Petition calls for end to road surface dressing due to danger loose gravel poses to cyclists

On some of my rides in Oxforshire I have encountered the "Dragon Patcher", fixing defects on little roads.  It does seem to make some of the bad roads a little better.  But because of getting tar and dressing on my tyres it did make it sound like riding through rice krispies for ages.

What about riding to the prevailing conditions?

Last year motorcycling throuh france on minor roads on my way to italy i encountered road surfacing like this. It seemed like a whole region was beeing resurfaced as i spent nearly the whole day on and off roads with this surface. Being on 2 wheels it wasn't enjoyable as i was worried i would lose grip.

Last time i went on same surface within ten seconds the stones stuck to my tyres and shattered my mud gaurds, hate them, at least they cover the drains by me but again dont fill potholes and when cars go over newly laid it causes ripples that seem to increase over time, its just false economy.

This is, as far as I can tell, the only method of road repair or dressing used in Cambridge.

And it's fucking dangerous.

I understand why councils do it, it's the cheapest option, but when they do it to what was previously a really good surface it pisses me off big time.

The main issues as far as I'm concerned are:

1. Not filling in the potholes before hand
2. The loose gravel blocking drainage / water run offs
3. The crap that's left in the "cycle lanes" after the cars have swept everything off the rest of the road
4. The shit surface after the chippings start breaking away

Oh FFS. It's part of the road environment. Use another road, walk, learn to ride on gravel, whatever. Just don't whinge about it.

I thought it was the fashion to be riding gravel bikes.

Lots of it where I live, but beyond being pretty coarse to cycle on compared to smooth tarmac, I've never once had any issues linked to safety because of it and I ride on it every day.

Guys, and I expect you are guys who are talking this macho thing about growing some etc... could I point out that if you are a 45kg woman, or an even slighter child, any gravel, bumps and potholes are a definite danger. I dread meeting up with any gravel as it is very difficult to stay on board. I have been severely injured several times because of gravel and potholes. Imagine how difficult it would be for a young cyclist in those circumstances?

If you want to encourage more people, especially women and children, to cycle wherever and whenever they want, which I am sure you do, why not press for the best conditions that suit everybody?

Gravel is s&*t.

Loads of areas done like this on Wirral. I was brought off my bike. A piece of gravel with tar on it stuck to tyre and got lodged in small space under fork. I was nearly tipped over handlebars but came off. Also they didn't sweep up excess in gutters and junctions. Highly dangerous for cyclists. Council very slow to respond. Roads still uneven after this rubbish treatment. False economy.

Last year my council completely stripped and resurfaced one road, leaving it lovely and smooth with a great friction surface. Then less than two months later they surface dressed it! And they made a mess of that too leaving bumps and ripples in the surface. You couldn't make this stuff up.

If done right, surface dressing isn't too bad. The trouble is the councils often don't seem to do it right: they don't fix the flaws in the base first, so the old pot holes just reappear within months; they don't sweep up the loose gravel either. When the Highways Agency (or whatever they're called this week) do surface dressing on major roads, they manage a much better job.

I don't like cycling on newly surface dressed roads like most people. I don't like riding a motorbike on them either. And I certainly don't like being hit by flying stones every time someone drives past doing 40+ mph.

The issue is there seems to be two ways of doing it, the proper way,where the chippings do exactly what they are supposed to and are fine laid down, no excess and cause no issue,often applied to national speed limit roads, and then there's the quick & dirty way of doing it often on rural b roads or 30limit country roads, where they the chippings are so loosely attached to the tar you get visible wheel ruts forming and within a year the road will show bald patches of tar as all the chippings are in the verges,which are lethal when icy, and all the holes they didn't fill in the first time will have got bigger, leave it to you to work out which process of road chippings the average cyclist encounters most often.

Certainly I notice the loosely done stuff knocks a measurable speed off my rides,its like riding on a gravel drive, and requires extra wattage to push through vs a decent tarmac'd surface , I bet TT'ers notice it more

They didn't bother filling in the potholes outside my house before they chipped it. The pothole is still there and will likely become a massive crevasse this winter if we get enough freezing and thawing.

Also, most don't stick to 20mph even when passing pedestrians. Really stings when you get showered by a passing lorry doing a good 30mph on gravel.

The main problem I have with it is with stone chips on the paintwork and tar. It's not just cosmetic damage, because it will eventually start corroding parts.

Is there an anti-sign option for this nonsense?
Chipsealing is cheap and effective way to maintain the integrity of the road and restore skid resistance​. Councils are comming round to doing this again since they took maintenance holidays on lots of roads and the water got into​the base courses and wrecked them. Of course they've left it too long in a lot of cases but that's just the nature of dealing with big budget cuts. If done right the road is only covered in gravel for a short while then it makes​ a really good surface. If people think there is the money for full resurfacing every time then they are in lala land. Besides, chipsealing is a preventative maintenance and resurfacing is a major rebuild used when the road completely fails. Stop moaning.

It IS dangerous because the surface afterwards is very uneven and varies as to how well the dressing takes hold. It's hard to even go down one 8% hill at anything more than 20mph due to how badly uneven and bumpy the surface is because they chose to use this method and it's worse than it was before by a long, long way. not only that but it doesn't last, it cracks/erodes away quickly by comparison to a surface done properly.

Having spoken to road engineers they will tell you it is a false economy but then councils and indeed many contractors are so micky poor/thick many aren't capable of understanding nor have the ability to do a good job of it in any case.

"All the roads that I know have been 'fixed' with this method seem to end up being re-done within a year anyway." 

What a load of tosh!  If it was being done every year then the councils wouldn't do it...  The method has been used for years and it's not suddenly any more dangerous.  As mentioned above, ride in the tracks made by our fellow road users and reduce the brave pill dosage for the corners.  

I always wear glasses, clear lenses for dull, wet (scottish) weather and tinted for the 2 days of summer we get here.  The reason is for eye protection, I've been struck on the face by a wee stone pinged up from the wheels of a Lorry so I won't risk it.  

I would like other road users to stick to the advised speed limit tho, even in my car the pebble dashing it gets from other motorists brings tears to my eyes.

Sometimes people make a petition for the smallest of reasons.  But that's only my opinion, and that's all it is. 

Those "Max speed 20" signs are a joke. Literally nobody these days has the patience to stick to 20 mph. A few years ago several miles of my commute were redressed with loose chippings, and even the local vicar overtook me doing about 30.

Oh for God's sake, this method has been used for decades and isn't remotely dangerous.  If a road is freshly dressed then just slow down.  Ride where the cars have left tyre tracks.  Slow down on corners.  Watch for gravel at junctions.

The only issue is that some authorities don't adequately sweep up the gravel that gets deposited at the edge of the carriageway, but even that isn't an issue anywhere other than junctions, where again, people should slow down.  If you report such instances on the council's website, usually they clear it up within a week or so.

I have more problems riding along C-roads through farms and fields, where lack of cleaning means there's a nice grass verge in the centre of the lane, than I do with road dressings.

The practice is alive and well in North Yorkshire. Local roads done weeks ago. It's more the annoyance of riding in a gravel pit at the road edges that annoy me.  Don't forget to wear glasses as well or it'll chippings to the face.