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news
M62 cyclist.PNGCyclist on motorway pedals past sign warning of … cyclist on motorway
A police officer in Yorkshire has posted footage to Twitter of a cyclist riding on a motorway … and passing under an electronic sign warning of the presence of a cyclist on the motorway.
A police officer in Yorkshire has posted footage to Twitter of a cyclist riding on a motorway … and passing under an electronic sign warning of the presence of a cyclist on the motorway.
The clip, which shows the rider pedalling along the hard shoulder of the M62, was shared on the social network by PC Martin Willis of West Yorkshire Police.
There are many types of conveyances that are prohibited from using the motorway. Bicycles are one of them! pic.twitter.com/67wqVGalR2
— Motorway Martin (@WYP_PCWILLIS) March 5, 2021
PC Willis said: “There are many types of conveyances that are prohibited from using the motorway. Bicycles are one of them!”
It is unclear how the cyclist – who is riding in a straight line, at a steady speed, and is wearing hi-viz gear – came to be on the motorway, nor what action if any was taken against him.
Inevitably, the post sparked the usual anti-cyclist comments in the replies – but there was also a response from one cyclist who explained how poor signage had led him onto a motorway.
I've ended up on a motorway in error before.
Left turn onto A40 - second left. Well, the sign doesn't consider the farm entrance...
2nd left is an emergency slip road. The gate is left propped open.
And 3am, so you can't see the gate or the sign at that angle. pic.twitter.com/OdliKVQfBK
— Nathaniel Cleland (@bellezzasolocle) March 5, 2021
Highway Code rule 253 states:
Prohibited vehicles. Motorways MUST NOT be used by pedestrians, holders of provisional motorcycle or car licences, riders of motorcycles under 50 cc, cyclists, horse riders, certain slow-moving vehicles and those carrying oversized loads (except by special permission), agricultural vehicles, and powered wheelchairs/powered mobility scooters.
Over the years we’ve reported on numerous cases of cyclists ending up on motorways, whether through ignoring signage or inadvertently being guided there by sat-nav apps.
Last year, during the first national lockdown, a cyclist who strayed onto the M58 near Skelmersdale in Lancashire because of a sat-nav error was fined after a van driver crashed while trying to avoid him.
> Motorway cyclist fined after van driver crashed trying to avoid him
While no-one was injured, police said that the cyclist himself was very lucky he had not been “wiped out.”
One of the most high-profile instances of cyclists found riding on a motorway came the day before the opening ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, when four cyclists from the Sri Lanka national team were spotted cycling on the M74 near the exit for Motherwell and Hamilton.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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28 comments
Can someone on here explain to an American who regularly reads Road.cc exaclty why these shoulders are closed to bicycles. From what I see, they look to be the safest place to ride in the UK. Your other narrow, shoulderless roads full of fast-moving traffic look terrifying. Is there some thinking on the part of the government that the odds of a cyclist surviving are all that much better if they are hit by a car going 50 or 60 mph versus one going 70 mph?
Possibly historic reasons. The first motorways had no speed limit.
The hard shoulder is a refuge area, so if you were getting to it in a hurry, a cyclist would not feature in your manoeuvre. There are also a handful of collisions on the hard shoulder.
It's not much fun for a cyclist and not as easy to get off compared with a dual carriageway.
Not all parts of the motorway system has a hard shoulder, they can stop suddenly, particularly when bridges cross the system, at which point the slow moving cyclist would be forced to use the main traffic lane. The difference between a NSL A Road and a Motorway is A Road users should expect slower moving traffic, junctions, traffic lights, stop signs and various other potential hazards and drive accordingly; motorways are designed to limit these potential hazards and remove cars from A Roads as much as possible
interesting. choke points would certainly create a hazard. your motorways appear different than our freeways where shoulders continue beneath bridges. the state of Arizona actually allows riding on those shoulders and a safety study found they were pretty safe. they certainly provide a lot more room for separation from traffic than many of the older roads in the U.S., which are shoulder-less as most of those in the UK appear to be. https://mobikefed.org/sites/default/files/richard-moeur-interstate-freew...
What's the speed limit on a freeway?
In the UK quite a few people go up to 80 which is 10 above the limit although average speed cameras have an effect.
The other consideration is what is termed smart motorways where there is no hard shoulder. There are refuges every 1.5 miles and the lane is supposed to be closed if blocked by a vehicle.
These smart parts are often sections of a normal motorway and form only a small part of the network.
Hard shoulders are acknowledged to be a dangerous place to be - stranded motorists are always advised to stand the other side of the barrier, and dramatic videos of juggernauts ploughing into the back of vehicles stationary on the hard shoulder do the rounds. However I suspect the danger is created by following drivers not realising the stranded car is in fact stranded and stationary and instead mistake it for a moving vehicle - hence a traffic lane - until too late. The same would not apply for bicycles.
Even so, the fact that billions are spent on infrastructure predicated on the exclusion of active travel says much about current thinking. Change that, and perhaps we will see safe innovations. How much extra would it cost to include a strip of tarmac on the safe side of the barrier, for example. Until the thinking is changed to include "but how does that work for cyclists?" nothing else will change.
I don't see much benefit in a strip of cycle lane alongside a motorway, who's ever been out riding or planned a route and thought "wow that 20 mile straight line through barren wilderness would be a really useful to ride along"
Agreed - it'd be better to follow the train lines instead.
The junctions tend to be a little less mad, excepting Clapham, and similar of course.
At least we can rely on trains not making sudden turns and swapping lanes without any warning.
I hate riding on a bike lane next to a fast & busy road, mainly because of the noise. Train lines are far better, as the noise is infrequent.
A bike lane alongside HS2 would have been good, instead of cutting off existing routes like it's doing.
Well .. sometimes, you just need to get somewhere.
I would gladly cycle 20 miles in a straight line to get somewhere I needed to go in preference to taking the car.
And, of course, dearest Jackie has never assumed that it's OK to break the speed limit, pavement park, dangerously overtake cyclists, look at their mobile while driving or jump red lights.
Yes and car drivers never make mistakes like driving on the wrong side of motorways into the flow of traffic. Or break any laws like requirement to have insurance, M.O.T., or even a licence. Must be nice in that steel cage of perfection.
He wanted to experience what's it like to ride on the safest roads in the country.
I would've ridden more primary position
Used to be that motorway slip roads had signs highlighting prohibited vehicles. These seem to have vanished. Even when a dual carriageway changes to motorway - the A1 is a classic example especially at Blyth and Ferrybridge there is nothing.
Where I am the M8 has a number of slip roads that if you're not concentrating you are very quickly on the motorway. Its actually quite appalling.
Very rarely in a car, even less on an M-way, but I don't think I have seen one of those signs on an approach for a while.
They seem big on them on the weird bit of Motorway ruled A road (M) that comes out of Reading though.
As a cyclist who doesn't have to obtain a licence, so no Test, do I have to read the highway code? I mean, I do, mainly because of this site, and I did, Cycling Proficiency in the 70s. I have to abide by it, but then I have to abide by many laws, and I'm guessing only a few have ever ACTUALLY read them. Do pedestrians? There is a section on pedestrains after all, relates to their usage and not just vehicle users towards them.
I think that cyclists tend to be more clued up on the HC than motorists and it never ceases to amaze me how little the petrol heads know about the the various rules and buying it even with all their 'training' and testing.
What is more disturbing is how unfamiliar pedestrians are with just basic knowledge of crossing the road. I loose count at the numbers who step out without looking an a daily basis. I actually can't remember the last time I saw a public information film on road safety involving the Green Cross Code or whatever they refer to crossing now days. Do schools actually incorporate road safety any more? I have vivid memories of the Tufty Club in school and also learning the Highway Code for pedestrians in the Cubs.
Bloomin' good point! Surely there's an argument for the Highway Code to be in the national curriculum, perhaps part of the PHSE syllabus. There's no one who doesn't need to know the Highway Code as we all use the roads in one way or another.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but I do wonder how many users are ignorant of it's very existence in the first place, or if they did glance through it they subsequently haven't kept up to date with changes.
A82 / M8 J17 WB in Glasgow perchance? Don't know the area, but street view looks crazy.
Cyclist is guilty. Should have been fined.
Why? He's wearing a helmet and Hi-Vis and is therefore completely safe and immune from injury (apparently)
Maybe they live near the motorway and were just following the advice to stay local?
I can't really blame him/her. There's fewer pot holes on the motorway, than on the normal roads.
Plus you're guaranteed a KOM/QOM for quite a few years (until the next dumbass rides it).
😉
Let's be honest, that's a lovely wide cycle lane, although it needs some wands.
Nice to put something on the overhead signs.
That's a LOT better than most A roads which are legal to cycle on and often with nothing to keep cyclists safe
Damn these cameras are good; how did they know the cyclist's age?
That may have been his IQ.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-56291594
I see the BBC notice that he/she is "lycra clad"!