Rules are there to be broken… or are they? Running red lights and riding on pavements is sometimes safer for cyclists and other road users but are some cyclists pushing the limits? In the GCN Show, Si and Dan talk through the road rules for cyclists, there is a new kit reveal from AG2R and some ingenious hack/bodges!
00:00 Intro
02:37 Breaking the road rules
13:00 Cycling shorts
20:55 Hack/bodge
27:00 Caption competition
29:00 Comment of the week
33:58 Coming up on GCN
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Hack/Bodge
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29 Comments
Is it ok for cyclists to break the road rules? 🤨
It's baffling to me how people get so worked up about deviant cyclists terrorizing the roads when drivers are clearly much worse. I cant go anywhere without seeing someone in a car doing something dumb, dangerous, and illegal. Cyclists also don't really pose much of a risk to anyone but themselves. I've been t-boned by a cyclist in my car… there wasn't even a scratch on the car. It wouldn't have gone so well if it had been a texting driver in a full size pickup truck.
Very very quiet country lane, road works controlled by single file traffic lights that does not respond to cyclyists ?? If I can see the end or talk to the road guys to ask if it is OK, I will go through !
I live in rural Devon and obey most road rules. The one rule that I break regularly is not coming to a complete stop at stop lines when crossing major roads at crossroads and T junctions. I slow until I'm almost stopped and have a good look/listen to check it is clear and will then ride on, treating it as a give way, rather than stop. If I do actually stop, it takes much longer to clear the junction and is therefore much riskier, especially when the cars on the major road may well be travelling seriously in excess of the speed limit and on our winding roads, possibly may be unable to stop in time when they see me, if they even make any attempt to do so. Much of the traffic around here seems to feel that if they are on the major road, they have no obligation to avoid an accident, even if the vehicle/person in their way had a completely clear road when they began crossing the junction…
Daily London cyclist here, in my opinion people break the rules for two main reasons.
Some to get from a-b as fast as possible with disregard (not a fan) and
some before lights turn green to get Infront of traffic to be in a secure position at a turning point at a junction for example.
In London at least allot of dangerous cyclists are those on rented bikes and either are inexperienced or decide not to care for safety.
The only solution is actual segregated bike lanes to separate traffic. the majority of london cycle lanes are abit of a joke.
Frame pumps…. For our Pubcycle X (about three thousand pounds raised for a local orphanage) I used a bungee rubber cord to strap my floor pump along the crossbar in case anyone had a puncture. Luckily my mate from Singapore was on his mountain bike, and decided to take advantage and bring his tyres up to road pressure.
Back in the 1970s, a guy was walking home from his bank job across a campus, after hours. There was no significant vehicle traffic, and he didn't notice that the local bike club was running a time trial. He was likely daydreaming when he stepped off the curb in front of a rider who was putting in a hard effort with his head down and the pedestrian was killed. Now, club time trials are the type of thing that maybe three people in the world give a tinker's dam about the results, so I'm not sure what the logic is for putting the public at risk. Let's just say that all organized cycling events on that campus were brought to a screeching halt, and I'm sure that, even all these years later, the cyclist is haunted by the results of his effort that day. There was a million-dollar-plus lawsuit against the campus for inadequate warnings and supervision, but I don't recall how that was resolved.
Great show guys!
About the pump, I upgraded to little battery one, it’s amazing. no more CO2 through the airport, very happy with it. ✌🏾
Caption competition: Calm down – it's a bike race not a boat race
I don't know why anyone would use a frame or mini pump. CO2 works great and takes seconds. And they're often cheaper than a high quality frame pump.
Caption competition: "When they said prepare for some black, sticky stuff I thought they meant the muddy course." #captioncompetition
I try not to brake road rules because I don't want to draw even more negative attention to cyclists and make us look bad or play into all the negative perceptions drivers already have of us. With that said, I do run an occasional light or stop sign as long as no one is around and it's deemed safe. I at the very least slow down to a near stop to scan for traffic before running it.
You’re using 20mph ! Yay, US system for the win!
It's envy, those drivers stuck behind the wheel of their car, paused at a red light whilst the cyclist can slip through (safely) & make progress whilst drivers can't. Cycling is about convenience & not needing to have a license etc.
Make every motorist spend a week as a cyclist on the roads & most of the poor driving standards & whining towards cyclists would almost disappear.
Numerous times I have responded to irate drivers at junctions etc by placing myself dead centre in the road at the front of a traffic queue at the next red light. I'll just hesitate slightly setting off on the green light, doing it safely & clipping in slowly like Matt Stevens, whilst still commanding the centre of the road. Drivers don't like that despite it literally being to the word of the highway code. The safest place for a cyclist is as far away from other motorised traffic as possible, if 'jumping' a Red light is conducive to my safety I sure will.
frame pumps are brilliant , used to live near an aggressive large alsatian that ran out into the road snarling and snapping, I aquired a cheap thin frame pump and althought I bend the pump in such a way as to be never suitable to work again the dog never ran across the road after me
I always break traffic laws if it's safe to do so
In some conditions it's OK for cyclists to break the rule of the road.
I haven't used a British cycle path for about 20 years, but when I was last living in the UK the people who designed cycle paths were idiots who were totally incompetent at their jobs, on my way to university (the UWE) there was one corner where the cycle path had a traffic light, a street lamp and a massive tree growing in the middle of it.
If you look at the lane of traffic for cars you will never find a tree growing in the middle of the lane so that car drivers have to drive off of the road to get around the tree.
The people who design cycle paths were so stupid all around the country that every year at Christmas time the magazine called Cycling Weekly use to run a competition for the most stupid cycle path and it was usually won by a cycle path with a wall built across it. Just try doing that with a lane of traffic for cars.
So if the cycle path is designed by such a complete morons that they don't take into account things like you can't cycle through a tree, then it is reasonable that you cycle on the footpath to get around the trees, lamp posts and traffic lights that are obstructing UK cycle paths and therefore you are breaking the law by cycling on the footpath.
Going thru a red ight should be a no no, stops signs if no one is around is acceptable. I often find that motorists will wave me thru a stop sign if I slow down. I do witness bonehead cyclist going thru red lights while traffic is moving thru, no wonder they all think that cyclist don't obey traffic laws.
I think that running a red light or braking other rules in some situations is the safe thing to do. I will use my judgement and make sure that I do all I can to protect myself, rules be damed. As a cyclist and a motorcyclists, I take a rather agrasive stance on the road. I claim my space and make sure I don't become invisible. Sometimes this shoks drivers out of their inattentive stupor and they react angrily. I don't care as I'd rather be seen than end up on their bonnet and later hear the drivers say IDSY.
Manon has inspired me to cycle for quite a few years now, well done xx
If roads are closed for a cycling event then speed limits should be ignored. If the event is held on roads open to the public, then some restraint may be necessary, especially in unfriendly bike territory.
Excellent, Andrew Feather coming to the channel twice in one week, can't wait 🤩🤩
Oh dear, you played the Australian anthem when talking about NZ. Kiwis are gonna be pissed.
"Good things come to those who win."
I (love/hate)* frame pumps, (Dan/Si)* is the best presenter.
*Please delete as appropriate
Our local TT which has been running for years on the same course, has now had a 20mph speed limit imposed on part of the course, meaning we are no longer able to use that course. But the 20mph speed limit is imposed due to it being outside of a primary school, but yet our TT's run on an evening at 6/7 when the children wouldn't be at school, or on Sunday mornings when the school is closed.
You guys should see some of the late night summer ride out take overs in US cities, you’d be appalled 😂
As far as trials in 20 mph zones, the reason for the low speed limits are often because of traffic and pedestrian issues. On a closed course for a time trial, those issues do not exist. As a result, there should be no issue with exceeding those speed limits to have a time trial.
Inspired by last week's caption winner; "Look mum, no mouth"!
Great show as always guys. Congrats to Manon "Top Tier Lloyd".
I obey traffic lights when they work; however,. If a traffic light does not react for cyclists,then I run the red light when it is safe. My view is that as a vehicle with a right to use the road, I have an obligation to follow the rules except when the infrastructure prevents me from doing so. If I am expected to follow the rules as a vehicle, then the infrastructure needs to function in a manner to facilitate that. I should not have to wait for a car to arrive in order to continue on my journey.