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Old 14-Sep-2009, 13:40
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DSC Member ChrisBushell ChrisBushell is offline
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Is this allowed?

Well I have had a 500 mile weekend in the car, managing a moving average of 22.5 mph according to the sat nav, sorting out the route for next weekends Mini Giro and putting up all of the route arrows.

I am absolutely knackered!

We has a couple of amazing incidents whilst undertaking this marathon:

1) On Saturday we had come across a number of cycle events on the way down towards Goodwood, but out the back of Liphook I came round a corner to find my side of the road blocked with a group of cyclists 4/5 across and 2/3 across coming the other way; I had no where to go but straight through them if I couldn't stop! Now I was probably doing no more than 35mph and was able to stop without a problem, but I could have been doing 60mph and I shudder to think what the carnage would have been.

Am I right in thinking that in the highway code that cyclists are not supposed to ride more than 2 abreast?

2) Yesterday we were out the back of Haselmere heading towards a village on a nice winding B road, again bumbling along at about 30mph and I came round a sharp left hand corner (blind because of the hedge) and there in the middle of my side of the road was an OAP on his 4 wheel motorised buggy doing 12mph and there was a car coming the other way - so I had no where to go! At that speed I managed to pull up with a reasonable margin to spare.

Now this was in a 60mph limit, there was a perfectly useable pavement and the buggy showed no registration plate! If I had been on the bike, I could easily of been doing at least 60mph!

If I had been going any faster I would have gone straight up the back of him, no doubt thrown him out onto the road and probably either seriously injured him or maybe even killed him.

I pulled over past him (there was a clear straight bit of road) and engaged him in a polite conversation regarding his death wish. It seemd that he had just acquired this vehicle and was enjoying a new found freedom of movement. Apparently he found more than 50 metres to far to walk! His attitude was that 12mph was fast enough for that road and other drivers should make allowences for him.

He declined to use the pavement as it was too bumpy!


I have found the whole experience very sobering and feel certain that the later case should be looked at by the law makers or is it a way of culling the OAP's to save on benefits!

Anyone got any thoughts?
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  #2  
Old 14-Sep-2009, 14:06
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Originally Posted by ChrisBushell
Anyone got any thoughts?

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  #3  
Old 14-Sep-2009, 14:34
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DSC Member Jools Jools is offline
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Don't get me started on cyclists. I'm OK with people cycling to work, but the lycra guys that go out practising their road racing during the evenings and weekends seem to have a complete death wish. I came across a group of about 6-7 of them in a similar situation, about 3 abreast and taking up the whole of the carriageway. I stayed about 20 yards behind them around a series of blind bends as their group was doing about 20 mph. As the road widened a bit and came to a 200 yard straight I pulled right out onto the other side of the road and started a cautious overtake, only to find that one of them on the back of the group suddenly decided he was in the tour de france and started to sprint to the front. As he did that, he just swerved right into my path. No indication, no warning, no glance over his shoulder, just a hard swerve across the front of me. I had to stand on the anchors and a good blast of the horn...to which I got the V's and a load of verbal from the ****.

As for the mobility scooter, I'm also a reluctant expert on them because I've just bought one for Mrs Jools (could've got a reasonable 999 for the same price).
There are several classes of mobility scooter. The small and medium sized ones are Class 1 and 2 types, can usually be dismantled for easy stowage in a car boot, have a top speed of 4mph (walking pace) and are only allowed on pavements (unless you're crossing the road).

The type 3 ones, like Mrs Jools has got, are fully road legal with lights, indicators, brake lights, hazard warning flashers, a horn and a reversing beeper. They usually have a dual speed switch between 4 mph, which is the legal maximum on pavements and 8mph which is the legal maximum on roads (I'd like to know where he got a 12mph one). The class 3 scooters have to have a tax disc (although the road tax is free for registered disabled people - even on cars) although they don't need a number plate. They have to be driven by people over 14 and you have to have the same ability to read a number plate as a normal driving test - bizarrely, it's illegal for somebody who is not disabled to drive one unless they're a trade demonstrator.

Although they are road legal, you need to exercise common sense when driving a slow vehicle on the road. Really, the road legal bit is only really necessary to go for very short (20-50 metre) stretches to get from one pavement to the next. Funnily enough, it's only when you are affected by this that you notice how **** poor the placement of drop-downs in the kerbs are (you would think they's line up wouldn't you), or how the pavement on one side of the road stops and doesn't start on the other side of the road fo another 50 metres. The pavements are sometimes so narrow for a stretch that you have to use the road as well - but as for using the road just because the pavement is a bit bumpy, that's mental.

Mind you, I am well impressed with Mrs Jools' scooter. We chose ours because it's an 'all terrain' one and it's damned impressive. We've got a country park near us with some pretty steep slopes, rough-ish ground and tree roots to negotiate, but it goes nearly everywhere without seeming to break sweat. It's enabled Mrs Jools go round the park with the dog for the first time in over 3 years - a simple pleasure but very liberating


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Old 14-Sep-2009, 15:14
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John W John W is offline
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Chris,

can you post the route somewhere, or email to me ?
Sounds like you lot will be heading right past my door, so if I knew where you were all going I could pull up a deck chair and watch the world go by. well okay, just you lot then

Cyclists round are way are crazy. Mind you, so are the 4wd drivers who don't slow down for anything. Putting the two together on the same roads would be entertaining

Have a look here, number 51:
http://www.ukmotorists.com/highway%2...for%20cyclists

its a should-not, not a must-not or shall-not, so its not illegal to ride more than 2 abreast.
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Old 14-Sep-2009, 15:28
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DSC Member ChrisBushell ChrisBushell is offline
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Originally Posted by John W
Chris,

can you post the route somewhere, or email to me ?
Sounds like you lot will be heading right past my door, so if I knew where you were all going I could pull up a deck chair and watch the world go by. well okay, just you lot then

Cyclists round are way are crazy. Mind you, so are the 4wd drivers who don't slow down for anything. Putting the two together on the same roads would be entertaining

Have a look here, number 51:
http://www.ukmotorists.com/highway%2...for%20cyclists

its a should-not, not a must-not or shall-not, so its not illegal to ride more than 2 abreast.

John,

Just me letting off steam and I thought that the cyclists proabaly wern't doing anything illegal.

I am not in a position to put the route book up, mainly because if I publish it some of the people who are booked on will be out and getting some practise in!

Chris
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Old 14-Sep-2009, 15:35
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DSC Member ChrisBushell ChrisBushell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jools
Don't get me started on cyclists. I'm OK with people cycling to work, but the lycra guys that go out practising their road racing during the evenings and weekends seem to have a complete death wish. I came across a group of about 6-7 of them in a similar situation, about 3 abreast and taking up the whole of the carriageway. I stayed about 20 yards behind them around a series of blind bends as their group was doing about 20 mph. As the road widened a bit and came to a 200 yard straight I pulled right out onto the other side of the road and started a cautious overtake, only to find that one of them on the back of the group suddenly decided he was in the tour de france and started to sprint to the front. As he did that, he just swerved right into my path. No indication, no warning, no glance over his shoulder, just a hard swerve across the front of me. I had to stand on the anchors and a good blast of the horn...to which I got the V's and a load of verbal from the ****.

As for the mobility scooter, I'm also a reluctant expert on them because I've just bought one for Mrs Jools (could've got a reasonable 999 for the same price).
There are several classes of mobility scooter. The small and medium sized ones are Class 1 and 2 types, can usually be dismantled for easy stowage in a car boot, have a top speed of 4mph (walking pace) and are only allowed on pavements (unless you're crossing the road).

The type 3 ones, like Mrs Jools has got, are fully road legal with lights, indicators, brake lights, hazard warning flashers, a horn and a reversing beeper. They usually have a dual speed switch between 4 mph, which is the legal maximum on pavements and 8mph which is the legal maximum on roads (I'd like to know where he got a 12mph one). The class 3 scooters have to have a tax disc (although the road tax is free for registered disabled people - even on cars) although they don't need a number plate. They have to be driven by people over 14 and you have to have the same ability to read a number plate as a normal driving test - bizarrely, it's illegal for somebody who is not disabled to drive one unless they're a trade demonstrator.

Although they are road legal, you need to exercise common sense when driving a slow vehicle on the road. Really, the road legal bit is only really necessary to go for very short (20-50 metre) stretches to get from one pavement to the next. Funnily enough, it's only when you are affected by this that you notice how **** poor the placement of drop-downs in the kerbs are (you would think they's line up wouldn't you), or how the pavement on one side of the road stops and doesn't start on the other side of the road fo another 50 metres. The pavements are sometimes so narrow for a stretch that you have to use the road as well - but as for using the road just because the pavement is a bit bumpy, that's mental.

Mind you, I am well impressed with Mrs Jools' scooter. We chose ours because it's an 'all terrain' one and it's damned impressive. We've got a country park near us with some pretty steep slopes, rough-ish ground and tree roots to negotiate, but it goes nearly everywhere without seeming to break sweat. It's enabled Mrs Jools go round the park with the dog for the first time in over 3 years - a simple pleasure but very liberating

Jools,

Some interesting background information here and quite frankly what the guy was doing in the road beggars belief. I thought that I had read the speed correctly, but you may well be right, I can see that 4mph is fast enough to cross a road, but 8mph to try and join traffic outside of central London just doesn't bear thinking about.

I suppose the real point is that through someone elses stupidity I could have killed someone and have to live with that fact for the rest of my life, something that does not sit at all happily. No doubt I would also have been prosecuted by the Police for my troubles.

Just spoken to my Son and he suggested that the guy was trying to gain a nomination for this years Darwin award!
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Old 14-Sep-2009, 19:44
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deej deej is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisBushell
anyone got any thoughts?

yep

if you were on the bike you would have been through that bit of road earlier and not seen either incident......

there does seem to be more and more scooters around,its not a problem apart from some of the people in them cant see past the screen. surely for the sake of common sense they should be made to take a cbt style test before use ???
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Old 15-Sep-2009, 08:39
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Mad Dog Bianchi Mad Dog Bianchi is offline
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At times, I am one of those Lycra guys and I enjoy a good ride with the lads. Nothing like drafting each other at over 40 kmh on a fine day. We were out Sunday and did 58 km in less than a couple of hours, a nice average on a lot of public roads.

We do have problems with cages at times, but we try really hard to be polite and safe. Guys at the back call forward when a cage is coming up on the group and we usually go single file and stop trading places. We also call back with a car is approaching from the front as well. Pedistrians and other cyclists get a vocal warning of our approach and a 'good morning' and 'thank you' as we barrel past, again in single file.

There will always be issues with cages as there are some looney drivers out there, but our group tries really hard to not be obnoxious and to be safe. Even so, guys in our group consistently take the podium in many of the races they participate in, so we can train without getting the public ****ed off at us.
I try to have the same attitude when on my italian steeds as well.
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