Is it anti-social to exceed the motor vehicle speed limit?

[Mark1978]

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ial-38923/

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I've been overtaken numerous times, just because people can't see past me, in my camper in a twenty limit.
But really who here is going to, or even keep up 20 mph for more than 30 seconds, club riders excluded.
I take no notice of speed limits, one because the police said they would'nt enforce it and two my average is below that too.
My partners car averages 18 mph tank to tank.
If you exceed the speed limit on your bike the car drivers are well peeved they cant do the same, but that does'nt stop they trying.
Car drivers tend to catch me every where when I am driving, If I speed up they will do the same up to a point.

What are you trying to tell us Mark1978 you put your brakes on when you hit 20..........with a tail wind............down hill

[kwackers]

I'm more shocked that someone has found a motorist actually doing 20 in a 20 limit to overtake.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

I'm more shocked that someone has found a motorist actually doing 20 in a 20 limit to overtake.

Up hill in third and of course we have the mandatory dead policemen too, I am just to lazy to change into 2nd

[Mark1978]

What are you trying to tell us Mark1978 you put your brakes on when you hit 20..........with a tail wind............down hill

hehe, no personally I don't, I just thought it was an interesting topic. There's only one 20mph limit I often go through downhill and that's through Birtley, an interesting one because there is a cycle lane too so it's not unusual for me to be going faster in the cycle lane than the cars on my right. Having said that it's not unusual for me to be doing 25mph and having a stream of cars going past me.

[[XAP]Bob]

I regularly do 40 in a 30 zone.

Often, last night for example, I'll overtake a car (or more) along that stretch as well - mid you I have also been overtaken along that stretch, whilst doing 40 mph. Speed bumps really don't do car suspension any good at 50+mph


It's a long curve downhill, with building set well back and clear grass verges - on the outside there is a pavement, set back from the kerb.

40 in a 30

Untitled2.png (117.57 KiB) Viewed 5087 times

I'd not call it antisocial - if I were to do the same through town then maybe. But the article sounds like "overtaking cars is antisocial"

[Adam S]

I think it is. We want lower limits and suggest reasons such as pedestrian safety and allowing children to play in the streets, so it's not just about our safety from motor vehicles. I think it's only right that we are seen to practice what we preach in this area. There's also the issue of motorists' perceptions. Few non-cyclists, in fact few people in general, know that the speed limits don't apply to pedal cycles, so if we go around overtaking the good drivers who are doing the speed limit, it's the kind of behaviour that will get noticed. Of course there are limits which seem low or times of day when the roads are empty or long hills, but these arguments can be made for motor vehicles too. There's also the issue of suitability of the road, the places where I would want a 20mph speed limit for motors are exactly the places where I wouldn't want cyclists time trialling, trying to improve their PB, or fast group cycling.

[NUKe]

Habitual breaking of Speed limits by motorists, and he wants to do something about cyclists, What a car cecntric world in which we live

Should cyclist slow down in 20 zones yes of course, you should always use speed appropriate to the conditions, but the number of cyclist who do break the Speed limit will pale in to insignificance compared to the number of motorists

[snibgo]

We have to admire my local Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Graham Bright, and his tireless campaign against anti-social cycling. He also wants the police to enforce 20 mph limits, but they don't want to, so that's that. But Operation Pedalo, which targets all these dangerous cyclists, is gaining strength.

Jolly good. Carry on.

[mjr]

No, it's not anti-social if there's no-one around - and people on bikes are more able to see if anyone is around because they haven't got door pillars and such obstructing their vision.

Dim Bright sounds like a complete nutter, fretting about a tiny minority who aren't doing much harm and ignoring the bigger road dangers. I was riding in Cambridge today, some of which was in a 20mph zone on a signed cycle route (Cromwell Road/Sedgwick Street/Rustat Road if you know it) but there was no way it was worth me even trying to get near 20mph with the cobbled(!!) dead policemen, but that didn't stop cars sprinting between them... and then a car tried to drive through the bike slalom out of Rustat Road (unsuccessfully because cars can't fit through that one - I wonder if that was a relative of the chap who drove a car onto the cycle bridge over the railway from Rustat Road) and later, I had a car drive into an Advanced Stop Box on Devonshire Road as I arrived and a van drive into an ASB on Hills Road as it made a mess of trying to undertake a bus as it passed through a junction.

For a city where half of people ride bikes regularly, Cambridge seems to have a lot of bad driving and a worse-than-useless police commissioner!

(Edited to clarify first paragraph, remove an extra ) and note the car didn't fit through the slalom)

[kwackers]

Is it a problem? Are speeding cyclists resulting in injury or death? If not then what's the problem?
In the meantime speeding drivers ARE resulting in injury and death.

Having said all that if we were talking about an indiscriminate system that stopped all road users speeding then I'd support it wholeheartedly.

[Adam S]

Certainly it shouldn't be top of their list of priorities on the roads. Speeding motors are far more common. Cyclists' excessive speed is far more of an issue where sharing with pedestrians

[Mick F]

It annoys me greatly when speeding motorists come down Gunnislake Hill after overtaking me near the top.

It's a 30 limit for a mile before the hill and I tend to be doing 20ish, so I get overtaken. Trouble is, some of them overtake me just as I'm accelerating due to gravity. I pass by the petrol station at the top at about 35 and sometimes brake to get round the top corner - max speed to take it safely is about 37.

By the time on on the hill proper, I'm doing 40, then 42, then max out at 47 for the bend by the escape lane.

What happens sometimes, a car will overtake me and then do about 40 or even 35 all the way down, so I'm continually on the brakes. The other day, I got so annoyed, I pedalled furiously and overtook at (only) 42mph.

Here's a YouTube video of Gunny Hill with me riding the Chopper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_3OfVQjF0

[irc]

"Community and society generally sees the danger primarily coming from motor vehicles rather than vulnerable cyclists

Because it is motor vehicles that kill people. Around 2000 a year in the UK as against cyclists who kill maybe 1 a year.

Is it anti-social? No. Unless it is an unsafe overtake.

[Adam S]

I can't see why a cyclist would need to pass a car travelling at a 20mph limit in a city. A cycling version of MGIF perhaps?