AIBU expecting cyclists to use the cycle tracks?

I walk along our bit of the Fife coastal path most days and am often taken unawares (if only) by silent cyclists who suddenly appear alongside me making me jump out of my skin; either that or I hear a loud roar of 'get out of the way' before they are immediately at my back. I always yell back 'buy yourself a bell'. I find them inconsiderate in the extreme.

Yes I do and I don't think YABU NanSue
thatbags next to a very busy main road near us is a good cycle track. One cyclist in particular always insisted on using the road not the cycle track. I don't know exactly what happened but I believe he did a 'wobble'; a car came out to avoid him, and two people in another car coming the other way were killed, one of them was a child.

And, no, it is not 'once in a blue moon' that we encounter cyclists on another winding main road, it is daily and even more so at weekends, sometimes alone and sometimes in large groups.

Yes Nina the track is tarmaced. When I used it back in mid August with DG it was in pretty good condition. In general all the cycle tracks around here are good. I hadn't thought about twigs thorns etc.,

I do know the rules of the road and I know there are some pretty bad drivers out there, equally there some very bad cyclists.

vegas, your post sent shivers down my spine. My DS2 commutes to London by train with his bike and cycles from Paddington to the office in Victoria. I use to have the heebie jeebies when I drove into Manchester and saw students cycling up Kingsway, taking little notice of other traffic and never a helmet between them.

When entering a roundabout you are looking to your right. A cyclist needs to have the common sense to realise that if you're moving forward and indicating left then to undertake you is a dangerous thing to do.

I'm a cyclist. It would never occur to me to undertake at a junction. In fact I have never undertaken because if the traffic is stationary then it's probably stationary for a reason. As a cyclist I have the advantage of being able to get off my bike, push it along the pavement and see what the hold up is.

Being a cyclist is not an excuse to ignore the highway code.

I must say that the number of speed cyclists out on the roads and the huge number of motorcyclists out on Sundays seems to have increased dramatically over the last few years.

Because of wotsisname who did so well in cycling events recently. Chris Froome? And others like him.

Meanwhile I'm setting up in business making bumper stickers that say "I don't hate cyclists, but..." Should make a mint

Rosequartz the accident you mentioned was not caused by the cyclist. If a car crashes into another coming in the opposite direction then the car is on the wrong side of the road.
I would never overtake a cyclist unless the road ahead is clear or sufficiently wide enough to give the cyclist the wide berth the last demands, without endangering oncoming traffic. The same applies to horses.

My SIL is a keen cyclist and I always worry about him out on the road, especially when he takes DGS with him.

I am sick of the cyclists round here - we have single track lanes and winding hilly roads. They hunt in packs, and it is not unusual to come across half a dozen or more in their fancy lycra, weaving in and out of each other, overtaking, riding two abreast, wobbling about the road, because the surface is poor. I get so cross when they are two abreast - I am a slow driver, but there are some reckless drivers on these lanes and I fear there will be a terrible accident one day when one of the cyclist convoys will get mown down. It really is incredibly dangerous, and the risks to cars trying to get past them is a serious problem on these country roads. Often I do not overtake as it is too dangerous, but some speed king coming up behind will then try and overtake me and the pack of bikes.

I have no problem with sensible cyclists who ride in single file, are conscious of other road users and pull in a bit where the possibility of overtaking presents itself. Cycling is brilliant and I have no wish to spoil anyone's fun, but the roads round here are simply not suitable for them.

"A cyclist needs to have the common sense to realise that if you're moving forward and indicating left then to undertake you is a dangerous thing to do."

I agree, vamp, but when I'm driving (or cycling) I prefer to assume that all other road users are maniacs out to get me and that I have to keep alert to their antics.

As it happens a bus driver drove his bus into my back bicycle wheel when I was not to the left of him, nor to the right, but slap bang in front of him at a roundabout, trying to avoid the very problem of not being seen that you mention. As it happens I wasn't hurt and I think the driver was more shaken than I was. Yes, I yelled at him: "Didn't you see me?" He took me and my bike on the last leg of my journey for free.

And that was in broad daylight (before anyone suggests I wasn't visible).

When I used to commute to work across the city I used to get stuck in huge queues of cars all grinding along in first gear behind a lone cyclist. No passing possible. The fumes from the car engines were awful. (Before you say I should have been cycling or taking public transport I should say that I needed to get to lots of home visits all over the place after first getting to my office!)

The inability to pass is the fault of the road, not the cyclist.

Road builders and councils are really only beginning to give cyclists the same consideration as pedestrians and users of motorised vehicles have always had at least within cities.

As I said earlier, in Oxford—as enthusiastic a cycling city as there ever was—bikes had to give way to pedestrians on cycle tracks and to cars turning into house driveways and were forever being confronted with signs saying "Cyclists dismount". A perfect illustration of general attitudes that bikes are just a bloody nuisance and should not be encouraged. Or so it seems.

If only it wasn't for the dratted houses on either side , the roads would obviously allow cyclists to be easily overtaken thatbags! That's cities for you.

Wherever the fault lies, it is not on the cyclist. That's all I'm saying. Car drivers just need to be patient sometimes, maybe even a lot of the time.

Most cyclists don't like holding up traffic. And they cycle for various reasons. In my case it was quicker to cycle five miles to work in Oxford than to get the bus. The traffic to and through north Oxford crawled at a snail's pace, not because of cyclists but because of cars.

Cyclecraft is usually a good place to start for motorists who want to know about cycling. It’s a cyclist’s supplement to the Highway Code published by the government via HMSO, and the author, John Franklin, is an accredited cycle instructor, and a registered Expert Witness. The syllabus for the government’s Bikeability training scheme is based on this book.

There are numerous good reasons for not using cycle paths like debris and poor surface as have already been mentioned, but the most important is safety; moving to the left onto a cycle track is putting yourself further from the motorists field of vision and increasing the risk of being unseen. This is also one of the reasons why cyclists are advised to occupy the centre of the traffic lanes where necessary. Additionally it makes it harder for cyclist to check because he now has to look behind him at every side road where he defers to the traffic instead of remaining part of the main traffic flow.

As I mentioned, whilst on a cycle path a rider has to give way at every side road, but a cyclist only has to top about every 100 yards to double the amount of energy he uses. This is a factor that motorists and pedestrians rarely consider, but it’s a huge burden to bear when all your energy is coming from your leg muscles. On a recent documentary, a taxi driver was given the chance to see what it’s like to ride a bicycle, and the first comment he made afterwards was about how exhausting it was to have to keep stopping and starting all the time.

From a navigation point of view, cycle paths are rarely signposted adequately. Imagine trying to navigate if motor roads had nothing but a sign with a car logo on it. Cycle paths often look as if they’re going where you want, only to suddenly disappear across the park and into a housing estate without warning. You can sometimes be left needing to lift the bike over the Armco into the path of moving traffic just to get back onto the road.

Then there are the facilities that are just plain daft, there’s an ample selection here.

” One cyclist in particular always insisted on using the road not the cycle track.”

“The use of cycle lanes is not compulsory” Highway Code Rule 63

” he did a 'wobble'; a car came out to avoid him, and two people in another car coming the other way were killed, one of them was a child”

“Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car.” Rule 163

“When passing motorcyclists and cyclists, give them plenty of room” Rule 212

“Motorcyclists and cyclists may suddenly need to avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles” Rule 213

” Undertaking is against the law - even for cyclists.”

“Once moving you should be aware of other road users, especially cyclists and motorcycles who may be filtering through the traffic.” Rule 160

So when a cyclist undertakes me, runs into the back of me, doesn't stop at a red light and I have to brake suddenly to avoid him/her, doesn't give hand signals and turns right in front of me, doesn't have lights, cycles across a pelican crossing when the red man is showing, doesn't stop when a pedestrian is crossing a zebra crossing or pelican crossing when they have priority or cycles the wrong way around a roundabout, I'll remember it's not the cyclists fault.

Oddly I cycle a lot and never do any of the above. I take responsibility for my safety and don't assume the car drivers are psychic and will know what I'm thinking.

"Wherever the fault lies, it is not on the cyclist". How can that be? Are they abovev reproach in any incident. I don't think so.

I have just driven to my DD's and back. On the way there a single cyclist (with earphones plugged into his iPod so he could hear nothing) was weaving about the road, so a queue of cars had no choice but to travel at about 20 miles an hour for miles, because overtaking him would have been dangerous.

On the way back a cyclist in a black top on an old bike was wobbling about all over the place. He was barely visible - we managed to stop in time not to hit him.

Most cyclists don't like holding up traffic Bags? No, Not in the case of racing cyclists - they're oblivious to other road users!

“Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car.” Rule 163

On our lanes it is almost never safe to overtake a cyclist, especially a row of them, so what happens is that a huge queue develops.Inevitably someone near the rear of the tailback loses their rag and chances a bit of dangerous overtaking.

Horse riders pull in and do all they can to be helpful to other traffic; these racing cyclists are oblivious to other road users and I have never once known one behave with good manners and thought for others - honestly it really is dire round here!! The simple fact is that these roads cannot cope with cyclists of this ilk and traffic in the same space without great danger ensuing.

Nfk, that may be so, but (a) they are racing (which requires effort and concentration, especially in a 'clump', (b) they are not the majority of cyclists, (c) you may be mistaken about them being oblivious. Just because they don't wave cars past doesn't mean they are oblivious to other road users.

I'm not sure cycling clubs/groups are allowed to have road races without police permission precisely because it can be an inconvenience to other road users. I don't think they can race just any time.

Apparently bicycle road time trials started in 1880 when bicycles were the fastest things on the roads. With the introduction of the motor car such events were "pushed off the road". Now they are becoming popular again and motorists still want to push them off the roads. Plus ça change....

If cycling is coming back into vogue - which is great and also very healthy - we need to find some way of accommodating that. Unfortunately our roads as currently constituted cannot do so safely. It needs a rethink and lots of investment.