CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
"Cyclists: claim your lane, urges motoring org"
(15 posts)-
Posted 14 years ago #
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Clearly the driver behind me, as I set myself up to turn right at a mini roundabout on my way home yesterday, wouldn't agree with that article.
Not content with catching me up quickly and then tailgating, which I countered by moving to take the entire lane and slowing down slightly, he then started revving his engine and blowing his horn. I foolishly made a 'calm down, dear' gesture before signalling right and taking the roundabout. He blew his horn again and undertook me, for he was going straight on, and as I turned my head to watch him disappear he gave me a V sign for good measure.
Of course, I was riding a small wheeled upright bike and not a behemoth of a recumbent, so I had therefore demoted myself to the lowest possible level, the scum of the road, not even fit to clean his shoes. It was a little upsetting, actually, because that kind of reaction is very unusual in my daily riding.
Posted 14 years ago # -
If you got his number, you should make a formal complaint to the licencing people. Especially if, as a lone female you felt threatened by the driver's actions...
Even if nothing is meaningful is done about any given complaint, they are recorded against the driver's records and in the event that another rider takes a hit, might prove invaluable in demonstrating a prolonged habit of dangerous antics.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Aye, Duncan Pickering has been actively trying to recruit cycle instructors.
"As a charity, the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) supports the raising of driving and riding standards and campaigns for increased on-road skills. We support and represent motorists, motorcyclists and are now actively embracing cyclists too! We offer practical driving and riding programmes and urge all road users to act more responsibly and safely. But also with greater confidence and enjoyment too!"
It remains to be seen how effective this will be, certainly they seem to want to promote "Advanced cycling".
Posted 14 years ago # -
"they seem to want to promote "Advanced cycling"
As long as the training is better than the proofreading.
"we offer the opportunity for cyclists to improve their riding tandards"
Posted 14 years ago # -
I'm not sure I want to be embraced by IAM.
Posted 14 years ago # -
The advantage of this might be that things the IAM says are generally accepted as authoritative. Provided they come out with genuinely good material for cyclists it might end up drawing a line under certain 'edgy' practices like holding a lane (as we see here).
When questioned about why you did what you did, being able to say it's what the Institute of Advanced *Motorists* recommend ought to be quite a solid justification.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I believe it is an offence to give finger gestures now and they can be prosecuted like verbal abuse?
Posted 14 years ago # -
Maybe Anth could clarify that one for us? I've seen inebriated-but-communicative people being arrested for swearing, though I think the final nail was swearing at the police officer who'd been patient but firm.
Posted 14 years ago # -
yet another example of a reason for a helmet mounted video camera
Posted 14 years ago # -
Now my daughter is cycling I'm starting to get tales of her experiences cycling solo.
Today she was cycling back from school past Bike Co-op and wanted to turn right from road onto cycle path at Bruntsfield path crossing. Think that is legal? Light was green for traffic.
She looked over shoulder and signaled and got tooted at in an agressive way. Female driver behind could not understand why she was turning right onto cyclepath and in middle to centre of road. The crossing was green and a van was coming towards her so car was not prepared to wait four seconds.
I suppose you could say that driver may well not have realised that a bike path existed and was tooting about pavement /illegal cycling or some such thing. To most drivers these bike crossings will probably register as 'bad cyclists crossing on a green man'.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Turning off a road onto a cycle path at traffic lights does feel a bit like an 'ill-defined' manoeuvre sometimes. Should you wait for the green (on the road) or does it not really matter?
Two places I can think of:
1) Turning left off Teviot Pl onto Middle Meadow Walk. This can feel a bit messy when the light is red and there are cyclists and Peds crossing Teviot Pl and Peds using the pavement too.
It just doesn't feel well designed to me - how *do* you get cleanly onto MM-Walk when you are on a bike? Slowly and carefully seems to be best.2) Turning left off Dundee Street to go through the approach road underpass. I usually come off at the ped crossing (I stay on the bike) regardless of the state of the traffic lights, this can sometimes mean slowing right down if there are pedestrians about - though most of the time I go through it's pretty quiet.
If you come off the road here you need to use a couple of metres of pavement to reach the bumpy ramp. Again this feels a bit messy.Posted 14 years ago # -
@laidback, certainly you can stop to turn right when the light is green, I would reassure your daughter that not everybody can understand the rules of the road as well as we do!
It is a funny area though. Coming down Marchmont road, if you want to turn right onto the new bit of cyclepath (over Meadow Place towards Argyle), what do you do if the pedestrian crossing is red?
On the one hand, you can wait for the traffic light to turn green, and then hold up all the drivers coming down Marchmont Road until you're clear to turn right.
Or, you can turn right while the red light is on. I think this is technically illegal because you have to proceed beyond the white line to get onto the cycle path (even if you cross the road before the white line, the cycle path is after it).
To make it extra confusing, as the crossing is a dual-use one, it's a legitimate technique to set it off to help you cross the road. What if one member of a group did so while the rest waited on the left out of the line of traffic, then they would not strictly be able to use the crossing as they'd be behind the white line (although the point of the crossing is half to facilitate the movement they want to make in the first place!).
It's similar to the problem at Teviot Place. When that light is red I generally stop, but this often "rages" other cyclists who want to get round me and onto MMW using the pedestrian crossing. In fact I almost took one down when he tried to go up the inside of the recumbent, and I turned left onto him when the lights changed). He shouted at me to indicate and I told him to stop undertaking, it was the road network in microcosm!
The reason it causes trouble is that, for example, if the drop kerb at Teviot Place was slightly longer, you could turn left without crossing the white line and it's not clear what would be wrong with this (since it's designated a cyclepath anyway, I don't think there are white lines there).
Posted 14 years ago # -
I agree about top of MMW. It is kind of silly as normally you would just lower kerb before line and filter bikes off.
I know that by going through a red** I'm technically wrong even though I'm just entering another part of the cycle path.
** I don't usually
Posted 14 years ago # -
"I agree about top of MMW. It is kind of silly as normally you would just lower kerb before line and filter bikes off."
I seem to remember that there USED to a dropped Kerb. Then pavement got 'renewed' using a previous plan...
And as for the double traffic lights?????
Posted 14 years ago #
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