Suicidal Cyclist

A question about : Suicidal Cyclist

Why do cyclists insist on riding side by side, two or three abreast, instead of single file along 60mph country roads with blind bends, concealed entrances and slow moving farm machinery ahead?

Why do they also insist on cycling in black clothing with no lights and no ho vis?

It really isn't the minority either, I see it time and time again, cycling on my way to and from work I come across packs of these !!!!!, they're especially lethal when they leave the pub after lunch time.

The sad thing is that it will be the motorist who will be found at fault if there is an accident.

Best answers:

• The worst thing is that drivers don't think cyclist are going that fast when even moderately peddling cyclist could be doing 15 - 20 mph.
• Nothing is valid in the OP's post #1 except the bit about wearing dark clothing and having no lights. That is stupid and thoughtless.
  But it is irrelevant whether cyclists are in single file or 2 or even 3 abreast echelon style.
  It is also irrelevant what speed they are travelling at - but as dotdash79 says, it is usually in excess of the 10mph that JustinR suggests.
  Why are these things irrelevant?
  That's easy -because of Highway Code Rule 126.
  Stopping Distances. Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
  If a driver comes round a corner and happens upon a lone cyclist, or a group of cyclists, there should be no problem.
  It most definitely would be the motorised vehicle driver's fault if there was an accident.
  We all pay to use the roads and no-one group has priority over another.
• Also, riding two abreast is perfectly legal:
  Highway code rule 66: "never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends".
  People need to remember that cycles are vehicles, and are legitimate road users along with lorries, vans, horses, motorcycles, invalid carriages, scooters, tractors, horse-drawn carts, caravans, mopeds, tricycles, removal lorries, fairground rides, cranes, milk tankers, herds of cows, flocks of sheep and of course pedestrians. Good drivers anticipate that they may encounter any of these sharing the road with them quite legitimately, and behave accordingly. Not everything on the road is a car, or behaves in a car-like way.
  Drive so you can stop within the distance you can see to be clear, treat cyclists with consideration as if they were your kids, or wife, or best mate, and all will be well.
  And cyclists, if a car driver treats you with consideration, a wave of thanks costs nothing, but is somehow a very rare occurrence.
• I hate meeting cyclists while driving, because too many of them do have a deathwish. To be generous, if they don't drive, they don't understand about visibility from a car and stopping distances.
  I have had a cyclist ignore a give way line from a minor road and turn directly in front of me. The only reason I didn't hit him, was I saw him approaching the junction, and half suspected he would do something stupid, so was ready to stop.
  Cyclist jumped red lights on busy crossroad, almost got himself flattened.
  Just to show it isn't just the men, female cyclist in central box on 40 limit road, wanting to cross from one minor road to another. I don't know if she got impatient, but she just crossed the lane directly in front of me. I had to do an emergency stop, if there had been a car close behind it could have been nasty.
  My nightmare would be to injure or kill a cyclists, so now I treat any cyclist as a mobile hazard that could do something insanely stupid at any moment..
• Just one other point:
  "the well-documented beneficial effect of increased physical activity due to cycling resulted in about 9 times more gains in life-years than the losses in life years due to increased inhaled air pollution doses and traffic accidents."
  
  Hartog, Boogaard, Nijland & Hoek:
  Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks?
  Environmental Health Perspectives Journal 118:1109–1116 (2010)
  That's for roads in the Netherlands. Our roads are more dangerous than the Dutch ones, so the benefit here only outweighs the risk by seven times.
  So who's being suicidal now?
• there was one time when a guy and girl were cycling on barclays bikes 2 abreast at a casual pace, it was in the evning so perhaps they drank becuause there were swaying left to right a little bit as well.
  I wanted to pass and wanted them to go single file so I can drive by, i waited quite a while and hoped my headlights and engine noise would alert them but to no avail. then i did a quick beep to get their attention. the guy shouts something and waves a birdie at me.
  The road widens a bit so then I mnage to overtake them still riding 2 abreast. Then a dose of instant karma follows, a police car was behind me all that time and didn;t even notice pulls drives up beside the cyclist and stops to talk to the cyclist,
  Great thing about London is that police are enforcing cycle safety and people who ride through red lights get stopped and issued with tickets.
• This one time, I wanted to pass a cyclist, and I couldn't, and it irritated me.
• Pedalists do not pay to use the road in answer to one post here.
  Personally I feel they should all be required to pass a proficiency test and some sort of test in relation to the highway code as well as have insurance. Yes a lot are respectful of the rules and other road users but equally there are a lot of idiots in lycra out there who act with out care or caution and pure bad manners putting both themselves and others at risk
• Cyclists should have to pay for insurance, although I would think majority of accidents are caused through motorist faults, simple fact is cyclists cause accidents also, in fact several months ago one went into the back of my car as they weren't watching what was happening in front of them, I got a apology as they quickly sped off, but no cash to pay for the damaged paintwork, that had to come out of my hard earned.
  If I caused a accident the cyclist would rightly expect some recompense for any damages also possibly payment for any injuries suffered, surely motorist should be entitled to same.