Breaking the rules

[doctornige]

I drive a car. I ride a bike. Regardless off my mode of transport, I have a vague idea of what the other guy is thinking.

So, I stop for lights. I wait in line with the cars and never run up the inside of stationary traffic. And I absolutely never use the pavement.

Yet, here I am in the Peak District with essentially empty roads and I still see cyclists running lights and riding the 'sidewalk' even without kids in tow. I know this is an age old problem, but really, so many cyclists need to think of themselves as ambassadors for the rest of us and not lithe, agile switchblades of the road.

</rant>

Nige.

Corollary: since moving to clipless, I understand why some prefer to keep moving when the law suggests otherwise.

Fact from Chief Inspector friend: it is illegal to pass on the left regardless of traffic speed. This rule applies to all road users irrespective of vehicle, and speed can mean zero mph. Stay in turn and stop pissing everyone off.

N.

 

[col]

Oo where's me popcorn

 

[Andy84]

I think your Chief Inspector friend may need to revisit the Highway Code!

 

[BikeLiker]

.... and riding the 'sidewalk' even without kids in tow.
N.

Do kids exempt you from the law? My experience of shared paths is that kids present the greatest hazard to pedestrians, veering, stopping and starting unexpectedly.

Fact from Chief Inspector friend: it is illegal to pass on the left regardless of traffic speed. This rule applies to all road users irrespective of vehicle, and speed can mean zero mph. Stay in turn and stop pissing everyone off.

N.

A chief inspector of what?

See HC 163 as one example of why this "fact" is fiction.

 

[MattHB]

 

[CopperCyclist]

Don't worry about it. You don't get to be a Chief Inspector or higher by knowing what you're doing.

 

[Vikeonabike]

Fact from Chief Inspector friend: it is illegal to pass on the left regardless of traffic speed. This rule applies to all road users irrespective of vehicle, and speed can mean zero mph. Stay in turn and stop pissing everyone off.

N.

Oops, thats me in trouble then... Even in uniform on two wheels, pedal powered and motorised!

 

[fossyant]

Sidewalks, switchbacks - none of those in Peak - are you a Yank. Anyway, if in the 'real' parts of the Peak there are few pavements, unless in a town/village ?

 

[Red Light]

Don't worry about it. You don't get to be a Chief Inspector or higher by knowing what you're doing.

That's why they have coded the title for them. Chief Inspector is actually an anagram of Fishier Concept (or Friction Speech if you prefer).

 

[Edwards80]

Passing traffic on the left is illegal? That's annoying, I'll have to stop using all the fantastically designed cycle lanes now

 

[Rancid]

Don't worry about it. You don't get to be a Chief Inspector or higher by knowing what you're doing.

Now now.... it was only a few weeks back i was at a meeting with several Inspectors and even the new borough commander.
They all knew exactly what they were doing, fobbing us off with excuses and very good at it they were as well.

 

[doctornige]

Sidewalks, switchbacks - none of those in Peak - are you a Yank. Anyway, if in the 'real' parts of the Peak there are few pavements, unless in a town/village ?

I used quotes to denote 'so-called' and did not use 'switchback' anywhere.

Stand corrected on the law, but would love to know what is allowed and what is not.

 

[doctornige]

[QUOTE 1743850, member: 45"]The intention is clear, and there's a distinction between bikes filtering and cars undertaking. With undertaking you're allowed to if the traffic in the outside lane is moving slower than that in the inside lane. Take this to the extreme and you could move to the inside lane to undertake a single car, but I don't think this is the intention.

There's an assumption in the HC about bikes filtering -"when filtering" is about as explicit as it gets I think. And there's no reason why, if done safely and considerately, why it should be anything other than acceptable.

With pavement cycling, there's also been government acceptance that there will be circumstances where cyclists do so, and if it's done safely and appropriately should be allowed.[/quote]

Thanks Paul. Amazing that even a CI can get confused by it (and hence is imprint of his assertion onto my tiny brain). His MO is to position his car close to the kerb to prevent nearside filtering. I am sure that gets some backs up. Anyway, I still tend to wait in turn, and certainly don't run red lights. I am painfully aware that most bits of my body are softer than most vehicles. Granted I am not commuting on a bike where queues can be a lot longer and filtering probably makes a lot of sense. Traffic queues up here are about three cars long! It would be helpful for both parties if the HC made it clear what is and is not allowed. I see a thread in another forum asking if you can filter in the presence of a solid white line, and nobody seems to know the answer to that either.

The pavement use I am seeing is more worrisome. These are adults out on a weekend leisure ride (i.e. not commuting, and usually on MTBs) riding the mile of pavement from Whaley Bridge to Chapel-en-le-Frith. That road is not desperately busy, but the Chapel end has plenty of driveway openings on it. I can't understand that behaviour at all. I even see it in the middle of town where people coming out of the Co-Op are nearly blindsided by MTB users (smack opposite the Bike Factory shop).

 

[Mad at urage]

I drive a car. I ride a bike. Regardless off my mode of transport, I have a vague idea of what the other guy is thinking.

So, I stop for lights. I wait in line with the cars and never run up the inside of stationary traffic. And I absolutely never use the pavement.

Yet, here I am in the Peak District with essentially empty roads and I still see cyclists running lights and riding the 'sidewalk' even without kids in tow. I know this is an age old problem, but really, so many cyclists need to think of themselves as ambassadors for the rest of us and not lithe, agile switchblades of the road.

</rant>

Nige.

Corollary: since moving to clipless, I understand why some prefer to keep moving when the law suggests otherwise.

Fact from Chief Inspector friend: it is illegal to pass on the left regardless of traffic speed. This rule applies to all road users irrespective of vehicle, and speed can mean zero mph. Stay in turn and stop pissing everyone off.

N.

I spent the weekend driving the length of the country and back, I saw loads of cars RLJing ()one even overtook me when I stopped at a RL and sped off towards the traffic jam ahead). The ascertion that car drivers (or bus drivers, or LGV drivers) all stop at RLs is so obviously wrong that it is pathetic.

Your Chief Inspector friend is wrong: The offence of overtaking on the nearside disappeared when the 1972 Road traffic Act was introduced. There are a number of sections of the Highway Code which say that you may pass on the nearside (I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to find these).

 

[MontyVeda]

well you wont catch me waiting in turn when there's plenty of room to jump the queue on the near side... plus frequently riding on the pavement increases the chance of that stretch of pavement becoming shared use