General Discussion
Do you realise that there's a difference between casual cyclists and club cyclists who are training for races? Plenty of casual cyclists are using the new cyclepath, so it's just playing to the audience to call it a white elephant.
Saw cyclists using the steps (for them) and the gulley (don't know the technical term but you know what I mean) for their bikes only yesterday on the cycle/pathway that's recently been revamped by the railway station.
@JD2017 - oh! club cyclist's who are allowed to take up an entire public highway and dribble along and when a car over takes the driver get's a finger gesture.
I pay insurance on my car and road tax and have to have an m.o.t to use the road and I am not allowed to practise racing or pace making on the public highway or fly through red lights. What absurd reason allows a bunch of big kids riding push bikes in lycra to block the highway and race on it without thought for other road user's.
If cyclists wish to practice road racing/pace making then either go to a track and/or attend sessions where the roads are closed off for such events.
I assume your definition of PLENTY is rather flexible.
DISCLAIMER - I respect your opinion, but do not agree with it.
I lost count of the number of cyclists I saw on the road at the weekend, and most of them weren't even "club" cyclists. Well done to @DEEDOODLE for getting photographic evidence.
I saw four lycra clad cyclists yesterday exit Brunswick Place at speed the wrong way down the one way across the bridge turn right towards the station through red lights do all road users not have to abide by the road traffic act apparantly not.
@DEEDOODLE when i cycle down that bit (on the road), i'm going faster than the cars. so what's the problem?
@leatash shall i list for you all the car drivers i saw breaking the road traffic acts today? (don't tell anyone, but i broke the speed limit a bit in my car too. yes, cyclists do drive cars as well...)
@DEEDOODLE. even though you've stated on here that you're an ex-policeman, you clearly have no idea about cycling or the laws around road usage, so i think that
it's probably better that we agree to disagree.
DISCLAIMER: I respect all road users.
These would be the new cycle paths that were once pavements. I hope the Council has got good insurance for when somebody is injured.
Well, for the third time in four weeks I have been close to being taken out by a Lycra clad cyclist t
own!, all on a footpath/cycle path to Dawlish.
@tom said something about vehicle drivers breaking the law. I have lost count of the times I have seen motorists on their mobile phones whilst they are driving! Didn't that get made an offence relatively recently? My latest experience of this was on Saturday when I saw a van driver (white van man it was) exit East Cliff road to go on to the Exeter road. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his phone. Seemed to me that he was texting or looking at an app or something along those lines.
Oh and I suggest that when using pedestrian crossings you do so with great care. Don't assume that vehicle drivers, even those some distance away, will register your presence and will slow down in time so that you can cross the road safely.
Using a mobile when driving is not recent it's been an offence for many years. The penalties have recently been increased, as have fines for other offences like speeding. There are lots of bad drivers around. I was on the M5 yesterday and witnessed drivers towing caravans not only exceeding 60mph but in lane 3 and of course we all know the maximum speed for towing on motorways is 60mph thats everything from HGVs to a small car and trailer. Now is it that drivers are ignorant of the law or just dont care? Folk still use mobiles, park on zig zags, drink and drive and speed. A favourite pastime of local taxi drivers is to cross Jubilee Bridge the wrong way as a shortcut up Brunswick Place. So yes both cyclists and car drivers break the law on a daily basis and people die everyday on our roads because of bad driving speeding etc etc. Now as road users it is easy to keep to the law. Most folk wouldn't consider stealing from Sainsbury's yet while driving there they exceed the speed limits, use their mobiles etc. Drivers don't see bad driving as an offence the explanation? I have no idea.
This cyclist was wobbling all over the road and then went over the zebra crossing, still on the bike, and then went down the cycle path! taken today.
That sounds a very sensible approach. Where would you prefer them to have crossed the road to reach the cyclepath?
Should she not have joined the cycle path at Tucks Plot cyclists are not using that section because they cant cycle its not cycle friendly.
so @leatash if you are coming from the 2n4 garage, you should go all the way down to tuck's plot and start again from there.... how does that one work...?
The cycle path runs from the station or tucks plot through Lanherne then Exeter Road does it not.
She can do what she wants until it's mandatory to use a cycle path. I can see why a lot don't bother with cars parked on it and not much space for both pedestrians and cyclists. Until this changes it's pointless moaning unless there's an actual offence committed.
i agree @leatash, it's ridiculous. i've turned into lanherne a couple of times only to meet cyclists deciding to come out there rather than go down the steps (they've both been pulling children). quite a dangerous section.
We will have the same problem when the cycle path is extended through the lawns along the Bartons up to John Nash Drive can you imagine anybody cycling all the way round when they can just pop up the hill and rejoin the cycle path at the top.
Actually, we already have cyclists riding through the lawn area as I found out yesterday! It is chaos in town, cyclists have no clear idea of where they can and cannot cycle and it is a serious accident just waiting to happen. The town council have really lost the plot this time, but...........are we surprised? Most of them never had a handle on the plot in the first place!
I've lost count of the number of times I've driven down High street in Dawlish (one way) and met an idiot on a push bike cycling towards me. Now we also have them riding on some of the most travelled pedestrian area's in Dawlish/Dawlish Warren, sorry - pedestrian/cycle paths.
As to our local council, I sometimes wonder if they have any realisation that they are in office to serve the resident's of Dawlish not the other way around!
I emailed Devon Highways this week to ask them to sort out the mess at Dawlish Warren where there are pavements wide enough to take a bus and yet they've taken another couple of metres out of the roadway to add cycle lanes on either side. Also, I and many others are totally confused by the signage (e.g. on the corner near the car park roundabout). This tells me that the pavement is a shared usage one yet many pedestrians think its not. DCC says the pavement is shared usage at each end and pedestrian in the middle. Duh of course!
@Margaret Swift: you say that "cyclists have no clear idea of where they can and cannot cycle". actually most do. they can cycle on cycle paths and the can cycle on all roads except motorways and any other (very few) where they are banned eg in some tunnels. I would also point out that JD2017 referred to cyclists preparing for races: eg they are riding not racing. I think we should all adopt a more tolerant attitude towards all road users rather than some of those above.
Magaret Swift - I wonder what the views of the cavalcade of cars, vans and buses that were stuck behind an old codger on his racing bike doing 4 mph out of Dawlish towards Teignmouth this morning was? and the contribution to increased pollution due to him blocking the free flow of traffic. Go at that speed in your car, obviously without a geriatric cyclist in front of you, and see how quick you get pulled over by plod for obstruction of the public highway!
So why did i see 8 cyclists riding towards town down Exeter Road on the footpath opposite the cycle path this morning and i see that on a daily basis. Secondly i followed the so called preparing for road races brigade three abreast from Sainsburys to Cockwood i was in a line of over 20 cars more tolerant i think not.
It gets better just been up to Ashcombe and followed a lycra clad cyclist through the lanes no hands on his handle bars plus he was talking on his mobile gave him a peep when aproaching a passing place and all i got was two fingers and cyclists wonder why drivers dislike them.
@ER113 i was referring to the idiots cycling through the centre of dawlish on the pavements, which are not shared cycle/footpaths! The signage is not clear in Dawlish. I use the Tarka trail a lot, starting at Barnstaple, the signage in that town is excellent leaving cyclists in no doubt as to where they can and cannot cycle!
I don't know how Dawlish has the nerve to call the section through Lanherne and down to the station a cycle path. How can you possibly cycle down a gutter adjacent to a wall? Its a physical impossibility.
The Tarka Trail is brilliant, especially enjoy the bit that goes from Mullacott Cross to Ilfracombe.
My favourite sections of the Tarka Trail are the two that go between Barnstaple and Instow, via Framlington. As for our cyclepath through Dawlish - I love it too and I'm very pleased with the work done so far to link us to Exeter and beyond - bring on the link to/from Teignmouth ASAP please!
The link Dawlish/Teighnmouth is on hold as funding has been withdrawn and i would hope will never be completed.
I saw a girl riding her bike just before Elmgrove Road, no hands on the handle bars, she was using her mobile phone. Good in it, cyclists ignore the law everywhere.
I was behind a woman in a car looking down all the way through Bitton Park Road to the lights at Shaldon Bridge. You could see at the lights she was on her phone. I've also been behind a motorcyclist doing a wheelie along the A38. What can I say, every mode of transport has its law breakers.
Its very true but when was the last time you saw a cyclist given a FPN the law states every pedal cycle used on the highway should have a bell or some form of warning very few do and thats whats wrong. I would like to see the Police getting tough with cyclists and handing out a few FPN's cyclists flaunt the law because they know that nothing will be done about it and its wrong.
When was the last time I saw a car driver pulled over for being on their phone (talking rather than texting). Never! I guess it comes down to manpower.