code will be a part of that.

I agree, the problems lie with the driver more than the tech. It scooters get rolled out beyond the current trials, I feel there should be clear simple rules supported by severe fines.


John

 

[Hutch]

These things make a lot of sense but need to be homologated. The towns where there are govenment backed trials, they seem to work well. You need to be over16, have a driving license, they have lights, are speed controlled via GPS, can be ridden on cycle and bridalways and roads, but will stop on footpaths and in some areas so have to be pushed.

I see a lot of kids riding these hired scooters around Milton Keynes, to get to and from schools, they are on pavements, not only the "Redways" .

 

[Tobes]

I see a lot of kids riding these hired scooters around Milton Keynes, to get to and from schools, they are on pavements, not only the "Redways" .

Indeed - it's the same in Northampton. Note that to even hire one they should be a) 16 and b) have a driving license. So riding on a pavement (rather than a road) may well seem safer and is just one more rule to transgress. But in some ways, I have sympathy. They are cheaper to ride than buses, have more independence, are faster (from A - B, not top speed) and free up the parents from doing a school run. I mean - why wouldn't you want to ride one if you were a teenager?

 

[ProfJohnL]

I came across this

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-cCwIUYcR8

 

[Jcloughie]

Even though I agree that there are many advantages, it comes down to the driver. A lot of users would be teenagers. Yet for years there have been, and still is, mature people (a minority). Who drive cycles and mobility scooters with little respect for others. I repeat. A minority.

John

 

[Tobes]

Even though I agree that there are many advantages, it comes down to the driver. A lot of users would be teenagers. Yet for years there have been, and still is, mature people (a minority). Who drive cycles and mobility scooters with little respect for others. I repeat. A minority.

John

Absolutely agree. There are minorities in all walks that give the majority a bad name. For Electric personal vehicles, the idea that a teenager can’t use one, but could use, say an E-bike perfectly legally in the exact same situation , is on the face of it - pretty daft.

 

[Dustydog]

Bicycles are not allowed on pavements.
As an ageing cyclist with pedals and EV I have always ridden a good 2 feet from the kerb and always give parked cars at least a yard in case, as often happens, their door opens.
IMO nothing wrong with the new ideology but I’ve read more about parties than the Highway Code changes😜😜

 

[Tobes]

Bicycles are not allowed on pavements.
As an ageing cyclist with pedals and EV I have always ridden a good 2 feet from the kerb and always give parked cars at least a yard in case, as often happens, their door opens.
IMO nothing wrong with the new ideology but I’ve read more about parties than the Highway Code changes😜😜

Indeed, neither bicycles nor e-scooters are allowed on footpaths. The daft part is that anyone can ride an e-bike in legal places but not an e-scooter in the same places.
(And the parties are annoying).

 

[Jcloughie]

Parties? What parties? (Rhetoric).


John

 

[caravanstoic]

I guess this also includes fiddling with Google maps as well then.. points galore for Uber drivers.

 

[Darren.H]

On the issue of cycles on Footways/Pavements, quite a few are now joint use and form part of cycle routes.

Footpaths, those found in the countryside, its upto local councils if bicycles are allowed to use them, the rule in England usually is cycles are banned unless the footpath has authorised use.

Bridleways are of joint use for horse,cycle and walkers.

My main hobby is hiking/walking so a bit geeky on the subject as nothing drives me more mad but when a group of adult mountain bike riders storm past thinking they have a right, in many cases they shouldn't be on the path in the first place!

Its interesting The Highway Code doesn't make cycle helmets mandatory, bit odd that.

 

[Beachball]

Went into a park near home this morning met cyclist on footpath at least he had lights on so just room to get pass me