Cycling row to slow down speeding drivers

Can see the point he is making.

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A bit hazardous though. Unless a driver wants to crawl along he/she will inevitably have to overtake them ā€¦ and what happens at roundabouts and traffic lights ?

Encouraging cyclists to think they own the road is ridiculous.

If they are the only problems on the roads where you live then you are lucky. Here ā€˜out in the rural sticksā€™ there are also horses and their riders, lots of them. Pass too close to one of those and if they are a little skittish, you are likely to have one sitting on the bonnet or roof of the car!

Another, rather larger ā€˜problemā€™, is agricultural machinery. This time of year itā€™s combine harvesters travelling from one field to the next to harvest the crops. These machines are ginormous, almost filling the width of the country lanes, yet some car drivers will not give way. They expect the farmer driving it to back it up the lane, not giving it a thought that even then the machine cannot go anywhere, itā€™s so big!

I know a couple of farmers and the tales they tell of drivers are almost unbelievable. Mostly those who simply donā€™t think, they will not themselves just reverse a few yards and into a nearby field gateway so the combine harvester can pass! Most people living in this kind of rural area will know to expect these kinds of hazards, itā€™s all part of living in a rural village. Meet one of these combine harvesters, as in the picture below, and you should know you cannot ā€˜winā€™! :grinning:

Baz, some folks are right Wurzels!!!

thereā€™s a big difference between farm machinery and horses and humans deliberately making it impossible for vehicles to overtake just out of spite. I had this experience once at night with a single cyclist in a narrow road deliberately weaving so I could not overtake in areas where there were no cars parked. People who do this should see a psychiatrist.

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Quite agree with the comment you make. Also if they donā€™t get to see one of those in time their next visit could be to the undertakers, especially if someone lost their temper and ā€˜road rageā€™ emerged!

Fortunately here most cyclists will recognise what itā€™s like for car drivers, they just form a single file until the vehicle has passed. Probably they are also car drivers, most people are in these rural villages. We all use the roads and have to share them in a reasonable manner. If that doesnā€™t happen then thatā€™s when ā€˜road rageā€™ takes over, possibly with some terrible consequences. :frowning_face:

I think weā€™ve all seen this at one time or another. They also ride straight through red traffic lights as if theyā€™re not even there.

I believe behaviour like this is inevitable when cyclists are treated by the authorities as those who are above the law and can do no wrong. They know that they cannot be identified anyway and take full advantage of it.

I think it is inevitable that one day some annoyed motorist, or perhaps a drunk driver, will snap and just mow down the lot of them. I make no excuses for saying that in my opinion they would have received everything they deserve.

take a small island with circa 60 plus million popn plus large amount of vehicles - plus cyclists - plus large vehicles - plus animals - wow the mind boggles - is that why you have shows like "escape to the country?

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everyone is right and everyone is wrong - but it needs clear level headed thinking to reach a suitable compromise that suits all?? wot to do?

Arenā€™t there laws about how many cyclists can ride abreast? Here it is a maximum of 2, three only if one is overtaking.

On the plus side a motorist must allow 1 metre spacing when overtaking a cyclist in a 60kph zone or 1.5 metres if the speed limit is higher. they are allowed to cross double lines if necessary to achieve that distance.

My Uncle owned a farm in Suffolk (now owned by my cousin) One year they were drving a combine between paddocks when some speeding nut managed to impale his mini on the blades of the harvester.

Or maybe a Trick Cyclist. :innocent:

I tried to upload a GoPro video of a ride I did around a local park, it showed how accommodating as a cycle rider I am, and, just how difficult it is to navigate around large groups of walking folk, unfortunately the system would not tolerate it in MP4 form, so it wasnā€™t to be.

My husband did a speed awareness course recently and he was surprised they recommended cyclists should ride at least two abreastā€¦the theory is that they then represent the same space as a small car. So other road users see them and and have to slow down to overtake.

Iā€™m a lone cyclists these days but in the days of 3 of us cycling together, weā€™d always ride one behind the other some distance apart. We were car drivers too of course and understood that cars needed to overtake. Also, we all had mirrors and knew what was going on behind us. We were not like that group of cyclists at all.

Itā€™s always possible to find examples of bad road usage with all means of transport. True that cyclists arenā€™t identifiable but even though motorists are, most bad driving behaviour never gets reported anyway. As with the cyclists in the video, itā€™s just an annoyance at the time. We get irate (hopefully not turning to road rage action) and then and let it go.

68,281,798 million population on this small island is probably the main problem. Shows like ā€œEscape to the Countryā€ may show the ā€˜idyllicā€™ side of rural life and generally there is more consideration shown by people. However, the problem still exists in the countryside, there are less people and fewer roads but any country lane is far less spacious than many roads in towns. Population numbers are not going to decrease, in fact itā€™s increasing minute by minute (see live link below). All we can do is have more consideration for others, we all live here so we all share what we do have.

Showing a little more consideration for others might be a good start on what to do. When it comes to driving and being held up for a few extra seconds or even minutes does it really matter? Thereā€™s an old saying ā€œbetter to arrive late than dead on timeā€ that puts things into perspective I reckon. :grinning:

I agree. Those cyclists who think that they own the roads and are happy to ride four abreast with the intention of making motorists slow to a crawl simply for their own gratification might also consider what you say!

Yes, that might be a good idea too. Just generally everybody needs to show more consideration for their fellow human beings in all ways. We all have to live on this planet wherever we do live and I reckon things are not going to ever get any less crowded. I just wonder where it will all end, with the way some people have no consideration and with that no respect either? :worried:

Referring to the text in bold above, just have a look at this website and the forecast future population figures, they show just how many more people there will be in future years and itā€™s rather concerning:

I agree.

As evidenced by that link, when I was born there were 50 million people in this country, about 55 million wen ah wer a yung lad.
Now weā€™re up to almost 70 million.

I reckon that by the time I turn my toes up, this little island will have sunk.

Anyone for scuba diving lessons?

Yes, it does seem that way from the statistics. Those donā€™t go far enough back to show the population total when I was born (am I that old?) but it seems that the increase over each period of five years is also rising dramatically.

Probably we all know the answer but will anything ever happen, voluntarily, to change things? I doubt it somehow. To use your analogy JBR, were are sunk! :frowning_face:

Whereā€™s my flippers and the rest of that scuba diving gear! :grinning:

Forget the Flippers, just get on the Ark. :male_detective: