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Cheltenham New Flyer - tori and skardy 2Councillors call on cops to penalise 'inconsiderate' cyclists riding two abreast 'for their own safety'
Councillors in Stirling have responded to Police Scotland’s close pass operation by calling for more enforcement on ‘inconsiderate’ cyclists.
The Daily Record reports that a close pass operation conducted in Fallin on June 15 saw five warnings and two fixed penalty notices issued for bad driving behaviour in relation to cyclists.
Labour councillor for Stirling East, Chris Kane, questioned why there weren’t any statistics provided on how many cyclists police stopped.
“To my mind there is a small proportion of both drivers and cyclists who cause the bulk of the problems but we hear about enforcement on inconsiderate drivers much more than enforcement on inconsiderate cyclists,” he said.
“My challenge to Police Scotland is that, given our roads are used by multiple users, we should ensure safety campaigns reflect this.”
While Stirling area commander Chief Inspector Gill Marshall said the force issued as many warnings to cyclists as drivers, Green councillor for Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, Alasdair Tollemache, suggested that officers should also speak to local cycling groups to underline the road safety message.
SNP councillor for Trossachs and Teith, Evelyn Tweed, meanwhile, bemoaned cyclists riding two abreast – even though this is perfectly legal and indeed encouraged in certain circumstances.
She recounted a “horrible drive” in heavy rain, during which she had encountered a group of cyclists riding two or three abreast.
“As the road was busy with traffic, this made it extremely difficult to pass cyclists and led to some unsafe driving as drivers tried to pass and get on with their journey,” she said.
“Drivers undoubtedly have to consider cyclists and their safety but cyclists also have to consider how they are using the roads. In these circumstances, I think they should go single file.”
Tweed said that “cyclists need to use the road responsibly and be aware of their own safety”.
McLoughlin said: “Police aim to give advice to cyclists where possible and our key priority is always the safety of road users. We will, where circumstances dictate, opt for the most appropriate method to get that message across.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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As a keen road user, I also get irritated when groups of motorists make it difficult for other road users. It's not easy to get past queues of cars without cycling in a precarious position and breathing in loads of polluted air or indeed, not easy to cross the road if you're a pedestrian.
There is never any excuse for driving dangerously!
Absolutely correct, but not a reason to condone poor cycling either. Both parties could use their best endeavours to the greater good of all road users.
driving dangerously v poor cycling (whatever that is) = false equivalence
which is does not disagree with what I said, since I made no equivalence between them. And yes, poor cycling, it's a thing, it happens too.
Thank you, that's clarified then. We are agreed.
No equivalence between poor cycling (as yet to be defined by Sriracha), which has the effect of irritating incompetent drivers
And dangerous driving, which has the effect of, y'know, killing people.
Glad we're sorted
I'd prefer someone to be cycling poorly than not cycling at all.
Poor cycling doesn't really put other people at risk (excepting some edge cases), but not cycling at all can lead to poor health due to lack of exercise. I bet there'd be less strain on the NHS if everyone got off their arses and cycled a bit even if some of those people are utterly incompetent and keep falling off.
We need to encourage even the poor cyclists - they can always improve their skills later on.
As a bloke who uses a bicycle to get to work and home again, with walking in between, it is your choice whether or not to drive dangerously. If you can't get past without doing something that might injure or kill someone, then have some bloody patience and wait.
As a keen motorist, I can't remember one time in 25 years where I've been put at risk by people on two wheels.
Where I can't get passed safely, I stay put. This applies to every situation I encounter behind the wheel - can't do it safely? Don't do it.
When we drive motor vehicles, we are the ones who put others at risk, due to:
If you are incapable of coping with normal driving conditions on the roads, why on earth are you driving in the first place? And especially whilst blaming others for your incompetence, who are merely going about their lawful business and exercising their right to use the public highway.
Quite right too. And they can make it so much easier if the group of cyclists are two abreast. It halves the distance to overtake. Much less dangerous.
"I'm not racist, I even have black friends".
But are they cyclists and are you a policeman who can smell canabis at twenty paces?
You are very naughty. Look at how many triggers you've pulled in just a few hours LOL
oh dear, now you've made me log in again.
IMG_0796.JPG
That diagram is brilliant but sadly some drivers would prefer if the cyclist in the diagram didn't exist at all!
We had a group riding here. All in single file, all wearing helmets, on a bright day with bright clothing. A truck overtook on the brow of a hill with no overtaking lines.
He killed a lady in the group. I think she was one of those that got irritated when cyclists rode two abreast which was why she was riding single file.
And riding primary in such circumstances or two abreast is, despite the nonsense from the Highway Code about singling out, massively more likely to prevent a close pass in such situations as it induces doubt.
The old pony trotted out by some cyclists about better being alive than dead and being in the right has zero evidence at all of being accurate, motorists extremely rarely rear end you, sure it does happen but psychologically it's far harder to do even if you're really angry than to close pass someone within inches because they beleive there's a gap/space to get past.
I'd far rather have a moron beeping their horn from behind than close passing me at speed.
As a keen cyclist I also get irritated when a slow moving tractor refuses to breathe in and run on one wheel making it difficult to pass, but then rather than driving dangerously I wait.
These people are in urgent need of re-education.
Very much so. Surely some of the nonsense spouted should be grounds for removing ones licence - some can't tell the difference between moving and being stopped.
Hopefully this won't go much further and the police will outright refuse to spend their limited resources to crack down on legal activity.
TeresaDay - If it is difficult to overtake, maybe its because it isn't safe to do so. Riding 2 abreast just means you can't preform a close pass on the rider on the inside without a collison and a close pass is not a safe pass. Getting lucky that there wasn't an incident doesn't make it ok.
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