Media vita in morte sumus....
 

I live in Eaton Ford; the A1 is only a couple of minutes away and this
happens this morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8031530.stm


I hope all you cyclists out there take heed - it was 8:30 on a major dual
carriageway on a *Sunday* morning! WTF could have happened - the traffic
was so dense at that time or the car driver was asleep or summat...???

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

Keith G wrote:
I live in Eaton Ford; the A1 is only a couple of minutes away and this
happens this morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8031530.stm


I hope all you cyclists out there take heed - it was 8:30 on a major
dual carriageway on a *Sunday* morning! WTF could have happened - the
traffic was so dense at that time or the car driver was asleep or
summat...???



Not wanting to take anything from a sad death, but I have never
understood why cyclists are allowed to race on public roads, no other
form of road user can without breaking the law.

--
Nick

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

On Sun, 3 May 2009 16:57:06 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

I live in Eaton Ford; the A1 is only a couple of minutes away and this
happens this morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8031530.stm


I hope all you cyclists out there take heed - it was 8:30 on a major dual
carriageway on a *Sunday* morning! WTF could have happened - the traffic
was so dense at that time or the car driver was asleep or summat...???



Or the cyclist was belting along with his head down, the driver
assumed he was (a) traveling at a normal sort of bicycle-speed, and
(b) looking.

"Pronounced dead". What if his name was Terry?

I wonder how many hours they felt it necessary to close the road for?

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

Trying to turn this group into your own personal one again, Kitty?

--
*My dog can lick anyone

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Nick Gorham" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:
I live in Eaton Ford; the A1 is only a couple of minutes away and this
happens this morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8031530.stm


I hope all you cyclists out there take heed - it was 8:30 on a major dual
carriageway on a *Sunday* morning! WTF could have happened - the traffic
was so dense at that time or the car driver was asleep or summat...???



Not wanting to take anything from a sad death, but I have never understood
why cyclists are allowed to race on public roads, no other form of road
user can without breaking the law.



I agree and other slow traffic like horses in narrow lanes are a nuisance
these days, but the roads don't belong only to reps and lorry drivers,
especially at 8:30 on a Bank Holiday Sunday morning! Death is a severe
penalty for someone else's incompetence (or worse) - that cyclist was
someone's son and may well have been a husband and father!

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Laurence Payne" wrote


I wonder how many hours they felt it necessary to close the road for?


Oh, you know this stretch of the road then!

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Trying to turn this group into your own personal one again, Kitty?


Curb your insolence, Poochie - or you'll be in the ****ter....

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

On Sun, 3 May 2009 22:18:02 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

Not wanting to take anything from a sad death, but I have never understood
why cyclists are allowed to race on public roads, no other form of road
user can without breaking the law.



I agree and other slow traffic like horses in narrow lanes are a nuisance
these days, but the roads don't belong only to reps and lorry drivers,
especially at 8:30 on a Bank Holiday Sunday morning! Death is a severe
penalty for someone else's incompetence (or worse) - that cyclist was
someone's son and may well have been a husband and father!

And *IF* he was riding with due care and attention, not feeling his
Time Trial somehow took precedence, he is entitled to our full
sympathy.

Otherwise it's his own silly fault. Cyclists, of all road users, need
to ride defensively.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

In article ,
Keith G wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Trying to turn this group into your own personal one again, Kitty?


Curb your insolence, Poochie - or you'll be in the ****ter....

Thanks for reinforcing my point, Kitty baby. Only those with a very
inflated sense of their own importance think others care about who is in
their killfile.

--
*I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Keith G wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Trying to turn this group into your own personal one again, Kitty?


Curb your insolence, Poochie - or you'll be in the ****ter....

Thanks for reinforcing my point, Kitty baby. Only those with a very
inflated sense of their own importance think others care about who is in
their killfile.


OK, then you won't mind this then:

**splash**

LOL!

:-))

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

Keith G wrote:

"Nick Gorham" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:
I live in Eaton Ford; the A1 is only a couple of minutes away and
this happens this morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8031530.stm


I hope all you cyclists out there take heed - it was 8:30 on a major
dual carriageway on a *Sunday* morning! WTF could have happened -
the traffic was so dense at that time or the car driver was asleep or
summat...???



Not wanting to take anything from a sad death, but I have never
understood why cyclists are allowed to race on public roads, no other
form of road user can without breaking the law.



I agree and other slow traffic like horses in narrow lanes are a
nuisance these days, but the roads don't belong only to reps and lorry
drivers, especially at 8:30 on a Bank Holiday Sunday morning! Death is a
severe penalty for someone else's incompetence (or worse) - that cyclist
was someone's son and may well have been a husband and father!

Yes, and as I said its tragic (well its not, but its sad at least) but
the son or father chose to race on open public roads, if I did this on a
motorcycle (as I did on that road in my younger days) it would have been
put down to another stupid biker going too fast and loosing control. And
if the police had seen me doing it, I would have been pulled over.
Whereas there are flocks of people head down, going as fast as they can,
expecting other folk to keep out of their way.

There is a difference, horse riders (and other folk with animals) if
properly controlled can expect other users of the road to treat them
with care. As can cyclists if they are riding with awareness of their
surroundings and vulnerability. Its not about nuisance its about taking
responsibility.

--
Nick

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 3 May 2009 22:18:02 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

Not wanting to take anything from a sad death, but I have never
understood
why cyclists are allowed to race on public roads, no other form of road
user can without breaking the law.



I agree and other slow traffic like horses in narrow lanes are a nuisance
these days, but the roads don't belong only to reps and lorry drivers,
especially at 8:30 on a Bank Holiday Sunday morning! Death is a severe
penalty for someone else's incompetence (or worse) - that cyclist was
someone's son and may well have been a husband and father!

And *IF* he was riding with due care and attention, not feeling his
Time Trial somehow took precedence, he is entitled to our full
sympathy.

Otherwise it's his own silly fault. Cyclists, of all road users, need
to ride defensively.


Defensively from what? From clowns who can't deal with a pushbike rider on a
major dual carriageway?

What next - little old ladies with shopping trolleys who can't get out of
the way quick enough?

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Nick Gorham" wrote


Yes, and as I said its tragic (well its not, but its sad at least) but the
son or father chose to race on open public roads, if I did this on a
motorcycle (as I did on that road in my younger days) it would have been
put down to another stupid biker going too fast and loosing control. And
if the police had seen me doing it, I would have been pulled over. Whereas
there are flocks of people head down, going as fast as they can, expecting
other folk to keep out of their way.


There are no 'flocks' of people - these 'time trials' are single riders
spaced out by considerable distances, usually....



There is a difference, horse riders (and other folk with animals) if
properly controlled can expect other users of the road to treat them with
care. As can cyclists if they are riding with awareness of their
surroundings and vulnerability. Its not about nuisance its about taking
responsibility.


....and if some clown in a car (?) can't get past a single bike without
killing the rider it's a very poor show - the responsibilty is with the car
driver, IMO.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

On Mon, 4 May 2009 00:09:33 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

Otherwise it's his own silly fault. Cyclists, of all road users, need
to ride defensively.


Defensively from what? From clowns who can't deal with a pushbike rider on a
major dual carriageway?

What next - little old ladies with shopping trolleys who can't get out of
the way quick enough?

You're a bit of a prat really, aren't you?

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

Keith G wrote:

"Nick Gorham" wrote


Yes, and as I said its tragic (well its not, but its sad at least) but
the son or father chose to race on open public roads, if I did this on
a motorcycle (as I did on that road in my younger days) it would have
been put down to another stupid biker going too fast and loosing
control. And if the police had seen me doing it, I would have been
pulled over. Whereas there are flocks of people head down, going as
fast as they can, expecting other folk to keep out of their way.


There are no 'flocks' of people - these 'time trials' are single riders
spaced out by considerable distances, usually....

But the fact remains that if any other road users main focus was going
as fast as possible, then they would be judged to be at fault.




There is a difference, horse riders (and other folk with animals) if
properly controlled can expect other users of the road to treat them
with care. As can cyclists if they are riding with awareness of their
surroundings and vulnerability. Its not about nuisance its about
taking responsibility.


...and if some clown in a car (?) can't get past a single bike without
killing the rider it's a very poor show - the responsibilty is with the
car driver, IMO.

Well, as I (and I suspect you) don't know the details of this incident I
can't say. But I know that if when I was riding motorbikes I expected
other road users to look out for my safety, I would not be here now. I
drive a car at the moment, and nothing has changed. Still my
responsibility to look out for my own safety when using a shared road.

Just for a moment consider the "clown" in the car, for all you know
Keith he did nothing wrong, the bike could have fallen in front of him,
so now he (or she) has the moment of killing someone on their hands.
More than one potential victim in this.

--
nick

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 4 May 2009 00:09:33 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

Otherwise it's his own silly fault. Cyclists, of all road users, need
to ride defensively.


Defensively from what? From clowns who can't deal with a pushbike rider on
a
major dual carriageway?

What next - little old ladies with shopping trolleys who can't get out of
the way quick enough?

You're a bit of a prat really, aren't you?


Must be I guess to accord you the civility of decent response to a ludicrous
post - didn't take long for your true colours to show, did it?

I just hope the 'cringeing lurkers' and others here with *selective vision*
can see who it is starts the crap. Now you can join Poochie in the ****ter -
I don't mind coming back here to get things going a bit, but I ain't wasting
any more time on usles ****s like you.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Nick Gorham" wrote


Well, as I (and I suspect you) don't know the details of this incident I
can't say. But I know that if when I was riding motorbikes I expected
other road users to look out for my safety, I would not be here now. I
drive a car at the moment, and nothing has changed. Still my
responsibility to look out for my own safety when using a shared road.

Just for a moment consider the "clown" in the car, for all you know Keith
he did nothing wrong, the bike could have fallen in front of him, so now
he (or she) has the moment of killing someone on their hands. More than
one potential victim in this.


You're right that we don't know the details but this guy doesn't get back
home from some legitimate Sunday morning leisure activity is a tragedy in my
book. They do put signs out and, in all the years I've seen it going on,
this is the first time I've heard of any incident.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

Keith G wrote:

"Nick Gorham" wrote


Well, as I (and I suspect you) don't know the details of this incident
I can't say. But I know that if when I was riding motorbikes I
expected other road users to look out for my safety, I would not be
here now. I drive a car at the moment, and nothing has changed. Still
my responsibility to look out for my own safety when using a shared road.

Just for a moment consider the "clown" in the car, for all you know
Keith he did nothing wrong, the bike could have fallen in front of
him, so now he (or she) has the moment of killing someone on their
hands. More than one potential victim in this.


You're right that we don't know the details but this guy doesn't get
back home from some legitimate Sunday morning leisure activity is a
tragedy in my book. They do put signs out and, in all the years I've
seen it going on, this is the first time I've heard of any incident.

Well, having signs is a good thing, more than I have ever seen them do
around here.

--
Nick

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

On Mon, 4 May 2009 00:56:33 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

You're right that we don't know the details

So shall we discuss the possibilities, but refrain from judging until
we DO know them? D'oh!



but this guy doesn't get back
home from some legitimate Sunday morning leisure activity is a tragedy in my
book. They do put signs out and, in all the years I've seen it going on,
this is the first time I've heard of any incident.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Nick Gorham" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:


You're right that we don't know the details but this guy doesn't get back
home from some legitimate Sunday morning leisure activity is a tragedy in
my book. They do put signs out and, in all the years I've seen it going
on, this is the first time I've heard of any incident.

Well, having signs is a good thing, more than I have ever seen them do
around here.


These speed trials are an annual event here, if not 2 or 3 times a year -
they take place on the A1 which presents not much more than a lone cyclist
'going for it' on a wide two lane dual carriageway to other road users,
which I would have thought was easy enough for anyone to avoid, especially
if a) they weren't too close to the cyclist and b) they were experienced
enough a driver to know that 'anything can happen' with bikes, trailer,
caravans.

They also take place in the lanes down near Upper Caldicote, if you know
and/or remember the area - here, there is much more presence; there are more
bikes, there are signs out and organisers and presumably timekeepers stand
on corners and roundabouts. It's easier to be more aware there's an 'event'
but the bikes are harder to pass and the situation needs a little more care.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

In article , Nick Gorham
scribeth thus
Keith G wrote:

"Nick Gorham" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:
I live in Eaton Ford; the A1 is only a couple of minutes away and
this happens this morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8031530.stm


I hope all you cyclists out there take heed - it was 8:30 on a major
dual carriageway on a *Sunday* morning! WTF could have happened -
the traffic was so dense at that time or the car driver was asleep or
summat...???



Not wanting to take anything from a sad death, but I have never
understood why cyclists are allowed to race on public roads, no other
form of road user can without breaking the law.



I agree and other slow traffic like horses in narrow lanes are a
nuisance these days, but the roads don't belong only to reps and lorry
drivers, especially at 8:30 on a Bank Holiday Sunday morning! Death is a
severe penalty for someone else's incompetence (or worse) - that cyclist
was someone's son and may well have been a husband and father!

Yes, and as I said its tragic (well its not, but its sad at least) but
the son or father chose to race on open public roads, if I did this on a
motorcycle (as I did on that road in my younger days) it would have been
put down to another stupid biker going too fast and loosing control. And
if the police had seen me doing it, I would have been pulled over.
Whereas there are flocks of people head down, going as fast as they can,
expecting other folk to keep out of their way.

There is a difference, horse riders (and other folk with animals) if
properly controlled can expect other users of the road to treat them
with care. As can cyclists if they are riding with awareness of their
surroundings and vulnerability. Its not about nuisance its about taking
responsibility.


There are a load of young L plate scooter riders in Cambridge who are a
danger to themselves and everyone else on the roads the way they behave.

Soon, I'm sure one or more of them will come a cropper and that'll be
that.

Once upon a time we used to have Police patrols?.

Anyone seen any recently in Cambridgeshire?...
--
Tony Sayer

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

In article , Laurence Payne
scribeth thus
On Mon, 4 May 2009 00:56:33 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

You're right that we don't know the details

So shall we discuss the possibilities, but refrain from judging until
we DO know them? D'oh!



You should see all the speculation on UK railway when theres even the
slightest accident or event, and Everyone and his mutter wants to know
the number of the Loco or E/DMU involved;!...
--
Tony Sayer

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"tony sayer" wrote


There are a load of young L plate scooter riders in Cambridge who are a
danger to themselves and everyone else on the roads the way they behave.


That has been the way for the last *half century* and will continue as long
as **** TV programmes like 'Top Gear' promote wheelspin and tyre screeching.

I can't believe the PC pussies haven't had that stamped out yet!


Soon, I'm sure one or more of them will come a cropper and that'll be
that.


Yep. That too....


Once upon a time we used to have Police patrols?.

Anyone seen any recently in Cambridgeshire?...


No, but you get to hear them in St Neots (Siren City) about 5:10pm most
days - shift changeover, I expect...

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Nick Gorham" wrote


Well, as I (and I suspect you) don't know the details of this incident I
can't say. But I know that if when I was riding motorbikes I expected
other road users to look out for my safety, I would not be here now. I
drive a car at the moment, and nothing has changed. Still my
responsibility to look out for my own safety when using a shared road.

Just for a moment consider the "clown" in the car, for all you know Keith
he did nothing wrong, the bike could have fallen in front of him, so now
he (or she) has the moment of killing someone on their hands. More than
one potential victim in this.


You're right that we don't know the details but this guy doesn't get back
home from some legitimate Sunday morning leisure activity is a tragedy in
my book. They do put signs out and, in all the years I've seen it going
on, this is the first time I've heard of any incident.

I live not far from the A14 in Suffolk, and there's a fair bit of this
time-trialling going on there. Although they do put out signs, and they do
space the riders a fair bit apart, it still strikes me as a thoroughly
dangerous thing to do on a fast public road. The worse part is when a
cyclist passes a junction, which, for a car, takes a second or two to pass,
but for the biker, takes a fair bit longer. Cars turning off have to cut in
before or after cyclists and there have been a few accidents. The idea of
mixing slow vulnerable cyclists with fast invulnerable cars seems crazy.
Cyclists and horses aren't allowed on motorways, and there's precious little
difference between a motorway and a fast dual carriageway like the A1 or
A14.

I never see any cyclists on the A14 except for the time-triallers around
Bank Holidays as it's far too dangerous at any other time.

S.


--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Serge Auckland" wrote

I live not far from the A14 in Suffolk, and there's a fair bit of this
time-trialling going on there. Although they do put out signs, and they do
space the riders a fair bit apart, it still strikes me as a thoroughly
dangerous thing to do on a fast public road. The worse part is when a
cyclist passes a junction, which, for a car, takes a second or two to
pass, but for the biker, takes a fair bit longer. Cars turning off have to
cut in before or after cyclists and there have been a few accidents. The
idea of mixing slow vulnerable cyclists with fast invulnerable cars seems
crazy. Cyclists and horses aren't allowed on motorways, and there's
precious little difference between a motorway and a fast dual carriageway
like the A1 or A14.

I never see any cyclists on the A14 except for the time-triallers around
Bank Holidays as it's far too dangerous at any other time.


Hi Serge!

My original post was really small talk to say 'bikers watch out' and I
didn't expect it to go any where. All I will say is, when other countries
can have bulls in the streets, Mille Miglias, other car and bike Rallies,
Tours De France, various religious festivals and carnivals and feck nose
what else, it's a *poor old show* when a few Bank Holdiay Bike Enthusiasts
can't have use of some long, fast tarmac for a few hours in this ********,
selfish PC/H&S country without paying the ultimate price for it.

(And, before anyone mentions it - it's almost a *certainty* they pay their
own road tax on other vehicles!)

If anything, I think much more effort should be made; the signs should be
bigger and there should be a police presence - and I'm not even a cyclist!!

They could take a leaf out of the IOM's book and scrub some of the *grey*
away for a few hours!!

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Serge Auckland" wrote

I live not far from the A14 in Suffolk, and there's a fair bit of this
time-trialling going on there. Although they do put out signs, and they
do space the riders a fair bit apart, it still strikes me as a thoroughly
dangerous thing to do on a fast public road. The worse part is when a
cyclist passes a junction, which, for a car, takes a second or two to
pass, but for the biker, takes a fair bit longer. Cars turning off have
to cut in before or after cyclists and there have been a few accidents.
The idea of mixing slow vulnerable cyclists with fast invulnerable cars
seems crazy. Cyclists and horses aren't allowed on motorways, and there's
precious little difference between a motorway and a fast dual carriageway
like the A1 or A14.

I never see any cyclists on the A14 except for the time-triallers around
Bank Holidays as it's far too dangerous at any other time.


Hi Serge!

My original post was really small talk to say 'bikers watch out' and I
didn't expect it to go any where. All I will say is, when other countries
can have bulls in the streets, Mille Miglias, other car and bike Rallies,
Tours De France, various religious festivals and carnivals and feck nose
what else, it's a *poor old show* when a few Bank Holdiay Bike Enthusiasts
can't have use of some long, fast tarmac for a few hours in this ********,
selfish PC/H&S country without paying the ultimate price for it.

(And, before anyone mentions it - it's almost a *certainty* they pay their
own road tax on other vehicles!)

If anything, I think much more effort should be made; the signs should be
bigger and there should be a police presence - and I'm not even a
cyclist!!

They could take a leaf out of the IOM's book and scrub some of the *grey*
away for a few hours!!



If we weren't all in such a hurry all time, maybe there would be room on the
road for cyclists, horses etc. Perhaps if we didn't have the traffic
densities we have, there may be room on the road for these other perfectly
legitimate road users. I agree that it's sad that we seemingly can't.

However, in this PC/H&S country, if you involve the Police you end up having
to pay for them, so can you imagine the cost of holding a simple time-trial
on the A1? It's either a London Marathon with roads closed and full Police
presence, or it's Life-in-your-hands on the A1/A14.

In France every weekend the roads are full of cyclists, but there aren't the
traffic densities that make the UK so dangerous. Holland has even worse
traffic densities than we have, but they have cycle lanes on roads, and
cyclists have priority at junctions, although I've never come across
cyclists on main roads in Holland, presumably too dangerous even there.

The only safe way is to separate the hard fast from the soft slow traffic,
and England just isn't currently set up that way.

S.



--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Serge Auckland" wrote


If we weren't all in such a hurry all time, maybe there would be room on
the road for cyclists, horses etc. Perhaps if we didn't have the traffic
densities we have, there may be room on the road for these other perfectly
legitimate road users. I agree that it's sad that we seemingly can't.

However, in this PC/H&S country, if you involve the Police you end up
having to pay for them, so can you imagine the cost of holding a simple
time-trial on the A1? It's either a London Marathon with roads closed and
full Police presence, or it's Life-in-your-hands on the A1/A14.


Fed up with hearing about the 'cost of' when they can send billions straight
into the back pockets of robber bankers whose greed has killed (or near
killed) their very own Golden Goose....


In France every weekend the roads are full of cyclists, but there aren't
the traffic densities that make the UK so dangerous. Holland has even
worse traffic densities than we have, but they have cycle lanes on roads,
and cyclists have priority at junctions, although I've never come across
cyclists on main roads in Holland, presumably too dangerous even there.

The only safe way is to separate the hard fast from the soft slow traffic,
and England just isn't currently set up that way.


I think I've twigged what's happened - they say 'Eaton Ford' (here) and
there's a slip both on and off the A1 here. Pound to a pinch someone's gone
down the slip and swung out in front of a bike they either didn't see (par
for the course even with motorbikes with headlamps on) or they misjudged the
speed of the bike. This stretch of the A1 is a constant 85mph most of the
time; it used to worry me with my big bikes - from my garage to the outside
lane (at MYOB mph) in about 3 minutes on a cold engine!

Anyway, it goes one of two ways now - they either make a bit more of an
effort next year with signs and a couple of coppers on the slips or there'll
be a campaign to stop it. (More Planet Ban It!)

(All this, I hasten to add, is in the vein that 'OT' is better than *total
silence*...??)

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

"Keith G" wrote


I think I've twigged what's happened - they say 'Eaton Ford' (here) and
there's a slip both on and off the A1 here.


That doesn't sound right - I should have said there's slips on and off *both
lanes* of the A1 here - ie Northbound and Southbound.

Anybody else freezing their tits off, btw?

(Typical Brit Bank Holiday!!)

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

On Mon, 4 May 2009 15:58:18 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

I think I've twigged what's happened

Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. Until we KNOW what happened, this
is all just so much hot air.

Media vita in morte sumus....
 

Serge Auckland wrote:

I live not far from the A14 in Suffolk, and there's a fair
bit of this time-trialling going on there. Although they
do put out signs, and they do space the riders a fair bit
apart, it still strikes me as a thoroughly dangerous thing
to do on a fast public road. The worse part is when a
cyclist passes a junction, which, for a car, takes a
second or two to pass, but for the biker, takes a fair bit
longer. Cars turning off have to cut in before or after
cyclists and there have been a few accidents. The idea of
mixing slow vulnerable cyclists with fast invulnerable
cars seems crazy. Cyclists and horses aren't allowed on
motorways, and there's precious little difference between
a motorway and a fast dual carriageway like the A1 or A14.

I never see any cyclists on the A14 except for the
time-triallers around Bank Holidays as it's far too
dangerous at any other time.

I was just about to rip into the murderous victim-blamers on
the thread when you took the wind out of my sails with your
thoroughly sober deliberation.

The essential difference between a motorway and a
similarly-furnished dual carriageway is that, on the one,
drivers and motorcycle riders don't need to be wary of
cyclists, pedestrians, horses, right-turning traffic, etc.,
whereas on the other, they do.

The cyclists have a perfect right to do what they do without
having to defend themselves against reckless drivers.

OTOH, it was the case (is it still so?) that pedestrians
have right of way at an intersection if it cuts across a
path. As my mum said, you don't have much use for rights
when you're dead.

Shame, though. And it's a shame about that particular
cyclist, too.

In flat places where bicycles are common, drivers are
frequently reminded of the need for caution. Drivers from
hilly places are presumably much more dangerous. Cyclists
can take me by surprise because I'm always looking out for
sheep.

Ian