Illegal parking in cycle lanes - name and shame

jb66

Is this an English thing? All the cycle lanes in my town have a yellow line along the inside with signs saying I can park from 0930 to 1630 then 1830 till 0730

rev_henry

jb66 wrote: »

Is this an English thing? All the cycle lanes in my town have a yellow line along the inside with signs saying I can park from 0930 to 1630 then 1830 till 0730

Sorry, is what an English thing? Round here many cycle lanes are mandatory and no loading/parking zones, just no one bothers to enforce it.

Lum

Combined cycle/parking lanes are the most pointless useless thing ever, so it would stand to reason that councils lacking in common sense would be more likely to implement them.

In my experience, these tend to be English, and I say this as an English person who just happens to live in Wales, not a Welsh person having a dig.

gareth6344

I may be wrong but I thought it was permissable to park in a cycle lane if you are a blue badge holder or if you are loading/unloading goods in the same way that you can on double yellow lines.

If that is the case then unless you have verified that the vehicles photographed do not have a blue badge (or are not loading/unloading) you may be "naming and shaming" people who are doing nothing wrong.

rev_henry

gareth6344 wrote: »

I may be wrong but I thought it was permissable to park in a cycle lane if you are a blue badge holder or if you are loading/unloading goods in the same way that you can on double yellow lines.

If that is the case then unless you have verified that the vehicles photographed do not have a blue badge (or are not loading/unloading) you may be "naming and shaming" people who are doing nothing wrong.

If you look closely at the photos you'll find most of them are no loading zones as well. I have photographed one or two blue badge holders parking in no loading zones, which is not allowed.

tonyf33

just because you have a blue disabled badge doesn't allow you to block the highway or park in such a way that creates a dangerous situation despite what some people 'think'
Amazing that some still rant on about inconsiderate red light jumping cyclists with no insurance when there are millions of motor vehicles that run red lights every month (direct line survey). The estimate on non VED paying vehicles is around a 1/4 million every year (VERY CONSERVATIVE IMO), can we have the local authorities cracking down on these miscrients instead of the hardly dangerous cyclists for a change???

liam8282

Jamopy wrote: »

I've cycled around a lot over the years, and when i began i always made the effort to be as far over to the side of the road as i could be, and pull into lay bys, etc, whenever i could in case there were any cars or buses trapped behind me.

After being overtaken many times by buses that immediately pulled in, forcing me to slam on the brakes to avoid being trapped between the side of the bus and the kerb/barriers, and being overtaken by dozens of taxis that go past leaving barely a few inches between their cab and my handlebars, i changed my riding style to be a lot more defensive.

As a result of deciding my safety is more important than pleasing impatient drivers i now ride as far into the road as i feel i need to in order to be able to avoid car doors opening or pedestrians stepping out without looking, and cars (or especially buses) behind me that want to overtake can wait til i either stop or find a space where i'm happy to let them pass.

It probably upsets more people, but at the end of the day playing nicely was putting my life in danger.

It is not "playing nicely", it is following the highway code.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069837

I would say that your style of cycling would be classed as inconsiderate.

Someone mentioned you had to leave a car width to overtake a cyclist, would this not be impossible if the cyclist is not cycling at the edge of the road? If they were cycling away from the edge, one car width, plus your own car width, would surely leave you off the opposite side of the road?

As I said before, yes there are bad drivers, but also bad cyclists too.

gadgetmind wrote: »

I have insurance twice over when cycling. It comes free with my house insurance and with a magazine I subscribe to. Yes, cycle insurance is that cheap. It's a momentum thing.

It should be compulsory for all cyclists on the road.

To take it a step further, they should also have to complete a CBT for bikes to make sure they are fit to be on the roads and know the rules of the road in the first place.

gadgetmind wrote: »

In what way are those cyclists *breaking* the highway code?

I regularly ride with groups of 20-30 novice riders and what I always stress is that width is not a great problem but we need to leave gaps every 6-10 riders for passing vehicles to drop in to.

As the vast majority of cyclists also drive (the opposite is *not* true!) they grasp this almost instantly.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069837

As I said, cycling like you are in a stage of the tour de france, breaks the highway code, more than two abreast. My experience is from groups of say 10 cyclists riding in a block.

As I said, cycling inconsideratley, breaks the highway code. Chatting away totally oblivious to other road users, is what I would class as being inconsiderate.

You have gave an example of good cyclists, I have given an example of bad cyclists.

gadgetmind

liam8282 wrote: »

It is not "playing nicely", it is following the highway code.

Please quote which part of which rule.

I would say that your style of cycling would be classed as inconsiderate.

Sorry, but riding primary is a recommended part of safe and considerate cycling. There are times when you can move back to secondary, but you need to know when and where to do this and when and where not to.

If they were cycling away from the edge, one car width, plus your own car width, would surely leave you off the opposite side of the road?

Yes, which is why car drivers need to wait for safe opportunities to pass. I do when I'm driving and you should when you're driving.

Dave_C_2

Blue badge holders are NOT allowed to park in cycle lanes. Look at page 21 of this Government PDF on the Blue Badge Scheme.

This information is repeated on many local council's websites. Look at this Google search

Dave

liam8282

gadgetmind wrote: »

Please quote which part of which rule.

I posted a link so you could read it yourself.

The highway code, rules for cyclists:

66

• be considerate of other road users

68

You MUST NOT

• ride in a dangerous, careless or inconsiderate manner

gadgetmind wrote: »

Sorry, but riding primary is a recommended part of safe and considerate cycling. There are times when you can move back to secondary, but you need to know when and where to do this and when and where not to.

Please quote which part of which rule.

gadgetmind wrote: »

Yes, which is why car drivers need to wait for safe opportunities to pass. I do when I'm driving and you should when you're driving.

I do when I am driving, please quote or tell me why you think I don't?