Safe Road Cycling; Cycling Specific Infastructure; Why Not Advocate for Both?

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mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I could have phrased it better - but it is a problem. And not just for cyclists, but also pedestrians. I had an incident on one such stretch where a driver was reversing out of their driveway - the trouble is I didn't see them until I'd stepped across it due to a high and bulbous hedge. And the driver didn't see me, because their rear window wasn't demisted.
I agree it's a problem but it's a problem with driver licensing and regulation. The nobbers would be reversing blind into carriageway cyclists too because they probably only look for cars, if at all. No infrastructure will stop a driver who doesn't demist from driving into a cyclist. To take a leaf from the @Drago manifesto, a few driving bans would soon raise the level of care from the remainder.
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
No infrastructure will stop a driver who doesn't demist from driving into a cyclist.

No it won't. But it does make it hard for cyclists to mitigate against such circumstances. And I don't mean to sound like I am vicitim blaming - I'm not. Sadly it will only every be an issue for enforcement when an incident occurs and someone is injured.

And I agree wholeheartedly about revoking licenses for drivers who cannot drive within the terms and conditions of them.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
No it won't. But it does make it hard for cyclists to mitigate against such circumstances. And I don't mean to sound like I am vicitim blaming - I'm not. [...]
It may be hard, but dealing with incompetent motorists is always hard and the infrastructure doesn't make it significantly harder overall: on the drawbacks, cyclists may be about a metre closer riding correctly on a cycleway than in secondary position on a wider carriageway (we should always ride such a cycleway in a position as far as possible away from any blind corners formed by driveway gateposts/hedges, not Franklin's middle-of-track nonsense); but on the benefits, a motorist driving blind will pretty much only ever be crossing in front of them, not coming up behind. If the misted-up motorist emerges once a cyclist started passing the driveway, the cyclist will almost always be past and out of reach before the motorist gets there, if the cyclist is on the outside of a cycleway 2m wide or more (any narrower past driveways shouldn't exist and shouldn't be used). Well, unless the motorist reverses out at such speed that they'll enter the carriageway blind without any stopping distance and very few drive quite that suicidally!

These incompetent motorists are far more dangerous to pedestrians who move more slowly and are always crossing the driveway mouths more closely. They pretty much have to peer around every hedge corner to be safe, such is the abysmal average behaviour of motorists.
 
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