Parked cars blocking shared use path

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
Postboxer
Posts: 1929
Joined: 24 Jul 2013, 5:19pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by Postboxer »

I expect it would be pointed out in any trial and in any news report should an accident occur where there is an adjacent cycle path.
Postboxer
Posts: 1929
Joined: 24 Jul 2013, 5:19pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by Postboxer »

Not that they're compulsory but victim blaming would start.
carlislemike
Posts: 311
Joined: 26 Feb 2009, 8:34pm
Location: Forest Hill, London

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by carlislemike »

Shute! The car is causing an obstruction; you cycle past carefully and the wing mirror gets pinged; it's not your fault so why worry. Boudicca style wheel hubs may be a better option if that doesn't work!
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Mark1978 wrote:
Audax67 wrote:Near here there's a compulsory cycle path, separated off from the road, that always has a car parked in it. I've passed it a dozen times. Once a couple of blokes even had it up on axle trees and were doing funny car-ish things under it.

I guess the police don't give a rat's ass - but will still penalize any cyclist who gets hit by a car while riding on the road.


What's the penalty for riding in the road when there is a compulsory path?


A - a close.......very close pass and a blast with a horn :!:

I think it would be better and more cost saving to clamp down on any abuse directed at clearly very vulnerable road and path users before it escalates into something bigger where politrictions will run even faster from doing there job serving us, only to launch some new body / voluntary civil road marshals with no teeth who will then be the target for all the I will point my car at you for your eyeballing me skum.

thirdcrank - bring back highway patrols instead on forces using us to report close passes and where it was....lame job for sure as if that is a crime in any book.............
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Mark1978
Posts: 4912
Joined: 17 Jul 2012, 8:47am
Location: Chester-le-Street, County Durham

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by Mark1978 »

It does worry me somewhat, the notion that drivers think that we should be on any provided path and they will 'enforce' this in their own way. See the café owning range rover driver recently.

Nevermind that Durham has at least made a try at some cycle paths some of them useful, much of them not so. e.g. The path in question is here https://goo.gl/maps/7Pb3v you can see one of Enterprise's vans blocking it. But then it is merely a pedestrian footpath, complete with narrow width and poor surfacing, not suitable for cycling, especially when you look at just how wide the road surface actually is here!

So here I will ride on the road, but then it's rarely rush hour when I do, but if some idiot takes exception? Then the legal types claim it was my own fault because there was an adjacent cycle path? Sadly it seems the standard attitude is that it's the victims fault for putting themselves in danger, as if the driver has no input at all into the issue.
tatanab
Posts: 5033
Joined: 8 Feb 2007, 12:37pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by tatanab »

Mark1978 wrote:The path in question is here https://goo.gl/maps/7Pb3v you can see one of Enterprise's vans blocking it.
I've had this discussion with property owners over the years, a couple of garage owners in particular come to mind. They regard this as "their driveway" to do with as they wish and anything that crosses "their driveway" has to yield to them.
Mark1978
Posts: 4912
Joined: 17 Jul 2012, 8:47am
Location: Chester-le-Street, County Durham

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by Mark1978 »

tatanab wrote:
Mark1978 wrote:The path in question is here https://goo.gl/maps/7Pb3v you can see one of Enterprise's vans blocking it.
I've had this discussion with property owners over the years, a couple of garage owners in particular come to mind. They regard this as "their driveway" to do with as they wish and anything that crosses "their driveway" has to yield to them.


You can see that they would have that idea. Of course it's not theirs, it's part of the footway which has a dropped access for them.

It's a particular issue we do seem to have with the provision of cycleways in the UK that they always give way to every single property access, when of course the property access should be giving way to the cycleway / footpath.
thirdcrank
Posts: 36776
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by thirdcrank »

As I keep posting, an important factor in parking control etc in residential areas is that it's all under the control of the local authority. Local councillors are normally elected on tiny turnouts, so even a few disgruntled people can have a disproportionate effect on the result in a particular ward. Local councillors inevitably place more importance on the views of the local residents as against those using the roads to pass through, even though that's the main purpose of roads. For most local councillors, residential parking is a white funk matter.
User avatar
Lance Dopestrong
Posts: 1306
Joined: 18 Sep 2014, 1:52pm
Location: Duddington, in the belly button of England

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

Indeed, in about 70% of the UK parking has been decriminalised and the powers devolved to local authorities.
MIAS L5.1 instructor - advanded road and off road skills, FAST aid and casualty care, defensive tactics, SAR skills, nav, group riding, maintenance, ride and group leader qual'd.
Cytec 2 - exponent of hammer applied brute force.
GarethF
Posts: 105
Joined: 16 Sep 2008, 9:00pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by GarethF »

Mark, I agree. In my opinion it is preferable, and some ways safer to pass this point on the road. Except that the traffic issuing forth when the lights change more or less drag race each other off the line in order to get to the 'gap' first as the road narrows back to one lane. Safest is to minimise the speed differential and attempt to claim primary position. On my own I usually sprint and on a good day (ie windy) be doing 30 when I pass the bollards. With my girls in the trailer it's a rather different matter! On the way home today there were two cars and a van parked up, which despite being theirs, had allegedly been left by customers and no keys to be had, so no chance of moving them. In the end I rode through the forecourt and squeezed through the last gap. Plotting a letter to head office next.....
User avatar
Cunobelin
Posts: 10801
Joined: 6 Feb 2007, 7:22pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by Cunobelin »

No such thing as a compulsory path.....
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Cunobelin wrote:No such thing as a compulsory path.....



The mandatory in "mandatory path" refers to motor vehicles, not cyclists...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
User avatar
gaz
Posts: 14649
Joined: 9 Mar 2007, 12:09pm
Location: Kent

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by gaz »

Cunobelin wrote:No such thing as a compulsory path.....

The original mention of a compulsory path in this thread was from Audax67 who declares himself to be a resident of France.

I have no idea if there are any compulsory paths in France or not. In the UK I can think of a few cycletracks that run parallel to roads on which cycling is prohibited.
High on a cocktail of flossy teacakes and marmalade
pete75
Posts: 16370
Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by pete75 »

Cunobelin wrote:No such thing as a compulsory path.....


Isn't there? Tell that to the Gendarme when you don't use a compulsory path in France,
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Parked cars blocking shared use path

Post by [XAP]Bob »

pete75 wrote:
Cunobelin wrote:No such thing as a compulsory path.....


Isn't there? Tell that to the Gendarme when you don't use a compulsory path in France,



Look at the forum domain - uk
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Post Reply