Another cyclist down

[mjr]

Of course I'm aware of anti-cycling bias in the media (and have complained about it previously on CC), but I just don't see it here, and I wonder exactly what concerns are being raised in the above quotes.

I feel that "unusual" is othering, implicitly agreeing with the Mister Toads of this world that these are deviant vehicles unsuitable for Very Important Roads, and it's also odd to say "3-wheeled bike" which encourages images of a Shane-Sutton-style wobbly using stabilisers swaying along the road, instead of the shorter and more accurate "tricycle" or "trike".

 

[mjr]

Ha Ha, yes it does come out 'most' days.. There was no blame being implied by my comment, it was just my own opinion. We are all free to make our own choices, and mine is to anticipate the unexpected and arrive at my destination safely. If that means giving up my 'right' to mix it with heavy traffic at the busier times of the day and/or when the conditions aren't the best then so be it. I don't have to wear a helmet but I choose to, I don't have to ride in single file but I choose to, I don't have to use lights and a bell so often but I choose to. Each to their own

People who have no viable alternative to do otherwise are not choosing to die and the above sorts of comments do actually imply blaming them if they are hurt by another road user.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Troll alert !

I'm not sure you are correct, if you are working on the island (I have never been) & your livelihood depends on you getting from one side to the other I'm sure it's very infuriating when cyclist don't give way. I was in a line of traffic the other day in Cumbria, must have been 30 cars, vans. lorries all following a tractor & trailer, after about 10 minutes he pulled into a lay-by & allowed all the following vehicles to pass, he didn't have to but it was a nice gesture. If I was on holiday & cycling across the island, I'd like to think I would probably pull over & allow following traffic to pass.

 

[fossyant]

The get out of the way attitude is what gets folk killed. Sorry, but I have to wait for cyclists when Im driving to work in Manchester, so why does this little place need special treatment.

 

[mjr]

I'm not sure you are correct, if you are working on the island (I have never been) & your livelihood depends on you getting from one side to the other I'm sure it's very infuriating when cyclist don't give way.

Should anyone who gets furious at other road users have a driving licence? And what about those working in tourism whose livelihoods depend on those cyclists visiting? And is a livelihood that depends on improbably clear roads sustainable anyway?

I was in a line of traffic the other day in Cumbria, must have been 30 cars, vans. lorries all following a tractor & trailer, after about 10 minutes he pulled into a lay-by & allowed all the following vehicles to pass, he didn't have to but it was a nice gesture. If I was on holiday & cycling across the island, I'd like to think I would probably pull over & allow following traffic to pass.

How does anyone know whether a particular cyclist is on holiday anyway? You may guess but there was undue certainty in the post, plus a helmet comment, which smelt odd.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Should anyone who gets furious at other road users have a driving licence?

What has that got to do with the price of chips?

 

[Glow worm]

I'm a cyclist too.

Sure. Here's some live footage of your bike...

 

[oldwheels]

Part-timer makes a few valid points but I am puzzled how you can tell Scottish cyclists from English.
Cyclists are a continual bone of contention. Yes Mull is a working island and not a Theme Park devoted entirely to tourists. Visitors are welcome but they should adapt to local conditions and act accordingly. Too many take the attitude that they are giving us money and therefore they can behave as they wish.
It is not difficult to let following traffic past without losing too much speed. The only exception would be uphill where most local drivers wait for a struggling cyclist to reach the top. Tourist drivers are a different matter.
I have driven and cycled on Mull now for nearly 50 years and the roads now cannot cope with the current traffic volume. The tourist industry is mostly driven by incomers who in many cases have no interest other than making money. Bit of a rant well off topic but I feel strongly about road behaviour.

 

[JPBoothy]

People who have no viable alternative to do otherwise are not choosing to die and the above sorts of comments do actually imply blaming them if they are hurt by another road user.

Mmm, I am still not seeing how my comments can be taken as implying that somebody is to blame for anything.. Nobody (motorist or cyclist) is choosing to die when they set off on their journey and, there is nothing that we can do to guarantee that it won't happen either. What I did say is, that we are free to make our own choices and, that mine is to not mix it with traffic if 'I personally' don't believe it to be a good time to do so. However, I agree with you that it isn't always viable to do so and I often find that my journey will force me to use sections of road that I would rather avoid but can't. At the end of the day we can only protect ourselves so much, and the best protection of all (IMO) is experience 'of being out in different conditions/situations' and anticipation of the unexpected. There was no blame intended and I apologise if I have 'unintentionally' managed to do so

 

[classic33]

Part-timer makes a few valid points but I am puzzled how you can tell Scottish cyclists from English.
Cyclists are a continual bone of contention. Yes Mull is a working island and not a Theme Park devoted entirely to tourists. Visitors are welcome but they should adapt to local conditions and act accordingly. Too many take the attitude that they are giving us money and therefore they can behave as they wish.
It is not difficult to let following traffic past without losing too much speed. The only exception would be uphill where most local drivers wait for a struggling cyclist to reach the top. Tourist drivers are a different matter.
I have driven and cycled on Mull now for nearly 50 years and the roads now cannot cope with the current traffic volume. The tourist industry is mostly driven by incomers who in many cases have no interest other than making money. Bit of a rant well off topic but I feel strongly about road behaviour.

I cycle on holiday, I can't drive. With a fair amount of that being on single track roads, with very few places to pass anything else on the road. I'll turn the head, face the driver and acknowledge that I know they are there. Often with work to be done. A few days of the correct weather can see them "flying about", from one place to the next, whilst the weather holds.

I've yet to be inconvenienced by simply acknowledging that they may be fighting the weather, not the clock. So it's a good idea to let something bigger past me, when it's safe for both of us, to do so. Having them in front can improve your safety.


Your earlier post, giving the additional information, shows what knee jerk reactions can bring. Until there is more detail on what actually was the cause, we should be careful of blaming someone who may be innocent.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I have driven and cycled on Mull now for nearly 50 years and the roads now cannot cope with the current traffic volume.

You've hit the nail on the head. The real issue on Mull is all the motorised traffic clogging up the roads. How much of this motorised traffic pulls over, or do they just expect others to get out of their way? How do we get rid of this menace?

 

[oldwheels]

The subject of behaviour on singletrack roads has been done to death before so I will not continue on that theme. Mostly traffic on Mull is reasonable towards cyclists who are reasonable. Traffic leaving a ferry in large numbers of mixed ability and locals desperate to get in front are best just sat out for the short time it takes.

 

[Drago]

If the trucker could barely see a cyclist, then he has zero chance of spotting a pedestrian - and they do pop up on motorways and dual carriageways, stranded motorists, illegal immigrants, etc - then he shouldn't be driving the vehicle. Park it u,p, wait until the conditions improve. But oh no, he's self entitled and up his own behind, so he's entitled to plough on regardless of the conditions and it's the victims fault if they get in someone's way.

And as for our chap on mull....well, the sooner he and his ilk are legislated and priced off the roads the better.

 

[Slick]

As both a part-time cyclist on Mull and a driver I have sympathies with both. Some things cyclists do here I've seen make your hair stand on end. We have only 20 miles of double track here, and only 3 places on that double track where it's safe to overtake another car. So you can imagine the frustration when you're heading for the ferry and 2 or more cyclists hear you coming and suddenly swing out in front of you, to force you to overtake wide. The only trouble is, as a local, you know you've got another 5 miles to go before you can overtake safely, so have to lose maybe 15 minutes. I've actually been taking a sick child to the hospital and slowed down by this. So that's the first thing to realise. When I'm cycling here I pull over if I'm not at a safe overtaking place, but so often visitors (sadly usually central belt Scots - the English tend to be a bit more humble) won't do this. Secondly, it's not unusual here to have a cyclist toiling uphill in front of you at 2 or 3 miles an hour on a single track who refuses to pull over at the next passing place to allow overtaking (which is actually illegal). The third and most terrifying thing is the cyclist who is inexperienced and suddenly loses balance and lurches out in front of you (often without a helmet). I'm a cyclist too, we like to see cyclists, but it would be good to see a bit more humility and an understanding that - even if you're a Scot - there might be lots of local knowledge about roads that you don't know. I noticed that someone talked about a driver heading right at them. It's normal practice for local drivers to maintain their usual speed here on single tracks when approaching one another, and time their passing to coincide with a passing place. To the newbie it looks like there's going to be a head-on collision. You get the hang of that after a couple of years. I can see why cyclists find that scary, but local driving here is actually actually exceptionally good and courteous most of the time. Cyclists do also need to realise that this is a working island and those here for leisure should have the courtesy to give way for that.
I'm sorry, I can't agree with most of your statement. I've driven an 8 wheeled crane truck on the island and know the roads fairly well and have never had an issue with cyclists even during the busy season when that ferry is crammed full from morning to night.

This is taken from a Motorcycling forum, but copied from a Lorry/HGV forum, don't know which one,

Fatal 23/09/19

On Monday I was heading back up the A303 from Oxford back to my depot in Henstridge after tipping my steel load. One or two hills before Solstice Services the small black car in front of me put on its right indicator and changed lanes. Despite questioning why on earth he was moving out of the empty inside lane to the outside lane I followed suit. I squinted my eyes, it was noon and the light was good. Was that a bike? Omg there was a 3 wheeled bike cycling on the 70mph dualed A303 - I could barely see him! From the view in my cab looking down on the bike who was travelling uphill, the backdrop was tarmac. Trust me that bike was nearly invisible to me. Non lorry drivers think that because of our elevated view we have a better view of everything but this is not always the case. The view of the bike from a car was probably much better. They would have been at a very similar height so a car drivers view would probably have silhouetted the cyclist against the skyline making him much more visible. I remember passing the bike with the cyclist standing up in his pedals trying to get up the hill thinking that was an accident waiting to happen!

5 minutes later that cyclist was dead.

A truck hit him just after that junction before the top of the last hill before Solstice. It was literally a couple of minutes after I passed him. Now obviously it’s terribly sad and condolences to the family and friends but WHY??!! What sort of person cycles up what is effectively a motorway without a hard shoulder? He can’t have been doing more than 10-15mph uphill.

I feel desperately sorry for the truck driver as that could have been any one of us. The police appealed for anyone who saw either vehicle shortly before the incident to ring 101. I did what I thought was right and rang up describing the view I had from my cab. They are taking a statement from me next week.

Why oh why are bicycles allowed on dual carriageways like the A303??

I just don't know where to start with this or how to respond. Hopefully someone somewhere is able to educate this driver sooner rather than later.

 

[Uphilldowndale]

Earlier this week a female cyclist died after a collision on Isle of Mull near Ulva Ferry. Information is very sparse but rumour has it she was struck by a trailer. Her male companion was also possibly struck. Everyone is very tight lipped about this and my info only comes from someone working nearby who did not witness the incident but was alerted by the noise of emergency vehicles and helicopter.

There were no eye witnesses to the accident, hence the sparse information. Once the accident investigation is complete I will update this thread. Thoughts are with the Partner and family of the lady killed.