Cyclists, have I missed something?

interstellaflyer · 10 August 2013 at 10:27AM

dibuzz wrote: »

I almost hit a cyclist once, not only was she going the wrong way but she came out from behind a van without looking. The scary thing was she had a child on the back.
It's a proper one way street, no cyclist exemptions but nearly every time I go up there I see a cyclist coming down the wrong way, most of them ride down the middle until a car comes so you can see them and slow down but the woman who came out from behind the van was very lucky.

It's going off topic a little but I generally find women with these child seats on there bikes are pretty poor cyclists and have little road sense, must be the cycling equivalent of Yummy Mummys in their MPVs and 4 x 4s on the school run.

Voyager2002 · 10 August 2013 at 10:40AM

Tilt wrote: »

Just wondering as I was crossing a one way street near to my home, a cyclist came hurtling along from the wrong direction (i must admit to not paying much attention to that direction as I know it's one way) and nearly ran into me. I shouted after the person saying it's a one way street and he shouted back saying cyclists are now exempt!

Must admit to not seeing this anywhere so I wonder if any of you reasonable and proficient cyclists can tell me when this came in please? It would be useful to us pedestrians so that we know to look in the direction you would not normally expect any traffic to be coming from.

Perhaps I was that cyclist...

There is a section of road near my city centre that is one-way for motor vehicles but has a cycle lane in the opposite direction. Most of it is clearly marked but one section (close to a heavily-used pelican crossing) is not obvious. Recently I was cycling along there; a woman only noticed me when I was fairly close to her; her husband told me off for going the wrong way along a one-way street and and I responded as in the OP.

The general point is that it is sensible always to look in both directions. I once suffered a broken foot when it was run over by a car coming in the wrong direction along what I (wrongly) thought was a one-way street.

alastairq · 10 August 2013 at 11:01AM

About time the Local Authorities took on board the need to make all road users aware of each other....and any unusual vagaries that may exist [such as, the subject of this thread?

People seem to forget, not everyone using a particular street or road , may be familiar with its vagaries of direction and signage.

I see evidence everyday of road users' intolerance of those who aren't doing what they are supposed to....with no thought as to whether that user is a stranger to the area, or not?

And this attitude seems to be endemic within Local and National Authorities as well.

[To prove otherwise, why don't LAs replace, immediately, worn-out road markings?

Or, clear summer foliage from in front of important directional signage, speed limits, and other warning signs?

And..to claim lack of 'funds' is to ignore the issue..the funds are there..the will to use them is not]

Tilt · 10 August 2013 at 2:48PM

Marco_Panettone wrote: »

It may well be that the road is one-way for motorised traffic and 2-way for cyclists. Not knowing the area I couldn't tell you directly, but there might be a sign at the end of the road where the cyclist entered. There might be a small amount of paint on the road. It's quite possible for there to be neither and the cyclist still be correct.

This is the situation you create with the appalling lack of investment in cycling infrastructure in this country. There is no 'standard' and councils can pretty much change things as they like so information varies across the country. This is partly what fuels the aggression on the roads - it's more than possible for drivers to be correct (as there are no signs/road markings for cyclists) AND the cyclist to be correct (tiny sign at the contraflow end allowing access) but there's no way for either of them to know in advance.

Contact your council to confirm the answer. If the rider was correct, ask the council to put some effort into ensuring ALL other road users are aware of the fact.

There are no signs or any other indication that it is permissible for cyclists to ride the wrong way down this particular section of road. At the 'entry' end, it scares me to think of a car turning into the road (which is a bit of a blind corner) when the cyclist emerges at that point. A car driver would not be expecting a cyclist (or any other vehicle) to be coming out from that end. The road opposite the other end is also a no entry where most cyclists just simply ride out from one to the other.

Tilt · 10 August 2013 at 2:57PM

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Perhaps I was that cyclist...

There is a section of road near my city centre that is one-way for motor vehicles but has a cycle lane in the opposite direction. Most of it is clearly marked but one section (close to a heavily-used pelican crossing) is not obvious. Recently I was cycling along there; a woman only noticed me when I was fairly close to her; her husband told me off for going the wrong way along a one-way street and and I responded as in the OP.

The general point is that it is sensible always to look in both directions. I once suffered a broken foot when it was run over by a car coming in the wrong direction along what I (wrongly) thought was a one-way street.

No. As I pointed out in my previous post, there is no provision, road markings or signage to indicate cyclists can travel the wrong way down that street. Apart from anything else, I would consider that emerging the other end at that particular junction, is potentially very dangerous to a cyclist as a car could be turning into the street where neither the cyclist or driver would see each other until both had reached the actual junction.

custardy · 10 August 2013 at 2:59PM

Tilt wrote: »

There are no signs or any other indication that it is permissible for cyclists to ride the wrong way down this particular section of road. At the 'entry' end, it scares me to think of a car turning into the road (which is a bit of a blind corner) when the cyclist emerges at that point. A car driver would not be expecting a cyclist (or any other vehicle) to be coming out from that end. The road opposite the other end is also a no entry where most cyclists just simply ride out from one to the other.

They should be watching for pedestrians crossing

Tilt · 10 August 2013 at 3:02PM

alastairq wrote: »

About time the Local Authorities took on board the need to make all road users aware of each other....and any unusual vagaries that may exist [such as, the subject of this thread?

People seem to forget, not everyone using a particular street or road , may be familiar with its vagaries of direction and signage.

I see evidence everyday of road users' intolerance of those who aren't doing what they are supposed to....with no thought as to whether that user is a stranger to the area, or not?

And this attitude seems to be endemic within Local and National Authorities as well.

[To prove otherwise, why don't LAs replace, immediately, worn-out road markings?

Or, clear summer foliage from in front of important directional signage, speed limits, and other warning signs?

And..to claim lack of 'funds' is to ignore the issue..the funds are there..the will to use them is not]

While I applaud and agree with everything you say, there will always be some cyclists who will ignore the signs/rules. For example, you do not need signs to tell you when to put your lights on. Unfortunately I reckon that 4 out of 10 cyclists still don't have any lights even fitted to their bikes where I live but still ride around at night.

Tilt · 10 August 2013 at 3:06PM

custardy wrote: »

They should be watching for pedestrians crossing

Of course they should. But what about encountering a car turning into the street at the other end where there is a blind corner? Car driver will not be expecting a cyclist to be hurtling the wrong way out of the street. But the driver will be (hopefully) paying attention to the pavements to see if there are any pedestrians there.

Marco_Panettone · 11 August 2013 at 3:09PM

Tilt wrote: »

While I applaud and agree with everything you say, there will always be some cyclists who will ignore the signs/rules. For example, you do not need signs to tell you when to put your lights on. Unfortunately I reckon that 4 out of 10 cyclists still don't have any lights even fitted to their bikes where I live but still ride around at night.

There will always be some road users who ignore the rules. Some of them ride bikes without lights after dark, others drive cars faster than the speed limit, some of both 'groups' ignore red lights sometimes. The design of infrastructure is separate to this endemic problem, and behaviour of individuals should not stop the improvement and clarification of infrastructure for the masses.

Altarf · 11 August 2013 at 10:06PM

Tilt wrote: »

Surely there would be signage to indicate this?

Cyclists, have I missed something?

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