Road closed by police - could cyclists still pass?

[Erudite geezer]

Last week, early in the morning around 07:30, I was making my daily commute past Legoland in Windsor, only to notice the drive south towards Ascot was hindered by a police officer, flashing blue points and a road closed sign.

I was in a car and had to find an alternative route.............question is, if it was a cyclist or pedestrian, would they have to find an alternative route too?

That would be a bummer.....could easily add 10+ miles to the journey.

[ecsrobin]

I guess it depends on the situation as to why the roads closed. We had a fire near me so the road was closed to all traffic and pedestrians. After the incident had wound down the road remained closed but open to pedestrians.

[Jim AK]

Depends why it was shut I expect.

If it was a Crime Scene then I think the answer would be yes you would have to go another way as otherwise you would possibly contaminate any evidence.

[SystemParanoia]

I'll say no.

Police blocked the road on my cycle commute home once.. i asked if i could just nip by, but he said no.
So I had to find a route round

[Cupramax]

I'll say yes,

Had something similar in the summer while out on my bike, lorry had shed its load on corner, road closed, plod let me cycle past on the pavement.

[InfoRetrieval]

Depends on why the road is closed. Last time this happened and I was on my bike the kind policewoman directing traffic said that if I got off and walked past the accident (which was just up the road with miles of room to pass by on foot safely) I could go ahead. Then again if they had been dealing with an incident blocking the road with no room to pass I might not have been so lucky.

[kieranbennett]

I used to commute between Cheltenham and Cirencester via bike occasionally.

Twice the route was closed, First time for a serious accident, for obvious reasons they wouldn't let me pass and it added around 9 miles to the 19 mile commute. At least I got home that night however, poor sod in the car which hit the tree apparently didn't make it.

Second time a tree had come down. Officer was happy to let me pass but advised I pushed past the tree due to the debris, i actually had to clamber across a ditch and through a field to get round that one but still better than the extra 9 miles!

[SystemParanoia]

Cupramax said:

I'll say yes,

I fking knew that would happen

[Cupramax]

And heres the shunt for anyone that knows the area.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/14389526.UPD...

[Erudite geezer]

Highly likely that traffic incident and death was the cause of road closure:

http://www.windsorexpress.co.uk/news/windsor/10965...

[SystemParanoia]

Heres what i couldn't pass

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/we...

I think I can understand why in hindsight

[giantdefy]

As there was a police officer at the closure I would just have asked him if I was on my bike or on foot.

[Your Dad]

It depends on who you ask. Came across this situation a few years ago whilst out cycling, route I wanted to take was closed due to an accident right next to a side road I wanted to get down. The diversion would have been a couple of miles round.

PC who was standing at the road closure said I could make my way down the pavement and round the corner at the junction, PC standing in the middle of the road next to the crashed car that was blocking the road and awaiting recovery went apest for me entering the area. Told him that I'd been given the OK to proceed through on the pavement (just like a pedestrian on the opposite side of the road at the same time) by the officer up the road.

[KevinCamaroSS]

With police permission, then yes, otherwise no.

[caelite]

No number plate, you can probably cycle faster than the copper can run. So yes you can most likely pass.

[battered]

I can walk faster than the average copper can run, while I'm carrying heavy shopping. So not much of a test.

[valiant]

caelite said:

No number plate, you can probably cycle faster than the copper can run. So yes you can most likely pass.

Ah, but can you outrun a radio??

More seriously, I'd say it depends on the situation. Crime scene? Definite no no. Lorry shed it's load? If safe then ok.

[Rh14n]

[austinsmirk]

I have done, quite a lot when cycling- especially in winter, at night as I'm in Yorkshire and you get a lot of drivers binning their cars into dry stone walls, on remote moor roads. been (carefully- with discussion with police) past scenes where motorists have died sadly........ often porsche drivers who've run out of talent.

[eybic]

The reason for this closure was due to a cyclist colliding with a van so I'd definitely say No as they would probably want to preserve the scene.