Has anyone noticed a drop in the level of tolerance from drivers against cyclists not using cycle paths?
I seem to get shouted - 'GET ON THE PATH' more and more frequently with drivers slowing down and jabbing fingers in my direction. It's not always easy to spot the start of a path so at times I miss them. Even so we are not obliged to use cycle paths are we?
Using cycle paths
Re: Using cycle paths
No, we are part of normal traffic and should be on the road. A good repost would be 'get on the motorway' 
Power to the pedals
Re: Using cycle paths
Yes, I've noticed an increase too.
There's one particular stretch of the A390 near here that has a shared use path, but I never use it. It's on a long hill, so going down I'm doing 30mph or more so using a path would be foolhardy. Coming back up is when I get told to use it, and I've become tired of it, so take a different route.
I've been riding that road for 30years - probably longer than most of the "shouters" have been driving!
There's one particular stretch of the A390 near here that has a shared use path, but I never use it. It's on a long hill, so going down I'm doing 30mph or more so using a path would be foolhardy. Coming back up is when I get told to use it, and I've become tired of it, so take a different route.
I've been riding that road for 30years - probably longer than most of the "shouters" have been driving!
Mick F. Cornwall
Re: Using cycle paths
ukdodger wrote:.... we are not obliged to use cycle paths are we?
Certainly not, and in the very unlikely event of a shouter being prepared to have a calm discussion, you can tell them that the roads are free at the point of delivery for us all to use. And it'd be good to point out that drivers do not have any priority over cyclists, and have no authority to tell any body to use a cycle path.
Re: Using cycle paths
jezer wrote:No, we are part of normal traffic and should be on the road. A good repost would be 'get on the motorway'
Re: Using cycle paths
Not noticed, but the shouts are very rare anyway.
As an aside, and a reflection on "need" for cycle paths - 2 years ago I visited the area where I started club riding and spent the week riding with the people I rode with 45 years ago. I was advised that if I used a particular road I should use the cyclepath because local campaigners had made such a fuss about getting one put in that locals get very aggressive if you are on the road. The path in question was from a trading estate along a busy and quite narrow road. How good the surface etc might be I do not know because I put in a detour to avoid finding out. So, campaigners make a fuss which makes road riding more unpleasant. Thanks chaps!
As an aside, and a reflection on "need" for cycle paths - 2 years ago I visited the area where I started club riding and spent the week riding with the people I rode with 45 years ago. I was advised that if I used a particular road I should use the cyclepath because local campaigners had made such a fuss about getting one put in that locals get very aggressive if you are on the road. The path in question was from a trading estate along a busy and quite narrow road. How good the surface etc might be I do not know because I put in a detour to avoid finding out. So, campaigners make a fuss which makes road riding more unpleasant. Thanks chaps!
Re: Using cycle paths
Mick F wrote:Yes, I've noticed an increase too.
There's one particular stretch of the A390 near here that has a shared use path, but I never use it. It's on a long hill, so going down I'm doing 30mph or more so using a path would be foolhardy. Coming back up is when I get told to use it, and I've become tired of it, so take a different route.
I've been riding that road for 30years - probably longer than most of the "shouters" have been driving!
That sounds bad. Never been driven off a route yet but it could be in the post. Twice I was yelled at leaving Weymouth last week. Once by an irate lorry driver and once by a motorist. I can see how they see it. We're holding them up while ignoring (to them) a privileged route. The motorist was waving his arms and jabbing his finger so much I thought he was referring to a problem with the bike. Only when I stopped to check did I see the path behind one of those flower displays along the promenade.
I also got told off for pavement cycling but owned up and got off.
I'll always use a path if (a) I can see the start and you dont always or (b) it isnt obviously a bad surface.
Re: Using cycle paths
I was followed by a lorry with a loudspeaker the other week. The driver said "Cyclists, please use the cycle path". I'm not keen on this path (A612 through Burton Joyce) as it has many side roads and is quite narrow. If there's a build up of traffic behind me, then I'll sometimes nip onto the path for 50 yards or so to let them get past.
There are other places where I'm happy to use the path. A long stretch where there are no side roads and we tend to be in a group along this busy road, so I don't mind using the path here (A6097 from Lowdham to Gunthorpe, for any locals). This is a main route to the only river crossing for 10 miles in either direction, so very busy.
So i'm not opposed to paths but they have to be designed so that you are not inconvenienced by using them.
There are other places where I'm happy to use the path. A long stretch where there are no side roads and we tend to be in a group along this busy road, so I don't mind using the path here (A6097 from Lowdham to Gunthorpe, for any locals). This is a main route to the only river crossing for 10 miles in either direction, so very busy.
So i'm not opposed to paths but they have to be designed so that you are not inconvenienced by using them.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
http://www.jogler2009.blogspot.com
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
http://www.jogler2009.blogspot.com
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Tigerbiten
- Posts: 2503
- Joined: 29 Jun 2009, 6:49am
Re: Using cycle paths
I tend not to use cycle paths as I don't trust that I can on and off one safely where I want to and I can also get from one end to other on one without getting blocked by anti-cycling barriers/a post/ a narrow place/ etc/ etc.
My trouble is I ride something that's as non-standard as you can get, a recumbent trike towing a trailer behind it so it's 3 meters long and almost a meter wide.
The main time I do use them is going uphill when I'm going sub 5 mph, but I need to be able to get on it on the way up as I drop below 10 mph and leave it at the top safely as I pick up speed. so unless I ridden past the stretch and I know I can do that, I'll not use it unless I'm wanting to go slow.
My trouble is I ride something that's as non-standard as you can get, a recumbent trike towing a trailer behind it so it's 3 meters long and almost a meter wide.
The main time I do use them is going uphill when I'm going sub 5 mph, but I need to be able to get on it on the way up as I drop below 10 mph and leave it at the top safely as I pick up speed. so unless I ridden past the stretch and I know I can do that, I'll not use it unless I'm wanting to go slow.
Re: Using cycle paths
This is the problem with approving cycle paths on the grounds that they are better than nothing for unconfident cyclists isn't it? It puts the rest of us in the unenviable position of trying to explain why we don't use something which appears to have been built for our benefit but in fact never considered our needs.
Personally I think usage is a good test of cycle path quality. Cyclists will use whatever they feel is most convenient and safest. If cyclists don't use a piece of infrastructure, you need to question that infrastructure not the cyclists.
Personally I think usage is a good test of cycle path quality. Cyclists will use whatever they feel is most convenient and safest. If cyclists don't use a piece of infrastructure, you need to question that infrastructure not the cyclists.
Re: Using cycle paths
Yep.
One of my "shouters" lives locally though I don't know him particularly. He overtook me and gesticulated vigorously at me to use the path. I caught him up in the village, just as he was reversing into his drive.
I stopped and shouted back at him!
"Don't you EVER tell me where I should or should not ride my bike! Do YOU have a bike?"
Sheepishly, "No".
"Well, stop telling ME what to do, get yourself a bike and YOU ride on that stupid path!"
"But our taxes have paid for it!"
"Well, YOU ride on it then!"
I rode away, and since then he's never so much as looked at me again.
This is the path heading uphill.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=callin ... 12,45,,0,0
One of my "shouters" lives locally though I don't know him particularly. He overtook me and gesticulated vigorously at me to use the path. I caught him up in the village, just as he was reversing into his drive.
I stopped and shouted back at him!
"Don't you EVER tell me where I should or should not ride my bike! Do YOU have a bike?"
Sheepishly, "No".
"Well, stop telling ME what to do, get yourself a bike and YOU ride on that stupid path!"
"But our taxes have paid for it!"
"Well, YOU ride on it then!"
I rode away, and since then he's never so much as looked at me again.
This is the path heading uphill.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=callin ... 12,45,,0,0
Mick F. Cornwall
Re: Using cycle paths
Tigerbiten wrote:I tend not to use cycle paths as I don't trust that I can on and off one safely where I want to and I can also get from one end to other on one without getting blocked by anti-cycling barriers/a post/ a narrow place/ etc/ etc.
My trouble is I ride something that's as non-standard as you can get, a recumbent trike towing a trailer behind it so it's 3 meters long and almost a meter wide.
The main time I do use them is going uphill when I'm going sub 5 mph, but I need to be able to get on it on the way up as I drop below 10 mph and leave it at the top safely as I pick up speed. so unless I ridden past the stretch and I know I can do that, I'll not use it unless I'm wanting to go slow.
Are you sure those barriers arent for motocyclists. I've not seen one for cyclists.
Re: Using cycle paths
Mick F wrote:Yep.
One of my "shouters" lives locally though I don't know him particularly. He overtook me and gesticulated vigorously at me to use the path. I caught him up in the village, just as he was reversing into his drive.
I stopped and shouted back at him!
"Don't you EVER tell me where I should or should not ride my bike! Do YOU have a bike?"
Sheepishly, "No".
"Well, stop telling ME what to do, get yourself a bike and YOU ride on that stupid path!"
"But our taxes have paid for it!"
"Well, YOU ride on it then!"
I rode away, and since then he's never so much as looked at me again.
This is the path heading uphill.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=callin ... 12,45,,0,0
Lol. Well said. I usually dont shout back unless [moderated]:?
Been on that path several times.
Re: Using cycle paths
Ive given up on cycle paths UK, they are either a bad surface or covered in rubbish, leaves and overgrown hedges, add to that you have to contend with walkers and loose dogs and when they are tethered its usually on extender leads.
The roads are less of a hazard.
The roads are less of a hazard.
Re: Using cycle paths
Bicycler wrote:If cyclists don't use a piece of infrastructure, you need to question that infrastructure not the cyclists.
Yes.
I've never seen a road that wasn't used by motorists. This is because roads are built and maintained to reasonable standards: priority over side roads, vegetation is kept at bay, the surface is adequate for motoring, and so on.
If cyclepaths were as good as roads, I'd happily use them.