"Dummy"rides on Motorway hard shoulder

[jarlrmai]

On a serious note I understand that this is not acceptable and neither is the train lady, but the cops tweeting the photos and the general coverage seems a little OTT and may reinforce the "all cyclists are dangerous idiots" mindset.

 

[thefatcyclist]

Cyclist spotted riding on M1 motorway

© @roadpoliceBCH, Twitter
2 hours ago
A cyclist trying to get to London using the M1 motorway has been given a ticking off by police.
Officers escorted the unnamed man to safety after motorists reported seeing the cyclist riding on the hard shoulder of the M1 in Hertfordshire.
Police then tweeted a picture saying: "Somebody thought it was okay to cycle to London on the M1, escorted safely off at Redbourn". The tweet also carried the hashtag "don't be a dummy".
According to a BBC report, police said the cyclist was spotted riding on the southbound carriageway just before junction 9, near Redbourn, at about midday on Sunday. But while the man was advised it was against the law, a spokeswoman said no further action would be taken.
The cyclist said he was travelling to London but told officers that he would be catching a train instead.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Probably safer riding 12 ft from cars doing 70 on a motorway than 12 inches from cars doing 60 on an A road.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I once rode through the Blackwall Tunnel (southbound) to collect a car from service in time to get back and collect my daughter from nursery.

I joined at the most southerly entrance (near the old Spratt's dogfood yuppie loft-conversion monstrosity) and was honked, beeped and yelled at most of the way through. Quite right too. It was an insane thing to do and had I been stopped and fined it would have been richly deserved.

We all occasionally suspend laws that are inconvenient to us. Some of us deny it, but we all do it.

I looked up 'hypocrite' in the dictionary and the defininiton offered was "Yeah.. like you had to ask". I was quite offended.

 

[Lance Jack]

The A2 is very close to me at Gravesend. It was three lanes, plus hard shoulder, each way and was very busy and dangerous. A few years ago they decided it needed to be upgraded to four lanes plus hard shoulder each way. They built the new A2 in the fields that bordering the old one. When it was up and running they shut the old one. For a while you could cycle three miles in the fast lane of the old A2, strange feeling. Then it was landscaped and a Cyclopark built http://www.cyclopark.com/
Now, the other day I am driving along the new A2 and four roadies where going down the hard shoulder. There, about 75yds away is a landscaped area that is great to ride on, the Cycloparh even has a café! And they are on the hard shoulder, the most dangerous place of a motorway, or in this case, a very busy dual carriageway.

 

[Alan Biles]

But why let him off? It's just more ammo for the anti-cycling brigade if he can blatantly disregard the laws and get away with it. He needs a serious kick in the slats!

 

[MontyVeda]

seen it myself about 20 years ago on the M61... Lycra clad bloke on a road bike heading towards Preston* on the Hard shoulder.

*and also towards an awaiting motorcycle copper with a very bemused look on his face

 

[asterix]

I can understand why people do it.... when I got my first road bike I started riding to Clitheroe, which is about 7 miles from my home. The only route I knew as a car driver was along the busy A59, which was horrible. It wasn't until I sat down and studied the map that it dawned on me that there are a couple of much more pleasant alternatives. It sometimes takes a leap of imagination to adopt new or different routes to those you've always known.

The A59 is equally bad near York. Due to a number of rivers and lack of bridges it is possible to get on to it and find it hard to leave without going back the way you came. I do find the west of York a bit lacking in good routes.

The motorway to Hull turns into a mere dual carriageway and from that point they hold time-trials. Because the road narrows significantly but the traffic speed is much the same they would probably be safer on the motorway. A TT cyclist was recently killed running into the back of a caravan that had stopped. No doubt he simply thought there was nothing in front going slower than he was.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Pretty regular event on the M23. Folk fly into Gatwick, to tour blighty, unpack their bikes and head to London following the big blue signs. And given it is almost impossible to exit Gatwick on a bike without hitting the M23/A23, as the cycle route signs are tiny and well hidden, it's hardly surprising.

 

[jayonabike]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-24518094

 

[Davidc]

See it sometimes on the M5.

Ticking off is about right for it. If he'd been doing anything more than just riding I suspect the police would have been less lenient.

I have a great hope that one day one side of each motorway will be for road freight, busses, and no cars, the other will be used for a high speed railway line and a cycle lane. Sadly not any time soon though.

 

[pplpilot]

Quite.

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/dummy-rides-on-motorway-hard-shoulder.141644/

 

[ComedyPilot]

I don't like riding on B roads, let alone A roads, so a motorway is deffo off limits.

However, I will say that people driving on motorways should be looking a damn sight further up the road than the boot lid of the car in front, and if they were to adopt such observation as normal practice, then there's nothing 'unsafe' about cycling on the hard shoulder.

However, it's still illegal, and the 'cyclist' that did it is a knobber, on a par with the female 'knobber cyclist' that tried to ride into the path of a train a few weeks ago.

People are knobbers, be they drivers, cyclists, men or women.

 

[swee'pea99]

I didn't even know where Redbourne was - looks like he was proposing to do 30 miles, down the hard shoulder, in the pouring rain. That really is idiocy of a rare order.

 

[ColinJ]

Already under discussion here.

[mod] Threads now merged.