Responsibility of safety for cyclists, who has it?

[5cylinderman]

Let's start a poll on this. I hate xxxxing cyclists too, selfish road hogs.

[Colesy]

"give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211 to 213 and 214 to 215)."

The Dft issued contradictory advise to this last year, as per this article

When you're on your bike you just experience many more haha.

Explains a lot, must have really sore behinds with those saddles and all those cocks!

As annoying as some cyclists can be riding two a breast and the like I'm sure most of them are just trying to get from A to B without getting killed!

[Fat Audi 80]

Sounds like I need to be extra careful out there! I do 60 miles a week on my bike now, but I can tell you one thing, I follow the highway code on it. No pavements, I stop at all lights, including pedestrian crossings etc. I shouted at another cyclist the other day, I was waiting at a red light at a pedestrian crossing and he just sailed on through the red light. There are some that deserved to get knocked off, but don't tar us all with the same brush.

On the subject of roundabouts, yes I do go up the inside (carefully) to the front of the queue, but I am well aware of who is turning left. I try and signal where possible and have and orange jacket and plenty of lighting.

Give us good guys a chance.

Cheers,

Steve

[Zoig]

One thing my driving instructor used to tell me: You may be right, but when arguing with 36ton tram or lorry you will loose.

Cyclists should keep that in mind.

[Ian Simmonds]

Its their general civil disobedience that winds me up, why should (like today) a queue of traffic have to overtake the same cyclist four times, and at what point does the cyclist actually assume responsibility for their own safety?... If I were to introduce you to twelve unknown members of the public, then tie a padlocked lead weight to your leg and tell you I'm going to throw you into a swimming pool four times and the random members of the public will save you, you'd probably think twice before accepting... So why do these badly behaved people with their Victorian distractions assume they can repeatedly call on 'the common good' to keep them alive whilst cycling with complete disregard to law, order and moral decency?

[sidrick]

One thing my driving instructor used to tell me: You may be right, but when arguing with 36ton tram or lorry you will loose.

Cyclists should keep that in mind.

Obviously nobody 'owns the road' but as a general rule of thumb, it's wise not to intentionally drive/ride into the path of a larger vehicle. Doesn't matter if you're a pedestrian, a cyclist, car, or bus, it's a good rule to follow. Most seem to, except ****ing cyclists.

[djh]

Most are generally better than horse riders tho.

[sidrick]

Most are generally better than horse riders tho.

Well yes, but have you ever seen a horse kick a car? I watched one write off a Corsa

[LGK6D]

This is obviously going to be a hotly contested thread, but bare this in mind. If someone crashes into my RS2 I'll be well pissed off but it'll fix. If you tangle with a cyclist more often than not you'll seriously injure if not kill someone. Cyclists are no more than a faster pedestrian on wheels. Do you really want to go and explain to the parents/wife/children of the person you've killed what happened. I'd rather not have that on my conscience. It'd be better for everyone if they considered the outcome of their actions if they're drivers, riders or whatever.

[Carl Avant]

Its their general civil disobedience that winds me up, why should (like today) a queue of traffic have to overtake the same cyclist four times, and at what point does the cyclist actually assume responsibility for their own safety?... If I were to introduce you to twelve unknown members of the public, then tie a padlocked lead weight to your leg and tell you I'm going to throw you into a swimming pool four times and the random members of the public will save you, you'd probably think twice before accepting... So why do these badly behaved people with their Victorian distractions assume they can repeatedly call on 'the common good' to keep them alive whilst cycling with complete disregard to law, order and moral decency?

Well said Ian .... where can I buy those nasty spinney wheel things that were on the car from Grease

[philj]

I was about to say the horses are worse. How they justify a rush hour stroll on their shi-tty burger on a 50mph a road is beyond me.

And reading this thread.... So let me get this straight - some mug of a cylist is doing 5 mph up a hill and I'm supposed to wait? They can go fist themselves!

[sidrick]

This is obviously going to be a hotly contested thread, but bare this in mind. If someone crashes into my RS2 I'll be well pissed off but it'll fix. If you tangle with a cyclist more often than not you'll seriously injure if not kill someone. Cyclists are no more than a faster pedestrian on wheels. Do you really want to go and explain to the parents/wife/children of the person you've killed what happened. I'd rather not have that on my conscience. It'd be better for everyone if they considered the outcome of their actions if they're drivers, riders or whatever.

Are you kidding?

A pedestrian doesn't walk down the middle of the road with a piece of metal in their hands

[benntenn67]

I often use a certain section of road that now has reduced width because they have incorporated a cycle path, but a lot of cyclists still cycle on the road & it's very difficult to get past them as the road is narrow because of the cycle path that they don't use. I had to endure weeks of delays while the path was being built
If a cycle path is provided, they should be made to use it!!

[Ian Simmonds]

It's their complete lack of due diligence towards their own safety that scares me, placing themselves in improbable positions, jumping lights and forcing other road users to repeatedly react to their unpredictable behaviour. If immortality was free on the NHS I could understand it, but MRSA and an exit plan seems more likely, so I just don't get why they think the world will save them from themselves?

[Cottis]

A bike is a vehicle and surely is bound by the same rules as cars, motorcycles, lorries when using the highways. Deserves what he gets if he wants to undertake.

I assume the lorry driver checked his mirror to make sure there were no pedestrians on the pavement, saw it was just a cheating cyclist and continued to get out of the way of the emergency services who were no doubt in a "genuine" hurry.

I love my bike, ride it off road all the time but I try to keep it as far away from the road as possible. Have you seen the state of gutters and kerbs in this country. Cycle @ 18mph v Car @ 60mph. Huge difference. It is just plain dangerous like horses. If people would only get over this horsemeat sh*t and start eating more, we would find less on our roads ha ha.