Police attitudes to riding side by side

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
wjhall
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Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by wjhall »

Avon & Somerset Constabulary are plainly in favour of riding side by side:


210830-4b Kenn Road police horses.jpg
tatanab
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by tatanab »

In equestrian circles it is recommended practice

As for the cyclists behind, they are plainly holding up motor traffic :lol: .
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Mick F
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by Mick F »

:lol: :lol:
Great photo.

Was in Tavistock this morning driving to go shopping.
On my way back, there was a tractor and trailer, and I was in a tailback of twenty or thirty cars.
So what?

It matters not.
We all share the highway, and some of us go slow, some of us take up room, and some of us don't worry about it.
Mick F. Cornwall
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Mick F wrote: 2 Sep 2021, 3:29pm :lol: :lol:
Great photo.

Was in Tavistock this morning driving to go shopping.
On my way back, there was a tractor and trailer, and I was in a tailback of twenty or thirty cars.
So what?

It matters not.
We all share the highway, and some of us go slow, some of us take up room, and some of us don't worry about it.
I got admit that the days of me drafting and easily passing tractors are long gone :(
They must be all turbo's now................................... :P
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Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Highway code -
Rule 53 - Horses.
"Never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends."

Rule 66 - Cyclist.
"never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends"
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
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squeaker
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by squeaker »

Mick F wrote: 2 Sep 2021, 3:29pm :lol: :lol:
Great photo.
It is in deed: lots to consider - I do worry about the pedestrian with his(?) back to the traffic though...
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peetee
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by peetee »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote: 2 Sep 2021, 3:40pm Hi,
Highway code -
Rule 53 - Horses.
"Never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends."

Rule 66 - Cyclist.
"never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends"
Hmmm. Seems rather in contradiction to the latest revisions pertaining to primary position. :?
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Would two abreast in primary equate to one in primary and one to the right of primary, or one in primary and one to the left of primary? Or maybe one each side of primary? I'd say in practice the concept of primary position is wide enough to accommodate two.
rjb
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by rjb »

And what constitutes a busy road. Anyone delayed will vote for it being a busy road. :roll:
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tykeboy2003
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by tykeboy2003 »

Personally, I couldn't care less what the police think about riding two abreast, I know the HC says on this.
In my experience the police don't know much about cycling at all, evidenced by the 2 that I saw cycling in the gutter a couple of years ago.
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kylecycler
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by kylecycler »

Mick F wrote: 2 Sep 2021, 3:29pm :lol: :lol:
Great photo.

Was in Tavistock this morning driving to go shopping.
On my way back, there was a tractor and trailer, and I was in a tailback of twenty or thirty cars.
So what?

It matters not.
We all share the highway, and some of us go slow, some of us take up room, and some of us don't worry about it.
I live just up the road from the local cattle market and I've been told there's a sort of unwritten rule, not in the Highway Code, that once there's x number of vehicles behind the tractor (think it's six but can't remember), the tractor driver is expected to find somewhere to pull in to let the traffic proceed.

In a similar vein, though, for those who watch the GCN videos, they're often holding up traffic when filming, and there was an incident in one recent video that had the potential of causing a serious accident. There was a car behind the riders and camera car that, as it turned out, was intending to turn left so didn't pass them. Just before the corner where the car eventually turned, a whole stream of cars shot past from further behind - they'd overtaken not just the car that was waiting to turn but others behind it. It would just have taken one of the drivers behind the car that was waiting to turn not to check their mirrors and pull out into the cars that were overtaking to cause a serious collision.

Of course there are plenty of folk who will jump up to insist that wouldn't have been in any way the cyclists' fault, and in a sense it wouldn't, but there was no excuse for them to filming the piece on such a busy road. It only takes one car to cause an accident, of course, but the chances increase the busier it is. Here's the moment in the video, see what you think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUXfORevJqc&t=680s

Potentially putting lives at risk (worst case, but crashes tend to be worst case...) to conduct a roll-down test to see if a cheap budget diy Triathlon/TT bike was as aero as a pukka TT bike. Boys and their toys... :roll:

Seriously, is it just me or was that not grossly irresponsible? (Yeah I know it's just me but to what extent?! :))
Jdsk
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by Jdsk »

kylecycler wrote: 3 Sep 2021, 1:51pm
Mick F wrote: 2 Sep 2021, 3:29pmWas in Tavistock this morning driving to go shopping.
On my way back, there was a tractor and trailer, and I was in a tailback of twenty or thirty cars.
So what?

It matters not.
We all share the highway, and some of us go slow, some of us take up room, and some of us don't worry about it.
I live just up the road from the local cattle market and I've been told there's a sort of unwritten rule, not in the Highway Code, that once there's x number of vehicles behind the tractor (think it's six but can't remember), the tractor driver is expected to find somewhere to pull in to let the traffic proceed.
"So what constitutes a “long queue of traffic”? In a press statement issued in 2014, Dyfed and Powys police claimed tractor drivers should pull over as soon as they got six cars behind them – but this would clearly be impractical on busy roads."
https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/tractor ... egulations

... also includes some other recommendations.

Jonathan
Jdsk
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by Jdsk »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 3 Sep 2021, 1:08pmI'd say in practice the concept of primary position is wide enough to accommodate two.
Yes.

Jonathan
peetee
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by peetee »

kylecycler wrote: 3 Sep 2021, 1:51pm Seriously, is it just me or was that not grossly irresponsible?
Yes, without a doubt. I have seen a few of their vids where they ride very quiet roads. Why they didn’t choose on of them is beyond me.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Police attitudes to riding side by side

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Movie directors talk about "controlling the road". This doesn't mean anything about taking primary position(!), it just means what it says: sometimes the conditions they are filming in allow them to exclude non-movie vehicles and people from a public street or area.

Anyway, this GCN incident has very little to do with taking primary, more to do with driving a car at the speed of someone trying to eke the last few metres out of a freewheeling bicycle. Without the camera car, it's highly probable all the traffic, including the car turning left, would have overtaken much earlier. And they weren't of course in primary...
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