Cycling UK Forum

gaz wrote:Sadly, there has been another one: http://www.ctc.org.uk/news/20160111-fai ... eath.......

from the linked article:-

...Within 48 hours workmen from Warwickshire Council had filled in the pothole in question,.....

It beggers belief that if the hole was so bad why it wasn't filled in before.

And:-

According to the Telegraph report the whole road was due to be resurfaced before Christmas, but the work was postponed after a request by a nearby farmer selling Christmas trees from his premises.

What can you say.....

If it is really true that the work was postponed for the convenience of a local business, that's disgusting. And if it isn't actionanble, it ought to be. If the local authorites responsible were going to be influenced in this way, which they should not have been, they ought at least to have done temporary patching and put up warning barriers.

Some farmers get away with far too much re roads as it is. They ought, for example, to have to use blowers when hedge cutting so that roads aren't left full of thorns. Some do. Some don't. They all should.
Same goes for muck on the road- some minimise it by using matting in gateways etc., put up signs if it is unaviodable, and clean up immediately. Some don't. They all should.

This week I was driving on a narrow-ish rural road, luckily cautiously as I do, and came round a bend to find a tractor hedge cutting. No warning signs at all. Had I been driving the way a good third of drivers do, I'd have been lucky to be able to stop behind the idiot. Bad farmers like this get farmers a bad name.

reohn2 wrote:

...Within 48 hours workmen from Warwickshire Council had filled in the pothole in question,.....

It beggers belief that if the hole was so bad why it wasn't filled in before.

Filling it in hides the evidence. Good reason for a prompt response??? Hopefully photos were taken, but they cannot necessarily show detail etc.

"I don't think that many motorists realise that if a cyclist moved out into the road they are not being difficult. They may well be trying to avoid a pothole."

My own reaction (which may or not be helpful) to this incredibly sad case is as quoted above: I wouldn't rely on the council's fixing of potholes to remain safe. On the whole, they're better fixed but either one might appear yet to be fixed or some other obstruction. On that basis:

I would reduce my speed on any road likely to be potholed (all the roads round here).
Expect drivers to slow down and give me more room.
Assert my road space to allow for sudden manoeuvres.
Use wider tyres on a suitable bike.

That doesn't negate the council's responsibility to fix them but it does shift a bit more responsibility onto cyclists to give themselves more room (I am assuming here that drivers will resist and resent that but tough).

Nothing I have said waives the council's liability, blames the cyclist or in any way reduces the tragedy of the event. I would however cast blame on the DofT for their appalling lapse in the correct instruction and training of driving instructors who still don't advise drivers to give enough room. Remember: this poor woman wasn't killed by the pothole, or by hitting it or by falling off her bike. She was killed by a passing car whose driver failed to allow for the fact that should anything happen, the cyclist would be killed.

horizon wrote: Remember: this poor woman wasn't killed by the pothole, or by hitting it or by falling off her bike. She was killed by a passing car whose driver failed to allow for the fact that should anything happen, the cyclist would be killed.

She was thrown into the path of an oncoming car, which is rather different. A blanket, strictly-enforced 20mph speed-limit might have helped but expecting drivers to slow down whenever they meet a cyclist approaching on the opposite side of the road is unfortunately unrealistic.

LollyKat wrote:She was thrown into the path of an oncoming car, which is rather different. A blanket, strictly-enforced 20mph speed-limit might have helped but expecting drivers to slow down whenever they meet a cyclist approaching on the opposite side of the road is unfortunately unrealistic.

I stand corrected - thank you.

If I've got the right road, (https://goo.gl/maps/aGqZdxrdHsj) it's a narrow, straightish road with a generally poor, mud strewn surface. I don't think it's being unrealistic to slow down, even just out of courtesy, on such a road. As we've seen, anything can happen.

However, on this occasion it looks as though:

1. The cyclist couldn't avoid the pothole or didn't see it in time.
2. The speed of the bike was such to throw the rider across the road.
3. The type of tyre/wheel may not have provided much cushioning (I don't know about this).
4. The car passed (OTOS) at precisely the wrong moment - at what speed we don't know.

I'm happy to put this event down to tragic accident. Yes, the cyclist might have gone more slowly (shouldn't we all?) and the driver, yes, slowed down - perhaps. But I'm trying to get back ownership of this event from the council - as Iviehoff says above, there will always be potholes . . . and other things too.

IIRC the article suggested the pothole was covered with water.
That's why I said the pothole should have been filled or marked with barriers if it was as bad as that. What looks like a thin sheet of shallow water can be concealing very nasty potholes.

I think the road are definely getting worse , small top dressing holes seem to be more abundant but as they dont affect a car they are not repaired.
During the week on was on my way home around 5 pm and went over a smallish hole that i did not see in the dark and it caused me to lose my hold of the bars , i careened into the luckily ( ?) grass verge as it was a country road and landed on my head and shoulder.
Not had chance to do a full check of the bike in daylight but i know the shifters have mud in them and the right hand one is twisted around the bars , my shoulder still hurts but i consider myself lucky as headfirst onto muddy grass is better than tarmac.

CyberKnight wrote:I think the road are definely getting worse , small top dressing holes seem to be more abundant but as they dont affect a car they are not repaired.
During the week on was on my way home around 5 pm and went over a smallish hole that i did not see in the dark and it caused me to lose my hold of the bars , i careened into the luckily ( ?) grass verge as it was a country road and landed on my head and shoulder.
Not had chance to do a full check of the bike in daylight but i know the shifters have mud in them and the right hand one is twisted around the bars , my shoulder still hurts but i consider myself lucky as headfirst onto muddy grass is better than tarmac.

There are now so many serious potholes around here (I mean, as in, down to the hardcore base) that I wouldn't know where to start reporting them.

horizon wrote:If I've got the right road, (https://goo.gl/maps/aGqZdxrdHsj) it's a narrow, straightish road with a generally poor, mud strewn surface. I don't think it's being unrealistic to slow down, even just out of courtesy, on such a road. As we've seen, anything can happen.

On a road like that (and there are plenty around here) I slow down for oncoming - anything! Cyclists, pedestrians, cars, dogs, oil-delivery wagons, sheep, horses... As you say though, we don't know the driver didn't.