Cycling UK Forum

ANTONISH wrote: ↑10 Jul 2023, 9:51am If only cyclists would keep to that rule.
I find that one has to be cautious on cycle/shared use paths - some insist on riding on the right - I don't seek to get into an argument about it, provided there is sufficient time to alter one's course.

There's a cycle path not far from mine (shared use foot/cycle path) where the lane for cyclists specifically says to ride on the right. It's done that way for reasons of road and footpath layout but, as with most shared use paths, it's been badly done and at certain times the path gets so busy with walkers that it's impossible to ride it, left or right.

Walkers get upset because naturally none of them have seen, understood, obeyed or cared about the side on which they're supposed to be, cyclists get confused as to why they're riding on the right - it just feels completely wrong - and then if you use the roads drivers get upset because there's a "perfectly good cycle lane" which you're not using.

Classic example of infrastructure being so bad it makes things worse. I can see the thinking behind riding on the right for that particular location - the thought was actually there in designing it - but the implementation has failed.

proceeding at a moderate to slow pace and not the 25mph+ that one sometimes encounters.

I recall with some distaste the change that happened around the time of growing popularity of UK sports cycling - was that the 2012 Olympics or before that... can't quite recall. Anyway, the Bristol to Bath cycle path begins a slow descent into the city centre just after Mangotsfield station and so the path started to fill with mamils who imagined they were Bingley Wiggles etc etc. And not a bell between them, natch.
Sunday morning became a perilous time to potter about on the path... hey ho, how times fly.

simonineaston wrote: ↑9 Jul 2023, 9:09pm The obsticle with the most expensive outcome recently has been the young guy on a non-rental e-scooter... he was checking his phone for directions (Voi scooters sensibly have a stout and versatile clamp for the user's phone) and I'll leave you, dear reader, to imagine the level of wobbling going on when an inexperienced user uses a small-wheeled e-scooter, one handed, while trying to operate and hold and read their iphone. Poor chap fell off directly in front of me and we picked up the pieces together, he with scraped knees (that's shorts for you), the scooter less one flimsy mudguardy thing and the phone, all crunched up. Oh dear.

Oh dear. I certainly wouldn’t call him a “poor chap”, more of an exceptionally stupid chap. Hopefully, this has taught him a road safety lesson: a danger to both himself and others.

My commute into London coming from the SE takes me on a cycle path. This is new in the last 3 or 4 years.

I've done this commute for 15 years. It's pretty unrideable in places due to inappropriate vehicles and road users.

Coming though Bermondsey i had a kid probaly about 13yo on an E-bike oncoming. Passing on the left as normal.

On a slight right for me, he was looking at his phone and headed straight for me. I was able to hop pretty much sideways up the kerb on my side onto a sort of narrow central reservation, and he came right across, hit the kerb on my side and catapulted into the road. Two bikes behind me piled into his Lime rental bike, which was now on the floor in the cycle path.

Everyone dusted themselves off. Kid walked off, in shock with very ripped school trousers.

other cyclists were ok, but one had hit there groin /hip into the handlebars, and was clearly bruised a bit. the other had done well to unclip and minimise the damage to himself.

The damage. single speed. handlebars/stem were all over the place and the front brake caliper was twisted, front wheel was bent and punctured. Second was a expensive looking Willier, scratched up on the drive side and the Ultegra RD was bent inwards, one of the brifters was bend in, and the chainset had alot of horrible looking scratches.

Honestly i'd rather use the road, but that is inherently more risky as its now narower, and with more agressive drivers as 'you should be on the path'...

Nearholmer wrote: ↑9 Jul 2023, 7:38pm I would say ‘pass on the left’, although the HC seems only to talk about keeping to the left on roads.

A cycleway is a type of road.

Are they?

This is really probably yet another criticism of the wording, layout etc of the HC, but I can’t find anywhere in it that says which rules of the road apply on cycle tracks. If all of them do, then it might be wise to point that out, although since there’s no competence licensing for walking or cycling, and no compulsion to read or obey the HC, it might all be a bit moot, because many cycle track users will do as they see fit (which may or may not be fit for everyone else).

Driving on the left is quite well buried, as if “everybody knows that already”, which may be a fair point, and is phrased very much with the motor-vehicle driver in mind.

Pinhead wrote: ↑9 Jul 2023, 7:40pm

Steve wrote: ↑9 Jul 2023, 7:31pm Try to pass oncoming cyclists on the left, and hope they have the same idea! Not all of them will, though.

We drive on the left so cycle on the LEFT

It seems to me to be the obvious way to do things. I wonder why some cyclists choose the rhs.
Imagine if drivers could choose which side to drive at random !
They would have to go much more slowly.
Perhaps it would be a good idea!

As a recumbent trike rider in Bristol i know exactly what you are describing. The additional width of the trike and its low profile add to the issue so I have to anticipate others and use my judgement and my bicycle bell frequently oh and be ready to stop quickly if all else fails.

I reckon there is no reference to using the left side of a cycle route because the network as a whole is such a jumbled mis-mash of designs, layouts and priorities squeezed in and around existing roads and roadside features that such a logical approach would be impossible to apply universally.

Sort of related . . .
I have noticed that some shared paths with a painted segregation line often have signage and tactile paving that are at odds with their indication as to who is intended to be on what side of the line. I have also found myself joining such paths with no signage (on posts or painted on the path) to indicate where I am intended to be.

This is another of those perennial discussions.

I'm one of those who sees no reason why the rules of the road shouldn't equally apply to cycle paths. Most of the cyclists I meet seem to agree and ride on the left. A small number seem to have given the matter no prior thought, and a perverse minority aggressively assert their right to enforce the opposite. I met one of the latter last year on NCN2, alongside the Royal Military Canal on Romney Marsh. He appeared ahead riding towards me and as he approached I moved to the left. He was still some distance off but quite deliberately moved to his right and it was obvious he was on a mission. I slowed to a halt on the left and at the last minute he swerved round me, uttering a stream of invective as he did so. I did wonder if it was some local convention to welcome continental visitors from the nearby channel ports.

Norman H wrote: ↑11 Jul 2023, 10:29am This is another of those perennial discussions.

I'm one of those who sees no reason why the rules of the road shouldn't equally apply to cycle paths. Most of the cyclists I meet seem to agree and ride on the left. A small number seem to have given the matter no prior thought, and a perverse minority aggressively assert their right to enforce the opposite.

I think part of the issue with shared paths is that they're often quite narrow and almost invariably shared with The Family Gormless who are wandering along, dog over ------->, kids scattered all around etc. Sometimes, you can be riding along towards an oncoming cyclist who is moving to the "wrong" side but they're doing that because, behind you, is some other obstacle you may not have noticed but they're riding towards.

Said family stepping out from a side path, another cyclist approaching faster... and everyone is trying to make their way through the chaos - sometimes, for whatever reason, it's quicker and easier to do that by accepting that the oncoming rider has done whatever they've done for a reason, even if at that precise moment you're not aware of it.

Used to happen regularly on my canal towpath commute where obstacles such as bridges, moored boats, fishermen, kids, dogs, cyclists and geese were all various hazards to be negotiated. Sometimes you'd pass left, sometimes right. You'd see some riders who were obviously terrified of falling into the canal and they'd always move to the side away from the edge.

simonineaston wrote: ↑9 Jul 2023, 10:19pm I'm completely sympathetic to the general rule of ride (as well as driving) on the left, and walk on the right state of affairs. Thus two cyclists approaching one another will pass each other by both staying to their left. What a simple and easy idea. Excellent!

But you'll have noticed the signs on the B2B suggesting to walkers they should walk on the left. When I'm cycling, I prefer walkers to be on their right, so oncoming walkers are facing me. It means everyone's aware of everyone else and makes it easier to negotiate passing. But I prefer runners to be on the left; it's easy enough to slow to running speed for a few seconds till it's safe to pass. Of course, the actual speed at which walking becomes running is undefined...

But I've also walked the entire length of the path several times, at various times of day (though only from Bath to Bristol, for some reason) and found that as a walker, it feels better to be on the left. I think it just feels as if you carry on walking and the cyclists make their way around you, whereas head-on (walking on the right) it feels as though you should stop or shrink.

I agree with what has been said. Locally NCR 23 is a perfect example. Virtually unuseable most of the time as it require slow slalom progress to avoid dogs on or off leads children ditto and walkers some with their backs to you completely oblivious to your approach.

Fortunately our local roads are not that bad so if you are using your bike as a way of getting about then I use those and sadly just avoid the "cycle route".

My son and I had a somewhat similar experience in Le Havre on the way to the ferry port some years ago.

The "cycle lane" was on the pavement to the right with several emerging roads which needed to be crossed, again progress was slow and unpleasant as each crossing had to be treated with caution as the emerging cars had priority. There was no segregation for pedestrian but it didn't seem to be a place where people would walk it was just to get cycles off the road as far as I could tell. We therefore ignored it and simply cycled on the road to much honking from the locals.

I've always felt that Sustrans should recommend a Code (basically, just KEEP LEFT) & have suggested it, unsuccessully.

At certain times & in certain places, it's actually safer for an experienced cyclist to be on the public highway, where most road-users' behaviour is at least reasonably predictable. Popular 'trails' (like Tissington/ Bath-Bristol, etc.) can be a nightmare at holiday times, when less experienced cyclists assume it's safe, so they feel they can ride where they like. I've met families & groups riding 4 or 5 abreast. When they do make way, frequently at the last minute, they often divide - instead of all moving to the left, and then young Johnnie suddenly switches without warning, deciding he wants to ride with Mum or Dad on the other side. No one signals intention.

Keeping left is such simple, obvious common sense - but I've never seen a sign suggesting it.

PS I always use a bell, but unfortunately get the impression that most men under 45 feel that to fit a bell is "grannyish" - and to use one is somehow a surrender of their manhood!