Cycling on the Motorway

[MacB]

I was on the M1 yesterday and the overhead displays started saying 'pedestrians on road slow to 50'. This went on for about 10 signs and provoked the usual variety of responses in speed. I never saw any pedestrians but I did see a lady cycling down the hard shoulder....this was in the junction 17/16/15 area. I only got a brief glimpse due to lorries etc so don't know if there were more of them.

I know the law and the fact that it's insanely dangerous...but it does make for a really big cycle lane

 

[Davidc]

Last Sunday I saw a man walking on the M5 hard shoulder, rucksack on his back, heading North about a mile before J22 - with his thumb out trying to get a lift.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Had to stop on the M40 once because there was a horse bucking about making a nuisance of himself.

 

[tyred]

Slipstreaming lorries at 56mph

 

[ASC1951]

I've done a few miles on the A1 hard shoulder - perfectly safe, but still noisy and scary.

 

[vernon]

The chunk of the A74 between the M6 and M74 that formed the Cumberland gap was a motorway in all but name and was the scariest stretch of road that I've ever cycled on.

 

[Ciar]

I was looking out of the office window yesterday afternoon, saw a roadie on the A13 part between the canary wharf and the limehouse link in the road as the blue cycle lane doesn't head up this part, i thought he was bloody brave, as when that traffic is moving it motors!

 

[mcshroom]

The chunk of the A74 between the M6 and M74 that formed the Cumberland gap was a motorway in all but name and was the scariest stretch of road that I've ever cycled on.

Thankfully now they've made it a full motorway and you ride up a parallelroad on the other side of a barrier. Still feels rather close to the Motorway traffic though.

 

[fossyant]

Saw 3 kids cycling on the M60 through Stockport Centre a few weeks back. One was in the slow lane. Incredibly dangerous.

 

[Matthew_T]

I have cycled along the A55 many times where it is legal to do so. There hasnt been a suitable hard shoulder so I have kept very close to the cateyes on the left. Everyone gives me room and drives just like it is a normal road as far as overtakes go. I havent been beeped at or yelled at at all.
There are still some people out there who think that it is illegal to cycle along any length of the A55 (it is in certain parts). My mum even thought that I wasnt allowed to drive on there because I was a learner.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkC-RxvxDwg

 

[fossyant]

Thats one of your KOMs Matt that I won't bother chasing on that big hill. Its a bit mental to cycle on that road. I have seen some horrendous crashes on that bit of road.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I was on the M1 yesterday and the overhead displays started saying 'pedestrians on road slow to 50'. This went on for about 10 signs and provoked the usual variety of responses in speed. I never saw any pedestrians but I did see a lady cycling down the hard shoulder....this was in the junction 17/16/15 area. I only got a brief glimpse due to lorries etc so don't know if there were more of them.

I know the law and the fact that it's insanely dangerous...but it does make for a really big cycle lane

Waaiiit a minute... if the pedestrians on the road are being instructed to slow to 50, doesn't that mean they have to somehow reach speeds of over 50??

(OK, I'll see myself out now...)

 

[zizou]

Cycled on the M74 before...it was before the extension opened to motorised vehicles though



I know someone who cycled on the M8 (it is an A road before it becomes a motorway) he was just following a route on his sat nav rather than looking at the road signs. Daft!

 

[Cycling Dan]

Kinda like this

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I have to confess to having had to cycle on certain motorways, just not in the UK, but I did look at that hard shoulder differently when we first came back to the UK - that has now worn off again thankfully!

To get into Serbia legally we had to cycle one of the autobahns in Hungary because the old boarder crossing had been closed and a new one opened which was on the autobahn only. Pedestrians could access it from the side going under a fence, but not with a bike. So after a lot of I really don't want to do this conversation with my OH, we ended up cycling the wrong way up the off slip and then down the autobahn to the crossing point and were stamped into the country as a car each in our passports. Leaving Serbia was similarly problematical for the route we ended up taking, and cycling into FYROM/Macedonia also resulted in us cycling up 2 autobahns... and in Greece the police directed us on to an autobahn/motorway when even they could not come up with an alternative for a bridge that was out of action and we had no way of getting from A to B without them finding a suitable vehicle for a couple of km's. It was quicker & easier for them to let us cycle on the hard shoulder!

We also cycled the A1 out of Scotland into England - granted with hi-viz jackets & lights on, but there were no issues and everyone gave us plenty of room.