I’ve been working with the CTC - the UK’s National Cyclist’s Organisation on a campaign we’re hoping to start this summer to help make the roads safer.
Part of this meant carrying out a survey for cyclists regarding how they use the roads and how safe they felt.
It’s REALLY important to us that we get a balanced viewpoint from other road users. We DO NOT want to be bias towards cyclists, HGV drivers are considered equally important to us. The main aim is to make the roads safer and help support all road users where we can.
To this end, please could you click on the link above and take thirty seconds to answer the few questions on this survey? It’d be a MASSIVE help - your answers will make this campaign all the more successful.
I’ve run all this past Rikki-UK and he’s happy but if you have any questions, please send them over.
learn them clowns how to ride in single file and not bunched up taking the whole road at 10mph while others are trying to make a living, if I was causing a 2mile tail back at 10mph the old bill would soon be called at least if there are on the footpath there off the road and not making a balls of everyone elses trip. if they want to do time trails go to a cycle track or do it on a sunday when the roads are quiet
Deathstar:
Cyclists on the road,now there’s a novelty,round here they all use the pavements,and that includes the PCSO’s.
You may see cycle paths that are not marked on the pavements, if you get what i mean. oh you may also want to add PC’s into your sentence.
advice to some cyclists, I am trained to the instructor level to train people how to ride a bike to the cycle craft level. I have been told by some people that it scares the days out of them when they see an HGV come up behind them, my advice is pull over and let it past and then carry on with your journey.
cyclist who ride two by two are not braking any law what so ever due to them being classed as a vehicle when on the road, but it is a pain in the back side when you go down a tight road and there they are riding two by two hogging the road up
Tom some people on bikes shouldnt even be alowed to push a shopping trolly More training for them in needed and mak it manditory that if there is a cycle lane they must use it or face having their cycle removed and crushed just like the old plod do for not having tax insurance etc some thing needs to be done
last time we had a topic on cyclists it went on and on , and somewhere in the middle of that thead we changed from using the georgian to the julian calendar
just lets hope that ‘anti-tanker cruise missile tom the biker man’ dont see this topic
It is bloody annoying when cyclists ride in a group and think they own the road. I get hacked off with these types as it just holds up traffic and hacks every other road user off. They seem to forget that hgv can’t accelerate as fast as cars and pass them when there is a gap in the oncoming traffiic!
On the other hand,as a cyclist, I’ve had loads of close calls from hgvs passing with only 6 inches between me a a set of bloody big wheels!! It’s not just trucks, car drivers scare the crap out of me as well with some dodgy overtaking.
Would like to write more but I have to go and do some work for a change!!
It’s REALLY important to us that we get a balanced viewpoint from other road users. We DO NOT want to be bias towards cyclists, HGV drivers are considered equally important to us. The main aim is to make the roads safer and help support all road users where we can.
that’ll be a first ! !
the most important thing in my opinion is to educate cyclists about lorry blind spots and get them to stop riding up the inside of a truck near junctions !
the cyclists in all the lycra gear seem to be the worst of all at times though, big groupes of them or even just two riding side by side blocking that side of the road, bugger anyone else arrogant idiots How often do you see them move over to the centre of the road to turn right, no look over the shoulder, no indication or anything, again just assuming everyone else will accomodate them. Who pays if a cyclist goes into the side of your car because they weren’t looking where they were going? and dont get me started about the idiots on bikes in london
What really gets on my nerves though, narrow roads where you can travel fine but if you need to overtake anything you need to wait for the other side of the road to clear (cyclists I mean), there’s often a cycle track both sides on the pavement but the twonks still insist on cycling on the road - I think they should get an on the spot fine for it if there’s a cycle track there I think it should be a legal requirement that it should be used
At the end of the day though, the poor standard that you see from cyclists on a daily basis (in my opinion) comes down to bad attitude and no training or survey or telly campaign will ever change that - the same applies to idiots in cars, speed doesn’t cause accidents - the rediculous things people do causes accidents, we all know the risks - we all know it’s wrong but sometimes people choose to do it (whatever it is) anyway.
I’ve a foot firmly in both camps, having just ridden home from work on my bike.
Where there are good quality cycle lanes I’ll use them, but sometimes te council seem to think painting a white line on the path is acceptable, you then end up with the track going up and down like a whores’s drawers past everyone’s driveway crossings. When I ride, I do so with respect for the rules of the road but I will give myself a metre from the kerb so I can avoid getting squashed. I quite often ride with my oldest son and sometimes take all three out together, we ride single file with me at he back but about a foot further out to make us more obvious. I’ll tuck in or pull them over if we causing a problem though.
I have done your quiz and will point out that I am a motorcyclist, car driver and lorry driver who owns a cycle, it is 18 months old and been ridden to the pub a couple of times and down the village to the doctors surgery.
I answered the quiz favourably but my big issue is the way they run these races and time trials down major routes like the A1 in heavy traffic. There are other roads available or if they just want to ride fast, why do they not do time trials at a race circuit. I have this problem because it seems to be the UK that has a problem, not the rest of Europe.
In France and Belgium you often see a gang of gayly clad boys and girls, but they just seem to have a better understanding of the traffic.
Im in both camps, i dont drive a lorry yet, but i cycle alot.
As for pulling over when a truck is behind i think it depends. Personally, if theres room for the truck to get past then ill just tuck in abit and back it off when it starts to come past.
If there is no room or its difficult for the lorry to get past then ill pull in. The A612 from Burton Joyce and beyond is quite bad, lots of central crossings which makes it hard for them to get past and get back in. What i normally do is pull in just past Burton Joyce on the Nottingham side to let them past.
On the other hand, ive seen some cyclists do some very stupid things around lorrys and traffic which isnt so nice, because you know the driver is saying “bloody cyclists” and not “what a [zb] that person is”
nick2008:
Tom some people on bikes shouldnt even be alowed to push a shopping trolly More training for them in needed and mak it manditory that if there is a cycle lane they must use it or face having their cycle removed and crushed just like the old plod do for not having tax insurance etc some thing needs to be done
Cyclists need better training. I know i went out onto the road with non and taught myself to ride safe, there is alot of information on the internet, and also learning what to do to stop idiots passing close. But then there are alot of idiots out there with dangerous bikes, havent got a clue and is a real surprise they havent been run over yet.
Its the same with drivers though, just often with drivers its a car that gets the damage and not the person
Some way should be found to train cyclists. This should include the opportunity to sit in the cab of a truck while cyclists manouvre around it, so that they can see why we may not know that they are there even if we are doing all the right things.
Im not against bycicles in any way but there seem to be more and more cyclists that think they can take up the whole lane . where i live is in the country and you see them in maybe packs of 8 or 10 cycling down the road talking to one another side by side, not only is this dangerous for other road users including themselves it is darn right stupid !
I honestly think and i know iam not alone in this ,that cyclist should be made to undergo some form of test that requires them to sit shotgun in a hgv on a known cycle route for them to see how other road users have to deal with the overtaking of cyclists when they are acting irresponsibly.
As i say iam not aginst cyclists but i think they need to address the ever groing problems that they cause to other road users.
Road racing should be banned.
Cycling clubs out on a ride,maybe 20 or 30 in one large group filling the whole width of the lane and stretched out maybe a truck length or more can be a real pain to pass,especially when you’re fully loaded.
If a cycle lane is available,then its use should be compulsory.This is a problem on the A9 at this time of year. Think I’m right in saying there is a cycle track all the way from Perth to Inverness,it being a mixture of custom built and sections of the old road,yet you see a lot of cyclists still using the main road alongside fast moving traffic.
last time we had a topic on cyclists it went on and on 
How often do you see them move over to the centre of the road to turn right, no look over the shoulder, no indication or anything, again just assuming everyone else will accomodate them. Who pays if a cyclist goes into the side of your car because they weren’t looking where they were going? and dont get me started about the idiots on bikes in london 
if there’s a cycle track there I think it should be a legal requirement that it should be used