A cyclist who strayed onto the M58 motorway in Lancashire due to a sat-nav error has been fined after a van driver crashed while trying to avoid him.
The incident happened between junctions 4 and 5 near Skelmersdale last Monday 4 May, said Lancashire Constabulary.
Police said that the rider, dressed in a t-shirt and casual shorts, had ended up on the motorway because he had not switched the sat-nav app on his mobile phone to the cycling setting.
A spokesman for the force said: “He moved out in to Lane 1, causing a car in Lane 1 to swerve to Lane 2 into the path of a van.
“The van couldn’t move to Lane 3 as another vehicle was there, so had to swerve to the left and went in between the cyclist and the car, colliding with the car in the process.”
No-one was reported to have been injured in the incident, which police described as “surreal,” adding that it was very fortunate that the cyclist himself hadn’t been “wiped out.”
Officers escorted him off the motorway, but somehow he ended up back on it, and had to be escorted off again by a police patrol.
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.
The man is not the first to have strayed onto a motorway during the current lockdown.
At the end of March, we reported how police told a cyclist who was found on the M60 near Cheadle, Cheshire, that “this does not constitute your daily exercise” and issued him with a fine.
> “This does not constitute your daily exercise,” police tell cyclist stopped on M60
And in early April, police in Leicestershire stopped and fined a cyclist on the M69 between Leicester and Hinckley.
40 thoughts on “Motorway cyclist fined after van driver crashed trying to avoid him”
“Officers escorted him off
“Officers escorted him off the motorway, but somehow he ended up back on it, and had to be escorted off again by a police patrol.”
Wow! Rides on motorway, causes crash, is escorted off by the police once, then goes back on it! Missing all the cyclists not allowed signs on the way. Perhaps he should stick to walking; not on the motorway obviously.
He’d probably end up on
He’d probably end up on Manchester airport runway.
He must have been one of
He must have been one of these militant cyclists i keep hearing about
Captain Badger wrote:
Clearly not; he wasn’t wearing lycra.
Covert Ops…
Covert Ops…
eburtthebike wrote:
My guess is that the police used their discretion and “gave words of sdvice” for the first offence, after all, we all make mistakes. It’s the second offence that earned him the fine.
Should have his bike crushed.
Should have his bike crushed.
Sat Nav error? No.
Sat Nav error? No.
I’ve strayed on to dual
I’ve strayed on to dual carriageways following a sat nav and potentially could have on to a motorway but as Vlad posts the latter are pretty obvious and I’ve turned around. Even with the near zero traffic of a few weeks ago with the crazy speeds and drivers not expecting bike why would anybody in their right mind make a decision to cycle on a motorway :-/
I made an adventure journey
I made an adventure journey out of a commute home once on an unfamiliar route. Missed the last exit and approached a roundabout where my only exit options were the M6 or the A500… I had the brainpower necessary to process “turn around” and went back to the last exit getting back to my country lane loop home. xD
there are dual carriage ways you can ride on, and some you should never even dream of trying.
I don’t understand how someone can “accidentally” end up on a motorway and NOT think to immediately find their way back off.
Dao wrote:
Cycling in the New Forest, I took a turn and ended up on the A31 dual carriageway before I knew it!
Dao wrote:
Over the railing and walk across a field, if you have to, surely…?
This is actually an issue
This is actually an issue with Apple phone sat Nav – there is no “cycling” setting, and it tries to guess what you are doing based on your speed, as soon as you tip over a certain speed it assumes you are in a car and tries to make you use the motorway if you are going any distance at all. So even if you pick the “walking” setting, it automatically doesn’t beleive you if you go “too fast” and tries to dump you on the motorway.
This is potentially much less of a case of “user error” and more of a case of “user trust in technology not designed for cyclists.”
No it’s an issue with the
No it’s an issue with the user’s brain and observations.
hirsute wrote:
Agreed. There is something called ‘common sense’ lacking.
Bokonon wrote:
It’s a case of “Bloody fool refuses to trust his own eyes when faced with a three-lane motorway and instead believes a telephone.”
If bikes could speak, his
If bikes could speak, his would be beating him across the head with a 9-iron.
Does not the big blue sign
Does not the big blue sign saying MOTORWAY – No Cycling No Mopeds etc not give it away.
These are at every entrance to the motorway that I have seen.
Interesting. What species of
Interesting. What species of animals can read to know they don’t belong on the motorway?
Clearly the rider just wasn’t fast enough. I remember a blog post from years ago, may have been from velomobile maker Trisled, about them testing a back to back tandem velo in the Burnley freeway tunnel. Of course bicycles aren’t allowed, but all they got was a speeding ticket from memory. Mind you, they did manage over 70mph…
I’ve never seen one of those
I’ve never seen one of those signs before! Is it only a NI thing?
Apparently the signs were
Apparently the signs were removed at some point but your general point is still valid :-/
We’ve all done it…
We’ve all done it…
No, we haven’t.
No, we haven’t.
what the f*%k has what he was
what the f*%k has what he was wearing got to do with it?
To prove not all cyclists
To prove not all cyclists wear lycra.
Not only did he go on the
Not only did he go on the motorway, but he was one of these scruffy casual types.
Cycling today is going to hell in a handcart, they’ll let anybody in!
You can be given points on
You can be given points on your driving licence for offences committed on a bike. Even points to go on a future licence if you don’t yet have one.
Generally I don’t agree with that but in this case he should be given the maximum points. If possible I’d ban him from driving on the spot. If this is the level of fuck-wittery he manages on a bike imagine how dreadful his driving is!
Which country is this?
Which country is this?
racyrich wrote:
In Australia you can, in the UK, no. You can be disqualified from driving for a cycling offence (e.g. wanton and furious cycling) but there’s no mechanism to apply points sanctions to a driving licence for a cycling offence.
“He moved out in to Lane 1,
“He moved out in to Lane 1, causing a car in Lane 1 to swerve to Lane 2 into the path of a van.
So even after straying on to the motorway, he then decides to ride in Lane 1 rather than the hard shoulder?
Lucky he wasn’t a BMW or Audi
Lucky he wasn’t a BMW or Audi driver when not on the bike… he would have been straight into lane 3!
normally across all three
normally across all three lanes from the slip road before the solid line ends
…with front fog lights
…with front fog lights ablaze…
OnTheRopes wrote:
Yes, it turns out the cyclist was not the only person to mistake the hard shoulder for a cycle lane. Some motorist made the same mistake so they parked in it, hence the hapless cyclist’s forced manoeuvre into lane 1.
road.cc wrote:
FTFY
Struggling to make out the
Struggling to make out the lettering on the bonnet of the car. Surely the police cars aren’t marked “COPS”, yet that it what it seems to be!
its “Tac Ops”…not that it
its “Tac Ops”…not that it makes any more sense to have plastered on a police car 🙂
Awavey wrote:
Tactical Operations.
Clearly not Tact Operations.
Awavey wrote:
It makes plenty of sense – it’s short for ‘tactical operations’. It’s there to distinguish them from all the other police who are just running around like headless chickens, or doing whatever they feel like.
I totally agree with this, he
I totally agree with this, he shouldn’t be on the bloody motorway!!!