workhard wrote:Go stand on the bridge overlooking the three lane carriage way of that stretch of the A23 and count the vehicle movements per minute. Then factor in the speed of the vehicles to take into account longer reaction/braking distances and then tell me if you really think a road like that is less risky then an 'ordinary' dual carriageway. I assume none of you are actuaries!
Well, I'd assume that the risk increases linearly with volume? However, I speak as both a driver and a cyclist when I say that the least stressful overtaking I've experienced has been on "full on" motorway style roads. On the other hand I've had some real moments on ordinary A-roads with oncoming traffic and poor visibility. You have to factor the quality of overtaking into any decision, the quantity alone tells half the story.
Even at 90mph there is plenty of time for a driver to see, and overtake safely, a cyclist in the carriageway. If that was not the case then drivers doing 70mph would be coming perilously close to me on normal roads, which they hardly ever do!
I don't know anything about the A23 so I can't comment on it specifically.
workhard wrote:Would you in all seriousness suggest that it is some sort of safe for someone to cycle in the second (middle) lane of a motorway class road, which is effectively what you are doing at the start of the slip lane (nb it is a slip lane NOT a slip road), in comparison with a) the parallel and separate cycle path adjacent to the N bound carriageway which is part of the national cycle network or b) the surrounding relatively traffic free country lanes.
Well, I don't know. To answer your question we would need to find out how many cycling incidents there have been on the A23 VS the surrounding roads, which is information I don't have, and then weight it by the distribution of cyclists. My local stretch of the NCN is not gritted, swept or maintained in any way, so it's not always such a practical choice for travel. In fact the only serious incident I have had on my 6,000 miles of commuting has been on the cycle path!
Personally, I would not choose to ride out from the left-most lane (whatever it's doing) as drivers rely on the fact that slower moving traffic will be to their left, not to their right, particularly on a multi-lane road. So in my opinion, there was a failure of roadcraft by the cyclists in this incident, although I think the behaviour of both drivers was inexcusable and prosecution should have ensured.