Western Islanders' disappointing "advice" for cyclists

[horizon]

I agree about the need to chill out and relax. I've just come back from a quick spin round our local single lane roads. On one 1:4 I took a break and walked it. Around 10 yards from a clearly visible passing place (shallow but OK on the left, deep but muddy on the right), a car was huffing and puffing to get past. I reached the passing place in seconds rather than minutes and waved him through. A long loud blast on the horn and an ugly grimace from the driver followed as he roared off up the hill. What is it that gets them so upset?

[HebdenBiker]

What is it that gets them so upset?

The belief, encapsulated in the offending article that started this thread, that cars should be able to drive at the speed limit unimpeded by anything.

[drossall]

Or bikes sometimes. Haven't you ever been frustrated by the cars blocking you in traffic, or on that favourite descent?

[Cunobelin]

What a load of rubbish is written sometimes. Driving on Tiree is the same as any other place with single track roads. Slow traffic gives way to faster traffic. End of story. If you are on a bike what on earth is the problem with pulling over to let any faster vehicle overtake! I cycle mostly on single traffic roads and have no problem whatsoever.

Worrying, very worrying.

In my neck of the woods the system is that both fast and slow vehicles show consideration for each other. If that means a fast vehicle slowing to allow a cyclists or slower vehicle to progress,then fine where is the problem?

It's called considerate driving!

But back tho the original - Pulling over is not a problem, nor is acceding priority at a junction or narrow point. It is the ridiculous and bizarre demands that cyclists should dismount and get off the road...Do you actually dismount for every vehicle as you are being asked to on Tiree?

Problems do arise with visitors to such areas who think they have a god given right to monopolise the road system as they are on holiday and therefore normal rules do not apply.Mostly this comes from car drivers who are too terrified to drive at any reasonable pace or else are too busy looking for sea eagles to look in their rear view mirrors.

Shouldn't they be stopping. parking on the verge and getting out of the car every time a local wants to pass?

Local frustration does build up as local people try to go about their daily business but meet constant obstruction by those who wish to assert their "rights". If you think I am a bit over the top on this believe me my views are pretty moderate. A baby was born in an ambulance recently as a visitor refused to pull over to let a vehicle with lights and sirens get past. The views of the fire engine drivers are not repeatable on a family forum.

Again this appears to be a car, which surely should have been parking on the verge and the driver getting out of the car to allow the vehicle to pass?

Cars failing to see and respond to Emergency vehicles is sadly common place, and a pathetically poor argument for asking cyclists to dismount?

[pau1ine]

We visited Tiree in 2008 and hired bikes at the hostel rather than take our own.
With the bikes came strict instructions on stopping and getting yourself and bike off the road whenever meeting any traffic on the road - just as given in the Tiree island website link the original posting . This 'advice' was also in leaflets at the hostel.

Now Tiree roads are a bit different to most Hebridean roads because many are bounded by fences and well maintained ditches. Cycling or driving onto the verge isn't an option .
It is a lovely island but to be honest it did get annoying when you are forced to get off, lift bike off road, roll back on road start cycling and this occurs at intervals only a few minutes apart.
We have cycled throughout the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, and Tiree does win the award for the most angry drivers on single track.

Other than that it's a lovely island and there really aren't that many km roads to ride anyway!

[Malaconotus]

So this claim about the reality...

Been to Tiree a number of times and have included it in my forthcoming book 'Cycling in the Hebrides http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cycling-Hebrides-Island-Touring-Rides/dp/1852846437 - and have always had the utmost courtesy from drivers on the island.

I think people need to chill out a bit more and not get so wound up.

As Richard Barrett states the reality is different from the hypothetical perceived outcome above.

is completely at odds with this experience of the reality...

With the bikes came strict instructions on stopping and getting yourself and bike off the road whenever meeting any traffic on the road - just as given in the Tiree island website link the original posting . This 'advice' was also in leaflets at the hostel. It is a lovely island but to be honest it did get annoying when you are forced to get off, lift bike off road, roll back on road start cycling and this occurs at intervals only a few minutes apart.

We have cycled throughout the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, and Tiree does win the award for the most angry drivers on single track.

Like Mull, where I experienced some horrendously aggressive driving by locals a few months ago, Tiree is off my trip list.

[horizon]

Just to put all this in perspective, Tiree is only 10 miles long. The longest stretch of road in one direction is about 8 miles. This means that an average journey may only be about 4 miles. Given that the roads are single lane, it is expected that the good citizens of Tiree, concerned as they are about safety and animals, travel at no more than 20 mph (and certainly so if tractors are involved). A competent cyclist would travel this fairly flat island at about 12 mph. Assuming then that a motorist on Tiree had to travel the entire length of his journey behind a cyclist, he would lose about 8 minutes. If only having to wait until the next passing place (let's say .5 mile), he would lose about a minute. What madness has descended upon this once tranquil place that every minute counts to the point of frustration and anger? What is going on in an island that prides itself on its pace of life that it makes Waterloo station feel like a Buddhist temple? Has it been invaded by stockbrokers from Midwich? Sixty years ago the fastest thing on Tiree was a horse and cart - are they making up for lost time? What is it that happens when a community of otherwise tolerant, intelligent and indeed dour Scots gets behind the wheel of a car? If this is Tiree then God help the rest of us.

[HebdenBiker]

I've just had a reply from the chairman of Discover Tiree. It turns out I've met him when I visited his gallery on the island. He's a lovely chap and a very fine artist. Unfortunately, his reply is unlikely to give much comfort to those who have been following this thread. Out of courtesy I won't publish his full reply until he gives me permission, but the thrust of it is:

1. There is a "requirement" that slower traffic gives way to faster
2. It is "suggested" that, if no passing place is available, cyclists dismount at the verge (dismount to avoid falling into ditches which has caused serious injury in the past)
2. The advice is endorsed by islanders and was drawn together by the local police
3. Accidents involving cyclists have fallen since the advice was implemented
4. There is no intention to relegate cyclists to second class citizens. Many islanders, including him, cycle.
5. Much of the Highway Code is open to interpretation, and Tiree has a unique set of road conditions and busy roads

I am going to refer this business to the CTC because I'd be interested in an official opinion.

To me, the worrying thing is that this advice is supported by the police. Say a cyclist is knocked off after a close pass from a car/van. Would the local bobby sympathise with the driver because the cyclist didn't get off the road? Not sure I want to take any chances there with a double trailer containing my kids.

[thirdcrank]

... He's a lovely chap and a very fine artist. ....

If you are worried about local police endorsing something like this, write to the appropriate chief constable. He or she is unlikely to read it, but if you word your request carefully, somebody will be delegated to tell you what the force's attitude to the Highway Code is. The underlying issue of some sort of local sympathy bias is one that will probably never be resolved and it's not restricted to this instance, I fear. It's the dilemma between community policing and a mini (possibly one-person ) occupying force.

Is this the Gallery you are referring to?

http://www.bluebeyond.uk.com/

We have been producing work as artists on Tiree since 2001 and our studio gallery opened in 2003.

[horizon]

This whole thing with Tiree has prompted parallels with Jersey during the Second World War. Faced with an enemy of unimaginable proportion and the possible destruction of their way of life and everything the island currently stands for, some of the population descend into petty squabbles and try to exert at least some control over something, no matter how trivial - a very understandable human reaction to something so appalling.

Full report here:

http://www.no-tiree-array.org.uk/

[irc]

All very worrying.

"1. There is a "requirement" that slower traffic gives way to faster
2. It is "suggested" that, if no passing place is available, cyclists dismount at the verge (dismount to avoid falling into ditches which has caused serious injury in the past)
2. The advice is endorsed by islanders and was drawn together by the local police
3. Accidents involving cyclists have fallen since the advice was implemented
4. There is no intention to relegate cyclists to second class citizens. Many islanders, including him, cycle.
5. Much of the Highway Code is open to interpretation, and Tiree has a unique set of road conditions and busy roads"


1. What requirement? Show me the law. Reasonable consideration for other road users is a requirement (S3 RTA 1988) Stopping at the first passing place is reasonable. Being required to immediately dismount and leave the road is not.
2 If there are frequent ditches then even more reason to stop at passing places.
3. Stats please?
4 Some of my best friends are .........
5 My interpretation is the these instructions for Tiree cycling are utter nonsense.

[alicej]

When my bike's fully loaded I can't lift it, so if there's no space to pass me and no space for me to roll out of the way until the next passing place then people are going to have to wait. Sorry.

Of course I'll pull over at the next passing place if someone is behind me - I don't want a big noisy engine sitting behind me for ages!

Hoping the local Highways Dept have ensured that passing places are close enough together to stop people getting stuck behind me for too long. But it's hardly the fault of tourists if they haven't.

[HebdenBiker]

We have cycled throughout the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, and Tiree does win the award for the most angry drivers on single track.

Like Mull, where I experienced some horrendously aggressive driving by locals a few months ago, Tiree is off my trip list.

Sigh. It feels like the hegemony of the motor car is complete. "Get out of my f'ing way" is something of a motto for these islands of ours, and there is, apparently, no escape, not even in the remotest parts of the UK. The chairman of Discover Tiree has written to me to say he's saddened that advice written in good faith, and with safety in mind, is being viewed so negatively. See? They're not bad people. They think they're doing the right thing. They have no idea of the implications of their advice for cyclists, or why it's wrong to expect cyclists to jump off the road to make way for cars.

It's issues like this that make me feel more and more militant. How Is it any wonder so many cycle tourists prefer to head to the Continent, where they can expect more respect and better facilities?

Anyhow, on the specific issue of Tiree, I've written to Allan Cherry (CTC) with a link to the article. I'd be interested in his view. Perhaps we can work with the islanders for more cycle-friendly attitudes.

[Fasgadh]

Ignore it - just behave as you should on single track roads on the mainland - use passing places to facilitate overtaking. The Highway Code applies to us, even if some folk think it does not apply to them.

It's a pretty badly worded piece - the publisher should be put to work removing all the "cyclists dismount" signs on a Sustrans route (NCN1 near Arbroath would be a good place to start). All part of the constant dripping of the "bikes off roads" message we get from everywhere now.

Tiree would do well to remember that unlike the beneficiaries of the RET cyclists have to "live off the land" and present a far better prospect for the local economy than all the R.V.s (for which they have special rules too). There is only so much you can carry in from Oban. Very short sighted, and to see that the same crepe is being pushed in North Wales is depressing.

[BARRACH]

I cycled on Barra last summer and was pleasantly surprised at the number of cars who pulled into passing places
to let ME go by especially on hills. It was as if they knew I needed to keep up momentum to cycle up any hills.
Naturally I pulled into laybys as often as I could to let cars go by. When I drove my car round the island I was very careful to be
extremely courteous towards any cyclists on the road. In other words a bit of give and take on both
sides. My advice, forget Tiree, go to Barra instead. The roads are fairly wide for most of the way round the island and the surface,
well, I thought maybe the Tour de France had come through, they were so smooth.