Highway Code changes 29/01/22 - what do you think about it?

[bangernomics]

Yes, up until about 10, could be more years ago I rode a Fausto Coppi racing cycle. I changed to a front suspension mountain bike as the roads were full of pot holes and raised iron works, roadworks poorly completed with bumps and dips. I complained to the council once and I was informed that  they do not bother with pot holes if they are under 40mm deep I was almost knocked off whilst trying to avoid them.
I’m not really bothered about this topic anymore as [some] people [seem] have opinions based on their want and absolute right, not common sense, and [some] seem very sarcastic, condescending too. Also seemingly trying to belittle people by posting certain phrases is basically a tactic used by people to bully, it actually negates what could be a valid point.

?

[DSdriver]

On 1/26/2022 at 12:53 PM, dollywobbler said:

The change is that previously, you had to give way to pedestrians already crossing. Now you must give way if they're waiting to cross.

At the end of the day, you are responsible for not crashing into the car in front of you, so always expect the unexpected. I don't predict accidents.

Most annoying when pedestrians are just standing there dreaming or chatting on their phone with no intention of crossing. They have been honing their skills at this for years on Zebra crossings.

[EyesWeldedShut]

On 2/7/2022 at 8:38 AM, Andrew353w said:

Isn't this a bit like the "priorite à droit" system the French had until the late 1960s? ANY car was allowed to whizz out of a side road with impunity onto a main road, providing it was joining from the right. Following an increase in car ownership and usage (and, I suspect, fatalities!) the rule was rescinded.......

Sorry-random thought: where do the "e-scooters" that whizz along the pavements fit into the "hierarchy of traffic"?

They still had it 98 (ish) when a Range Rover vs French vehicle in Le Harve took place 😙

e-scooters are (currently most places) illegal but there's a couple of test sites in England (I think) where they're being 'evaluated'

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

e-scooters are (currently most places) illegal but there's a couple of test sites in England (I think) where they're being 'evaluated'

Loads of the little orange buggers here - mostly abandoned around housing estates 

[paulplom]

Same up here in Newcastle. They seem to be abandoned everywhere and make the place look a mess. A bit like those bikes you could hire. I wonder what happened to those.

[bunglebus]

A scooter, this morning 

[Dick Longbridge]

12 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

They still had it 98 (ish) when a Range Rover vs French vehicle in Le Harve took place 😙

e-scooters are (currently most places) illegal but there's a couple of test sites in England (I think) where they're being 'evaluated'

They're dotted around Yeovil too. 

[jon.k]

When I'm driving, I find bad drivers irritating. When I'm on a bike they are genuinely terrifying.

 

 

[willswitchengage]

11 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

They're dotted around Yeovil too. 

These 'official' scooters baffle me - what makes them legal but the ones that the local yoofs ride around on illegal?

I am generally pro scooters but I do not understand why some are allegedly ok just because the council supplied them.

[overrun]

I've been enjoying letting folk cross the road, when safe to do so. I have always done this, but it seems they are actively more vigilant, at present.

[richardmorris]

17 minutes ago, willswitchengage said:

These 'official' scooters baffle me - what makes them legal but the ones that the local yoofs ride around on illegal?

I am generally pro scooters but I do not understand why some are allegedly ok just because the council supplied them.

It’s really trying to shut the door after the horse has boulted. Theoretically it’s insurance but I’ve still no idea if rental scooters are supposed to be on the road or pavement?

[overrun]

13 hours ago, paulplom said:

Same up here in Newcastle. They seem to be abandoned everywhere and make the place look a mess. A bit like those bikes you could hire. I wonder what happened to those.

Mobikes. The company sacked it off, after the bikes mostly ended up in the Tyne, or were repatriated to Scotswood/Byka/West End/Elsick etc etc etc.

[Dick Longbridge]

39 minutes ago, willswitchengage said:

These 'official' scooters baffle me - what makes them legal but the ones that the local yoofs ride around on illegal?

I am generally pro scooters but I do not understand why some are allegedly ok just because the council supplied them.

 

[jakebullet]

Count how many manage to use the provided crossing? N why are they avoiding the barrier protected bit in the middle? 

[richardmorris]

15 minutes ago, jakebullet said:

Count how many manage to use the provided crossing? N why are they avoiding the barrier protected bit in the middle? 

 

Not a lot of traffic ? 

[jakebullet]

2 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Not a lot of traffic ? 

No. But it's a potentially deadly location. Notice how on the bus stop side there are no crash barriers? There used to be, but they got crashed to fuck that often the council stopped replacing them.

[Scruffy Bodger]

22 hours ago, jakebullet said:

No. But it's a potentially deadly location. Notice how on the bus stop side there are no crash barriers? There used to be, but they got crashed to fuck that often the council stopped replacing them.

That makes as much sense as an escape lane near me being filled in on the ground of health and safety. It was put in years ago after a wagon driver jumped ship (brake failure) down the long hill and went under his own wagons wheels.

[Andrew353w]

11 minutes ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

That makes as much sense as an escape lane near me being filled in on the ground of health and safety. It was put in years ago after a wagon driver jumped ship (brake failure) down the long hill and went under his own wagons wheels.

I know the above is a serious matter, but I read it too quickly, after a glass or 12 and had a mental image of the driver being crushed by a huge chocolate! Sorry!  

[High Jetter]

12 by 9pm? That's respectable 

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, Andrew353w said:

I know the above is a serious matter, but I read it too quickly, after a glass or 12 and had a mental image of the driver being crushed by a huge chocolate! Sorry!  

Well some one , somewhere , will actually be driving a lorry load of wagon wheels.

[FakeConcern]

I thought this was interesting and also fits with  my experience while cycling that the modded car with low suspension and loud exhaust almost always gives me plenty of room (the mapped in bangs still make me jump though!).

Quote

Are ‘petrol heads’ safer drivers around cyclists ?

https://jeepanelsplus.com/2022/02/14/are-petrol-heads-safer-drivers-around-cyclists-their-safety-is-more-important-than-your-punctuality-jeremy-vines-message-to-drivers-drones-the-future-of-cycling-on-tv-new-stuff-from-pe/

Quote

Are so-called ‘petrol heads’ more conscientious drivers? Well, that’s the view of Mark Hodson, one of the two officers who devised West Midland Police’s pioneering Operation Close Pass.

 

In a Twitter thread posted this morning, Hodson claimed that during his close pass initiative – which led to a 20 percent reduction in the number of cyclists killed or injured on roads patrolled by the force – motorists who could be described as ‘car enthusiasts’ were less likely to commit offenses.

Hodson says that these drivers took great pride in their cars and standard of driving, and had experience of being a vulnerable road user in their youth, either on bikes or mopeds, so therefore took more care when driving.

The officer then pointed out that motorists aged over 50 were more likely to commit dangerous overtakes on cyclists, as they hadn’t received any training since their driving test and in most cases had gone decades without being a vulnerable road user.

However, Hodson also claimed that in both instances, offenders represented the “odd one” in a sea of safe and courteous drivers.

“Across the spectrum of drivers you find lots of people who are part of the solution, not the problem,” Hodson wrote.

 

He also observed that there were similarities between the “odd idiot in a nice car” and the “type of person who rides the 5K bike at the weekend in the same manner (there’s one in every club)”.

Incidentally, this idea of a ‘crossover’ in mentality between certain types of obsessive cyclists and drivers was pointed out in an opinion piece written for road.cc by a ‘reformed petrolhead’ in November 2020.

However, while our blogger AJ agreed with Mark that “as with cycling, there’s always a subset of drivers who are twats”, he crucially noted that “the difference is that a cyclist rarely kills anyone except themselves with their twattishness.”

The reaction to Hodson’s thread was also somewhat divided:

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

I care more about my car than I do most people. I don't want most people splattered over the front of it though. So you can work it out from there.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

On 2/10/2022 at 8:41 PM, willswitchengage said:

These 'official' scooters baffle me - what makes them legal but the ones that the local yoofs ride around on illegal?

Companies owned by Tory donors? 

🤔 😇

[FakeConcern]

This is an interesting one...

While riding my bike this morning  a driving school car drove along next to me before suddenly diving far too close and passing between me and a traffic island.

I was a bit miffed at this when the new Highway Code is so fresh in everyone's mind, so later I found the driving school and messaged them in a way I hoped would not seem too smug or confrontational...

Quote

Hi, please would you consider instructing your driving students that it is not a good idea to pass between a cyclist and a road traffic island, thanks.

I got a reply fairly quickly...

Quote

Hi thank you for your comments. The student concerned attempting to overtake you was hesitant to do so when it was actually safe and then realised her mistake. I understand your thoughts and it is correct of course however maybe you may consider not assuming that she wasn't corrected or that she hasnt been instructed thus. Thanks

I do get it, but also feel that the instructor is in charge of the car and should have used the dual controls to slow the car when it became apparent what the student was doing. I had to laugh at the instructor getting a bit arsey as well...

 

[richardmorris]

23 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

This is an interesting one...

While riding my bike this morning  a driving school car drove along next to me before suddenly diving far too close and passing between me and a traffic island.

I was a bit miffed at this when the new Highway Code is so fresh in everyone's mind, so later I found the driving school and messaged them in a way I hoped would not seem too smug or confrontational...

I got a reply fairly quickly...

I do get it, but also feel that the instructor is in charge of the car and should have used the dual controls to slow the car when it became apparent what the student was doing. I had to laugh at the instructor getting a bit arsey as well...

 

You’d have hoped said instructor would have said, ok you’ve missed the opportunity to overtake, you need to wait until after the island now. Or slammed the brakes on to prevent a dangerous manoeuvre.

[UltraWomble]

On 2/10/2022 at 8:53 AM, bunglebus said:

A scooter, this morning 

Im intrigued, do the hire companies hoover these up every so often to recharge them? Plus, do they have some sort of GPS to avoid scrote theft / locate them when dumped?

Im pretty pro eScoot myself and was poised to buy one before spunking my dosh on a Pug 107

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

I do get it, but also feel that the instructor is in charge of the car and should have used the dual controls to slow the car when it became apparent what the student was doing. I had to laugh at the instructor getting a bit arsey as well...

Seems right to me, the instructor should be in overall control. Had the car hit you, surely he could be charged with failing to prevent a collision?

[FakeConcern]

Ok so have the new Highway Code changes made any difference? My experience as a driver, cyclist and pedestrian makes me think no difference at all, I know that’s subjective, but what else do I have to judge it with? I can give a couple of examples;

While cycling many drivers overtake me with much too small a gap, often on a section of road where the 1.5m isn’t even achievable and many of these indicate right to go around me while hardly moving out at all and indicate left when they have passed which makes me think they are sure they are doing the right thing.

When walking from where I live, there is a roundabout which is very hard to cross next to and recent “improvements” have made the road from the pavement to the island wider (go figure!). As a driver I have when I felt it safe stopped to let pedestrians cross here and the other day I did this for someone pushing an old lady in a wheelchair and got tooted by a car that came up behind me.

Anyway I just saw this video by Ashley Neal who I find very irritating (I want to punch him even when I agree with him!). He suggests that most road users (drivers, cyclists or pedestrians) are not aware of the changes to the Highway Code and that next to nothing has been done to publicise it. I have seen no publicity from the Govt and hadn’t seen or heard of the “Travel like you know them” video until I saw it on this video. Anything I’d seen has been from motoring or cycling organisations or clubs.

 

You may wish to miss out the paid promotion 1.45-3.06

What do you think?

[High Jetter]

I have seen more drivers scared to overtake cyclists. It slows progress...

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

I have seen more drivers scared to overtake cyclists. It slows progress...

I’ve seen many examples where someone has given the cyclist 1.5 m, only to pull right over into the right hand lane , causing the oncoming traffic to brake hard to avoid a collision.

Almost like people can’t deal with two things at once. Clearing the cyclist occupies all their brain power to the extend they can’t think “what if something is coming the other way”. (Don’t give me any shite about women and multi-tasking).