Why do some people cycle down a dual carriageway?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HAz
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My only problem with cyclists is when they decide to cycle through a red light and I'm a pedestrian. Sod off it's my turn! Don't care for normal red lights but when it's for pedestrians it's rude and dangerous.

In London this week so that one is particularly annoying me at the moment.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;22278477 said:
Don't mind v0n, he's a wind up merchant.
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I'm not. You know I'm right. You know most of your pedaling friends cannot and should not ever attempt keep up with motorised traffic and most are put in danger. Especially on country roads. Especially in typical British weather conditions.
You do recognise that a rule that allows anybody and everybody without as much as colour blindness test, let alone minimal theoretical course, on £30 chinese "mountain" bicycle join single or dual carriageway traffic moving at over 30mph is, on principle, wrong. And once you think about it, you do agree that majority of people you meet on your cycle route on those open roads and in town are in in every meaning of the word unfit to be where they are and would benefit from better training, safer/dedicated path design and occasional test of mechanical fitness of their equipment. Just like you know that vast majority of them will not wait at lights and will not fully understand traffic situations they found themselves several seconds later. And looking at it, you do, every now and then get this feeling, that this is all wrong and doesn't fit the way you truelly want to move on your bike. That neither pavements, nor mechanical paths, neither crossroads nor roundabouts are really designed for your kind.

You know separate lanes would be an answer. And you know dedicated infrastructure is needed.

Deep inside you even know this whole cycling uprising cannot continue in its current form and is simply unsustainable. And on a good day, you maybe even realise your own cycling routine, is a temporary, momentary set up dependant on your age, living and working conditions, family schedule and health and that sooner or later, whether you want it or not, you will join the other side of the traffic cue. The side that matters. The side that's thousands folds stronger in numbers. The side that has no other option. The side that this up hill zig zaging at snail pace seasonal olympian is stealing valuable minutes of life and litres of fuel from. The side the road you guys occupy, was truelly built for. The one that suffers from this momentary lapse of reason and green agenda.

You know all these things.

But you will defend your cycling foxhole like it's Lords own gospel, for anyone standing against what you believe in threatens your current hobby/routine and by god - ef them sideways in their hundreds of thousands - your carbon fiber frame and your lycra is more important.

Right?
 
Cyclists are like drivers as we have good and bad ones.

Working in a shop I see the absolute weirdos that are out there on the road. The type that have the helmet on back to front or the correct way round but on the back of their heads. They'll sit and grind a hard gear whilst doing 10mph in the middle of the road.

These are fail cyclist.
 
I think you just proved [DOD]Asprilla's point there.

I don't drive, or cycle, so I have little input beyond that.
 
touch said:
My friend's mum drives a Mini Clubman D. She doesnt pay any vehicle excise duty because of its emissions.
Should i phone the police? Is she illegally driving it untaxed?
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She is, yes, if its over a year old. None of the Mini Clubman range qualifies for zero annual VED. Only the first year is free - after that she must pay an annual VED rate.
 
v0n said:
this whole cycling uprising cannot continue in its current form and is simply unsustainable.
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I think you might be right. In the argument of driving vs cycling, cycling is definitely the unsustainable option.

Cars, running on the infinite resource that is fossil fuels and doing no damage to the world at all* are definitely the future. Our road network is nowhere near it's capacity. In fact, i'm sure that most of the younger generation of drivers these days dont even know what a "traffic jam" even is. The roads of our great country are in superb condition and in no way are crumbling due to overuse or rushed repairs due to the pressure of having the road open again as soon as possible. Yep, cars are the sustainable future of transport.


*I know i played the "environment" card, but that's not the reason why i cycle and i'm not a hippy :p
 
touch said:
I think you might be right. In the argument of driving vs cycling, cycling is definitely the unsustainable option.

Cars, running on the infinite resource that is fossil fuels and doing no damage to the world at all* are definitely the future. Our road network is nowhere near it's capacity. In fact, i'm sure that most of the younger generation of drivers these days dont even know what a "traffic jam" even is. The roads of our great country are in superb condition and in no way are crumbling due to overuse or rushed repairs due to the pressure of having the road open again as soon as possible. Yep, cars are the sustainable future of transport.


*I know i played the "environment" card, but that's not the reason why i cycle and i'm not a hippy :p
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What canyon bike do u have? I have the am nerve 7.0.
 
touch said:
Cars, running on the infinite resource that is fossil fuels and doing no damage to the world at all* are definitely the future. Our road network is nowhere near it's capacity. In fact, i'm sure that most of the younger generation of drivers these days dont even know what a "traffic jam" even is. The roads of our great country are in superb condition and in no way are crumbling due to overuse or rushed repairs due to the pressure of having the road open again as soon as possible. Yep, cars are the sustainable future of transport.
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They are. Car is the only future. Growing nation. Expanding town footprints. Ageing society. Supermarket goods won't be cycled into towns. You will not tricycle with your mum to your local tesco in the middle of industrial estate. Builders, plumbers and tradesmen won't carry bricks, mortar and pipes on red buses. They won't build stables under new high rise council blocks so Englands finest can horseride to cash their social cheques in a nearest post office town away. Fatty kids won't be rikshawed by mums from green suburbs into towns. Within a decade green revolution will be over. Goods will still travel on lorries. Commuters will still spend their mornings and evenings parked on three lanes of motorway. Trains will still suck. Buses will still run twice a day. Car is the only sustainable method of transport. It doesn't matter if they will run on fossil fuel, biofuel, electricity, fart gas or recycled paper.
 
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It's dangerous, certainly.

Wouldn't like to see cycling banned on countryside NSL lanes though, that would be a shame.

I don't have a problem with cyclists, at all. I will slow down to a crawl, and move over right into the other lane before overtaking, by the book.
 
I haven't seen anyone say it, correct me if I'm wrong...

But isn't a Dual Carriage-way only 70mph if it has a central reservation? Or a lifted central reservation?

Then if not, they are 60mph?
...

I cycle, but other cyclists get on my nerves, when they ride of the flipping pavement!

Its much safer to ride on the road as some have stated, and so you don't get plebs walking out in front of you, and the uneven surface from the driveways, and then the stupid uneven concrete blocks.

And the fact you have to stop each time you come to a road which joins the road you are riding parallel to, of which if you just rode on the road and kept to the left, you wouldn't have to do so.

Oh, always wear a Helmet, and make sure your breaks work :).
 
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DefiantAsh said:
I haven't seen anyone say it, correct me if I'm wrong...

But isn't a Dual Carriage-way only 70mph if it has a central reservation? Or a lifted central reservation?

Then if not, they are 60mph?
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If it doesn't have a central reservation then it isn't dual carriageway.
 
Cycle paths are terrible, I have to cycle down this thing navigating drain covers, and being caught in the slipstream of lorries passing at 60mph.

2n8n9c1.jpg
 
DefiantAsh said:
But has 2 lanes headed in the opposite directions?

Must be time for be.... ZzzZz
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'dual' does not refer to the number of lanes, it refers to the number of carriageways. So if there is no central reservation then there is only 1carriageway. Anywhere that has a central reservation means that there are 2 carriageways (dual carriageway) regardless of the number of lanes.
 
v0n, I'll get back to you later when I've got a proper keyboard but most of what you've written is completely unsupported rubbish.

Most cyclists I see aren't holding up traffic, aren't in danger, don't jump red lights (the actual figure of red light jumpers, as counted by the IAM is around 5% which is only a marginal increase on the number of drivers who pass through stop light), have a drivers licence, etc, etc.

I dont think anyone is advocating the bike replacing the car and most cyclists i know Rent ecowarriors, they cycle because it's healthier, more fun and in most cases it's quicker.

Are you really sure you want to go to the expense of building parallel infrastructure that would meet cyclists requirements? It's gonna cost.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;22279762 said:
Most cyclists I see aren't holding up traffic, aren't in danger, don't jump red lights (the actual figure of red light jumpers, as counted by the IAM is around 5% which is only a marginal increase on the number of drivers who pass through stop light), have a drivers licence, etc, etc.
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I walk to work in central London and would say with confidence that about 90% of the cyclists I see will go straight through a red light without slowing down (often causing cars to have to take evasive action).

I was almost knocked over crossing a road by a cyclist who then got off his bike and started swearing at me. He was cycling the wrong way down a one way street having just passed a no entry sign. I was at a crossing.

Cyclists round here are a hazard.
 
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