Does the speed limit apply to cyclists?

[MMC]

princeperch said:

I actually had a rather nasty altercation with a cyclist in Stevenage not so long ago. Coming past the public golf course and this "racing" cyclist was in the middle of the single lane road, (NSL) and holding up everyone. There was too much road furniture to overtake and it was very busy as it was...

There could be a reason for this. When I ride, I often find that a following car will attempt an overtake in the face of an oncoming car. The following (now overtaking) car has to cut in sharply, right in front of me. Sometimes that can be pretty uncomfortably close...other times it's more than close and you get taken off. One way to prevent cars going for an overtake like this is to ride "high side" - it pi$$es people off, but it can stop you ending up getting knocked off by someone determined to overtake when there's insufficient room.

Strangely, riding a little further out than the gutter tends to make drivers give one more room as they pass. That's the key - room. Speed doesn't bother me one bit; just give me a bit of space and you can pass as fast as you like.

It could also be (I don't know the road) that the road edges are particularly bad. That'll tend to force a rider out to the centre of the lane.

You mention road furniture - stuff like pedestrian "refuges" and traffic calming makes the effect of the above much, much worse.

[mg6b]

nonegreen said:

Wow, my hero. Fit, drugfree and well shod, you should be on telly.

I have been. On several occasions.

[LongQ]

On another forum a few years ago was the example of a well known cyclist in the Cambridge fraternity who was apparently done for rinding in the centre of the city at, iirc, 29mph. Furious cycling was the charge. Apparently he was in training for an important race or something.

As far as I know no one was injured, as an earlier post suggests would be a requirement for the charge, but I think the Police considered that 29mph through the narrow streets in the centre of Cambridge at 11.30PM just as so many people were leaving the pubs after a lengthy evening of merriment was probably, err, inappropriate.

Yesterday my younger daughter's boyfriend, having for once got a free parking spot for the day, decided to drive to work and was impacted by a cyclist who, apparently, shot out from the side as he drove thorough the traffic. (Bear in mind I have only heard this story third hand.)

The BF got out of his car concerned that the cyclist was still lying in the road and asked if he was OK, to whicvh the cyclist replied that he was and was sorry for the damage he had caused (smashed headlight and a couple of dented panels appaarently.) BF suggested the damage was not as important as the potential injury to the rider. Rider seemed OK so provided his details with a view to paying for the damage, got back on his bike and, as reported, shot off across the road zigzagging through the traffic and almost coming to further grief two or three times within the 100 metres or so in which he was visible.

Sounds like a sketch from a comedy routine ...

It will be interesting to see if the cost of the repairs will in fact be covered.

[jazzyjeff]

Personally I've had a hell of a lot more problems with cyclists as a pedestrian than as a motorist. As a motorist, there have been more incidents of the type described earlier where there is a muppet in a car decides to overtake a cyclist on a blind bend/or with me in clear view, pulling right into my path.

As a (considerate) cyclist I've also found motorists to be thoughtless towards me - with buses being the worst! :-(

JJ

[minicity]

I did 56mph on a bicycle down Westerham Hill once.

[jazzyjeff]

minicity said:

I did 56mph on a bicycle down Westerham Hill once.

Did you measure how many miles per gallon you got? ;-)