Tim on two wheels
@2wheelsgoodBrum
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Working for safe cycling in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. Cycling locally and further afield (often on my eBike). Qualified cycling instructor.
Birmingham, England
Joined September 2021
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I'm a Cycling UK Local Representative. Sutton Coldfield now has an Active Travel Vision
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Here’s a thought experiment for us if we drive. 🧵 1/8
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This is exactly how change started in Nederland. We can change too.
Disruption on the Alcester Rd, Kings Heath due to cyclists protesting for safety improvements. (Image
@donna_norford
)
http://t.co/rbunnQyLg3
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I must say thank you to this excellent
@RoyalMail
van driver. They followed me patiently up the slowest hill on my route home then, when it was possible, they passed with over 3m of space. This should be our role model for driving with cyclists.
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Last evening we ate outside in Valencia. Family sitting at the next table arrived by bike having cycled through the city centre. Kids around six and eight. It’s great to be in a city where no one bats an eye at six-year-olds riding on the roads. 1/2
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If cyclists catch us at the lights, passing drivers, after we’d just passed them, then that would mean the average speed of driving was lower than the average speed of cycling. How can that ever be true? 2/8
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… and the average speed for motor vehicles would be even higher. So, when I’m patient behind a cyclist on the road, I’m actually contributing to things getting better for drivers. How can that ever be true? And yet it is. If we were to only think about it. OK I will. 8/8
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And, when we drive, that means there’s no point in overtaking cyclists riding quicker than we can drive. So it matters little where cyclist are positioned in the road. That can’t be true, can it? 3/8
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It makes sense that in general those who cycle and drive are safer drivers than those who don’t cycle. Cycling gives you a different perspective on the road, speed and the safety of others.
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This is the road by my house. No one is going anywhere fast. It’s like this everyday. The junctions are overwhelmed. If half of us who could, walked or cycled half of our journeys of less than five miles it wouldn’t be congested. 1/2
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This tweet about a practical proposal to lessen the congestion on the road near me has been looked at by 50k people. I have learnt a lot of things from the many responses. Here are just a few. 1/10
This is the road by my house. No one is going anywhere fast. It’s like this everyday. The junctions are overwhelmed. If half of us who could, walked or cycled half of our journeys of less than five miles it wouldn’t be congested. 1/2
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And when cyclists ride in primary position, in the flow of traffic, like drivers do, that means it’s not safe to overtake them unless we can pass in the oncoming lane, when it’s free. And the same is true if the cyclist rode in secondary position. How can this be true? 4/8
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Oh, and that means, if we can see cyclists because they are riding in primary position, that’s safer for them. Not only can we see them, they can see what unfolds on the road. Oh, and it would say that cyclists should do that in the rules of the road. How can that be so? 5/8
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Oh (this thinking thing is revealing, if a little hard to get your head round), if more people cycled, there’d be less motor vehicle congestion, and the average speed on the road would be higher. Oh, and there’d be so many cyclists we could build separated infrastructure … 7/8
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Oh, and if we just followed the rules of the road when we drove, including those about waiting to pass cyclists, and didn’t get impatient when we were driving at the average speed on the road, it would be safer for everyone. And more people would cycle. How can that be true? 6/8
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Coats. That’s the solution. It was staring us in the face all the time. We could wear coats when we cycle.
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Passed a horse-rider on my cycle route today who thanked me for stopping while she passed. I sensed the horse was a little jittery. She said cyclists had earlier spooked her horse by riding at speed passed her. Fellow cyclists, please slow or stop for a few seconds.
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Can we have bike parking like this dotted around every British town and city and at every major workplace, please?
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“Why do so many people cycle their short journeys in Nederland?”
“It’s the cycling infrastructure, stupid”
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We’ve got to the point that drivers think parking on the pavement is how cars park. Even when each house has drive parking and there’s road to park on if necessary. Ten years ago no one did this in this road.
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Did you know the Holiday Inn allows you to take your bikes into your room. I didn’t. But they do.
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How did we get the the point where we argue about whether it’s safe for a child to cycle on a quiet residential road with his father? Being able to do so should be our definition of safe streets. We need to change this society and swiftly.
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This is the solution for where the cycle path meets the road.
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Disgusting and widely-used insult against cyclists will result in losing a defamation case. Glad JV took on this odious man.
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In this small town in Denmark many of the streets have modal filters. These create lovely neighbourhoods, with low levels of motor vehicle traffic. It’s so easy and comfortable to ride bikes on these streets. Is there a name for this?
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Any cycling instructor will tell you, most 10-year-olds quickly gain the skills to be able to ride a few miles to school. If we built the infrastructure in the UK to give their parents the confidence that they could, we could have 70% of kids making their own way to school, too.
With schools starting again after summer holidays, streets are once again flooded with cycling kids.
An estimated 70-80% of all Dutch children (primary and secondary school) go to school by bike. That's a million car trips NOT made every morning!
🎥 by
@BicycleDutch
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Just cycled with a woman riding a cargo bike containing six children. They were clearly loving both the company and experience of the world around them. Families travelling by cargo bike have been commonplace in this part of Denmark, but a seven-seater has been top so far.
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Cycling to the shops on Sunday round here takes about five minutes. Imagine how long it takes in a car. It's like this every day. If cycling didn't involve the confidence to filter we'd get half of the people out of cars and congestion would be removed.
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What can be so important it's worth overtaking at twice the speed limit in a 20mph zone, in the wet when stopping distances are at least twice those in the dry, approaching a junction and ignoring a keep left sign? Hopefully the letter from the police will make them rethink.
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The Dutch neighbourhood where we’re based is quiet and very walkable by design. This bit is recently remade. There are as many people walking as cycling and very few cars being driven. Those parked are all parked in designated spaces. This is how it’s done… 1/7
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“The benefits of cycling over driving are more profound and sustainable than previously thought”: New study concludes that riding a bike, rather than driving a car, is positively associated with “orientation towards the common good”
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The abuse and doxing has started on a thread about cycling in Valencia I tweeted this morning. Lots of accounts claiming to be taxi drivers, suggestions I don’t come back to the UK and vile opinions. A country safe for our children. That would be a great thing.
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“London in England was found to have implemented the most effective measure. The U.K.’s capital city reduced city center traffic by 33% following the February 2003 introduction of a congestion charge”
Sticks Not Carrots Needed To Get Drivers Out Of Cars
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It would make cycling so much safer if all drivers followed Highway Code rule 163 to ‘give way to oncoming vehicles before passing parked vehicles’.
It would make cycling far less stressful if the drivers who don't give way didn't then shout violent threats to the cyclist.
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This is the problem cyclists face every day. It’s legal to cycle; it’s legal to cycle in a bus lanes unless signs say otherwise; in the eyes of the law cyclists are road users; we all pay the taxes that pay for the road. It’s a careless driving offence to close pass a cyclist.
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I rode to work. I rode back from work. The drivers I shared the road with were careful and considerate, passing at well over 1.5m in every instance. Thank you. That’s much appreciated.
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Why do cities like Valencia build bike infrastructure and yet some Brits seem so unable to comprehend our ability to change too? Some can’t even imagine children riding. I have a theory I developed in Nederland to share in a thread. There are pictures, so bear with me. 1/8
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New bike racks at local M&S. The old ones were perfectly serviceable Sheffield Stands. These new ones need a sign to explain them to people wanting to park their bikes.
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Walk to this crossing; press the beg button; the lights instantly change from red to green; cross the road. Why don’t crossings work like that in the U.K.
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In most parts of Denmark, bus stops have bike racks. Ride to the stop; catch the bus. For those who can, this is wonderful.
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The obsession amongst drivers with getting in front of a cyclist seems to overwhelm all sense. Diver close passes me when I'm doing 18mph in a 20mph zone. They hit the speed bump, then pull-in to avoid the oncoming vehicle, almost missing me twice. Saved by disk brakes again.
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“Half of us who could” actually means “everybody, including those of us who can’t”;
“walked or cycled” actually means “must cycle”;
“half of our journeys” actually means “all of our journeys”;
“less than five miles” actually means “any distance”. 2/ 10
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The Dutch got to a similar point in the 1970s and transformed their roads.
Anyone thinking this is just a niche campaign restricted to a demonstration on a Sunday should think again.
@for_birmingham
have only just begun. It’s incredible to think what this relatively small group of volunteers/residents could achieve moving forward. Be part of it.
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Today I ended up cycling down the remnants of the 1930s cycle way on Chester Road in Birmingham. It is a car park for residents, all but one of whom seem to have plenty of space on their drives.
@carltonreid
@badlyparkedbrum
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We’ve been cycling between small towns in Denmark for a few days now and had completely safe interactions with drivers. Arterial roads have separated cycleways, roundabouts are basic cyclops designs, junctions have continuous foot/cycleways, and drivers all give way without fail.
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This driver crossed the red light several seconds after it changed. This is the junction where a cyclist was killed a few weeks ago because another driver did the same thing. Reported.
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Riding a bike, suggesting some people ride bikes, and asking for things that would allow people to ride bikes is anti-car or anti-driver. That’s true, even though more people riding bikes would make it easier to drive a car. That’s because of Lycra. 5/10
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Yes, but how would I do the shopping? Danish supermarket parking.
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We need a 20mph default in England now. Where higher speeds would be better, they can be justified and set appropriately.
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@realWokeyLeaks
Most people in the UK say they would cycle or walk if the roads were safer and there was better cycling and walking infrastructure. So, let's make the roads safer and improve cycling and walking infrastructure and give them the choice. It's probably the same in Ireland.
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Rule 239 of the Highway code is very clear: check before opening your door. As I cycle past parked cars, this driver opens their door and steps out into the road. Oblivious to the approaching cyclists wearing a HiViz yellow vest and two daylights flashing away. 1/4
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To encourage more walking and cycling we’d need to lower the speed limit and improve walking and cycling infrastructure. But then everyone travelling would do so more freely. 2/2
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Letters and parcels delivered by bike. Didn’t they used to do that in the UK? Remind me again why they don’t anymore.
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There really should be an immediate suspension of driving licence for driving that falls so far below the acceptable standard. They should not be on the road.
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“61% of Brits would be encouraged to cycle more if the roads were safer. 48% of respondents said that safety concerns are the reason they do not ride a bike.”
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I’m often appalled by the attitudes of some on Twitter about cycling. Their unreasoned hate for people riding bikes is incomprehensible. Then I read tweets on other subjects from their timeline and conclude that their transport-related views are moderate by comparison.
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@CathyTuttle
@ActiveTowns
Agreed. Who’d want to run a business where so many people stroll by, sit at cafes and bars and buy things in shops. Great independent businesses in this area must find the prosperity hard compared to places on arterial roads.
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This is really one of the most telling Twitter experiments I've seen. Chapeau, Alan. It reinforces what we already know about
#Motonormativity
Sadly, because of motonormativity, many people won't see the point.
The results are in. 40k views, hundreds of comments and not a single one has said the driver of blue car should have gone slower (whilst the video is edited many believe it is real). Hundreds have said the cyclist should have despite going slower already.
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This guy's tailgating resulted in a fine and points on his licence. Less than a second behind me, when the HC says 2. I do hope he learns that such careless driving has consequences. Driving or cycling on the road with these reckless drivers is dangerous and it has to stop.
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This was may last few minutes before arriving home after spending the day teaching primary school kids how to ride on the road. The joy of the children at learning new skills and feeling confident on the road is amazing. Ending in the day with this driver was less so. 9/9
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Just how does the drivers thought process go to decide to do that to a cyclist?
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I'll start fixing a bracket for a rear-facing camera. I have forward-facing images, but not enough to send to the police.
Our local Walking and Cycling Vision suggests making this road a quiet street. It can't come soon enough for the children and adults who use it every day.
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Ah, now I understand why too many drivers think there’s enough room to overtake a cyclist.
…and the front wheels span forlornly
Don’t blindly follow your SatNav lads
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I checked twitter this morning. Not a single former cabinet minister, television and radio presenter or police force felt any need to comment, either. Car drivers are limited to 12mph in the centre. Let’s have cities that are safe for children to ride on the road. 2/2
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Friend out driving saw a close pass on a cyclist that shocked them. They asked if I’d help them report to the police as they captured it on their dashcam. They shout in shock on the video. The message is getting out that we can make our roads safer.
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Nearly 1700 people on Twitter think having the shops round the corner is a bad thing because it limits our freedom.
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It’s a shock that 3794 people so far don’t think we should obey the first rule in the Highway Code. This suggests we should scrap all existing driving licences until these people can pass the theory test.
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You can get a tweet about a practical solution to the congestion outside my house to be seen by 50k people if some people tweet all of the things I’ve learnt from the replies and I reply. If they reply again it’s even better. And all the likes help. Thanks. 10/10
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Thanks to the Ford Focus driver who was able to park on the road when no one else seemed able. Every one parked outside a drive with parking space. Been walking up this road a few times a week for 30 years. The is is a new thing. A social virus.
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Had an interesting chat to the receptionist at the school where I was teaching cycling skills today. She’s tried riding for short journeys, but just can’t enjoy cycling when careless drivers close pass. Most people feel this. They’d cycle more if their journey felt safe.
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We can’t ever know anything about one of the most researched areas of our lives (travel), because that knowledge would be different from the things the people who don’t know about that area of our lives, believe. 6/10
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This obsession with all road users facing the same obligations is a serious impediment to us making our roads safer. We need to regulate the vehicles and users who have the greatest risk of consequential harm for others.
@CyclingInASkirt
Cyclists should have number plates so they can held to account and easily identified. Equality is what is required.
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I have a question for driving instructors: did you get new guidance on what to teach when the Highway Code changed? I ask because Bikeability instructors did, but no driving instructor in my neighbourhood seems to be teaching rule H2. Wouldn’t this be a test fail?
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“The cycle path is expected to be 3m wide, with a grass verge separating it from a path for walkers 2.5m wide. It will be set at some distance from the track”.
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Adult daughter is back from Spain to visit us, and has gone out to see some friends on my wife’s bike. In Valencia you can get anywhere in the city on segregated cycleways. In Birmingham, we’re anxiously waiting up to make sure a 28 year old woman gets safely home.
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The UK government looked into this a few months back. This was the explanation for not doing so.
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@ashzo_
Most cyclists stop at red lights, Ash. Most drivers, too. It's hard to understand why everyone won't. At least the danger posed by red-light-jumping cyclists is no where near that of red-light-jumping drivers.
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This lane takes you out of the city of Valencia into the countryside. Not at the standard of Dutch national network, but wouldn’t it be great if these sort of lanes linked U.K. towns and cities?
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How to save petrol and diesel? Ride a bike or walk for short journeys?
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Our roads are one example of gender inequality, but it's one we could fix.
"In my opinion, if you threaten someone with a tonne-plus of metal, you need to lose your right to pilot a potential weapon."
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It’s not necessary to read a tweet before replying. This is because some people already know what it says and have a reply prepared. It saves time doing Twitter anyway. 7/10
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Am I interpreting the May election results correctly, when I conclude that opposition to LTNs, to active travel and to tackling pollution is not a route to winning elections?
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John is wrong. Cycling is suitable for between a third and a half of all journeys depending on the city. It is inclusive, enabling the old, the young, the disabled, women, those on lower incomes to travel when car-dominant travel policies prevent this. It is very progressive, yes
Your regular reminder than unlike public transport cycling is not a solution to mass transit & is inherently exclusionary. It merely disproportionately excludes the old, the young, the disabled, women, those on lower incomes. Very 'progressive'.
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Norman said:
“The safety benefits of mandating cycle helmets for cyclists are likely to be outweighed by the fact that this would put some people off cycling, thereby reducing the wider health and environmental benefits.”
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Sitting in my garden in the sun listening to the soundtrack of racing motorists speeding down the road where a cyclist was killed on Wednesday, I ask out loud, when will we do something about road crime and the slaughter of vulnerable road users?
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@NorthantsChief
@AndyCoxDCS
Dear Nick, from everyone who saw this and were astonished and angry, thank you.
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Whatever our individual views on helmet-wearing, we must understand that campaigning for separated cycling infrastructure on busy roads makes a far greater contribution to the safety of cyclists than wearing a helmet. Alex’s tweet distracts from the important campaign for safety.
A councillor advocating cycling lanes and their kid doesn’t even wear a helmet. How very irresponsible? Thoughts ?
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@TGonthebike
Carrying a camera and reporting reckless driving really is the single most important thing a cyclist can do to improve their safety on the road.
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We can’t reduce congestion near my house because someone know somewhere that the things that would reduce congestion near my house won’t work where they live because they don’t like it. 4/10
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Which well-known phrase did this driver, who had failed to follow Highway Code Rule 163, use at the start of the conversation?
"You were in the middle of the road"
or
"Sorry, I misjudged the situation, hope you're ok".
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I tweeted that if 6% of the people creating this congestion cycled or walked there wouldn’t be any congestion. That’s those driving under 2 miles sometimes cycling or walking. Many people read that as meaning no one should drive. That’s very odd. Why do they do that?
If half the people in these cars, walked or cycled half of their journeys of under two miles there wouldn’t be a queue as a result of motor vehicle congestion.
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Given that the sun and a dinner plate are the same size, why doesn’t the dinner plate give us a sun tan?
Bicyclists complain about close passes except when it's the cyclist doing the close pass. Drivers should always give cyclists a wide birth, but it's hypocritical when cyclists do what they complain about cars doing. Cyclists can wait out traffic just like drivers.
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Highway Code Rule 185: When reaching the roundabout you should give priority to traffic approaching from your right.
Another day I'm so glad I have disk brakes.
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@climbtechy
Nope. It's easy to judge. If there's enough space in the oncoming lane to pass the cyclist at 1.5m, then the average speed of the road will mean the cyclist won't catch up. Which makes the issue of safe road position for the cyclist, irrelevant for drivers.
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Many people don’t understand that junctions are where two or more roads full of traffic join. They don’t understand that traffic lights are there to make sure some people can move forwards a little bit for some of the time. 3/10
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I’m off to teach Bikeability in a local school today. The children will love it. I’ll love it. It’s only ten minutes ride away, and is one of the least stressful rides I do. That it would be unsuitable for these children to ride is a major indictment of our travel policies.
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We have some lovely new pavements locally to replace the terrible ones we have had to put up with for years. Mainly broken by parking. This one went down today. Some drivers have already started to use them for parking.
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Close passing is one of the greatest concerns for cyclists. The Highway Code rules says drivers should pass cyclists at over 1.5m. It also says if you can’t pass safely, don’t pass. These are easy concepts to understand. Making other stuff up helps no one.
Another troll in Lycra crying, “look at me, look at me”.
Looking at the image, the driver has clearly given the cyclist at least 80% of the lane; 2 or 3 times the width of a cycle lane.
This is the kind of crap that leads to genuine cyclists concerns not being taken seriously.
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Why would you try and overtake a cyclist in the same lane, when the oncoming lane is free? They close passed at 0.15m when they should do so at 1.5m. Hopefully the police action will be a positive influence on their driving.
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