Driving advice!

[a.twiddler]

Are millions of touring cyclists causing inconvenience to drivers of excessively large vehicles in lanes not suited to them? Surely touring cyclists are a minority of a minority. Some of them might even be going for a ferry and the constant stopping is not helping their timing either. Some give and take is needed here. As a vulnerable road user, I would imagine the average touring cyclist (if there is such a thing) is quite well aware of the purpose of passing places.

In every human activity there is a proportion of self entitled pillocks but it seems unfair to brand all touring cyclists with that image because of the activities of a minority (of a minority of a minority) I feel as if I've somehow unwittingly drifted into Daily Mail victim blaming territory here.

 

[steveindenmark]

Yes its a pia. I would try and wave the car past. First of all it can be unnerving having a car follow you for so long. Its the polite thing to do for another road user.

 

[Oldhippy]

Are millions of touring cyclists causing inconvenience to drivers of excessively large vehicles in lanes not suited to them? Surely touring cyclists are a minority of a minority. Some of them might even be going for a ferry and the constant stopping is not helping their timing either. Some give and take is needed here. As a vulnerable road user, I would imagine the average touring cyclist (if there is such a thing) is quite well aware of the purpose of passing places.

In every human activity there is a proportion of self entitled pillocks but it seems unfair to brand all touring cyclists with that image because of the activities of a minority (of a minority of a minority) I feel as if I've somehow unwittingly drifted into Daily Mail victim blaming territory here.

Hurrah!

 

[oldwheels]

Are millions of touring cyclists causing inconvenience to drivers of excessively large vehicles in lanes not suited to them? Surely touring cyclists are a minority of a minority. Some of them might even be going for a ferry and the constant stopping is not helping their timing either. Some give and take is needed here. As a vulnerable road user, I would imagine the average touring cyclist (if there is such a thing) is quite well aware of the purpose of passing places.

In every human activity there is a proportion of self entitled pillocks but it seems unfair to brand all touring cyclists with that image because of the activities of a minority (of a minority of a minority) I feel as if I've somehow unwittingly drifted into Daily Mail victim blaming territory here.

There used to be a large police notice at Lochmaddy telling cyclists they should use passing places to allow overtaking which would indicate that there was a problem. Regardless of size of vehicle we have no option but to use the only road. Often there is no need to actually stop as you can time your arrival at a passing place and if the other person has any sense that works.
We live and work here so why have we to possibly miss ferries for example because tourists will not obey simple common sense rules.
I ride a trike so I am well aware of problems.

 

[a.twiddler]

@oldwheels. Tsk! Tourists, eh. Can't live with them, can't live without them. As you state that there "used to be" a large notice at Lochmaddy advising cyclists to use passing places to allow overtaking, I gather that implies that it is now gone. Does the size of the notice relate to the size of the problem? Large notice = large problem, tiny notice = tiny problem, no notice = no problem?

Having lived in a rural area with seasonal holiday traffic I know full well how maddening it is not to be able to go about your business because the roads are clogged up with Grockles in their cars turning every minor journey between March and September into an exercise in delay and frustration.

However, I can confirm that the secret that nobody was supposed to know about is that practically everyone gets about by car! Amazing, isn't it! Who would have thought it? There are millions and millions of them. I risk being kidnapped by Government operatives in the middle of the night and never seen again for leaking this secret so keep it under your hat. I don't fancy an appointment with those grim shadowy people with their predilection for electrodes, car batteries, and someone else's testicles.

We are meant to believe it's those danged subversive cyclists (and tricyclists) who are responsible for all those tailbacks and traffic delays. after all, there are so many of them cluttering up the roads everwhere, aren't there? Maybe it's an ingenious plot.

 

[oldwheels]

@oldwheels. Tsk! Tourists, eh. Can't live with them, can't live without them. As you state that there "used to be" a large notice at Lochmaddy advising cyclists to use passing places to allow overtaking, I gather that implies that it is now gone. Does the size of the notice relate to the size of the problem? Large notice = large problem, tiny notice = tiny problem, no notice = no problem?

Having lived in a rural area with seasonal holiday traffic I know full well how maddening it is not to be able to go about your business because the roads are clogged up with Grockles in their cars turning every minor journey between March and September into an exercise in delay and frustration.

However, I can confirm that the secret that nobody was supposed to know about is that practically everyone gets about by car! Amazing, isn't it! Who would have thought it? There are millions and millions of them. I risk being kidnapped by Government operatives in the middle of the night and never seen again for leaking this secret so keep it under your hat. I don't fancy an appointment with those grim shadowy people with their predilection for electrodes, car batteries, and someone else's testicles.

We are meant to believe it's those danged subversive cyclists (and tricyclists) who are responsible for all those tailbacks and traffic delays. after all, there are so many of them cluttering up the roads everwhere, aren't there? Maybe it's an ingenious plot.

I said used to be because I have not been there for for about 7 years so it may well have been kidnapped as a souvenir.
I have no sympathy for selfish car drivers and I admit there are a lot of them. Our local doctors get very frustrated and it can be a life or death situation for a casualty. Also on call lifeboat people, coastguard, nurses and fire service are needed a fast as possible and are all in cars or vans on their way to a shout.
I will refrain from telling about a guy on a trike with a tail back of at least 20 vehicles who was eventually forced to a halt by a motorbike.