New highway code rule.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

JasonB	23/01/2022 07:34:03
Moderator 21985 forum posts 2534 photos 1 articles	I'd like to know why the cyclist in the photo is riding on the footpath!

Hi, the photo is probably staged, but it looks to me as it the cyclist has mounted the pavement in order to try and avoid hitting the car door. Assuming this is in the UK, the women has parked on the wrong side of the road anyway. There is a road fairly local to me, where the pedestrian path is shared with cyclists in at least two sections, one on one side of the road and the other one on the other side, these are denoted by a white line next to the kerb stones, along the length where the cyclists are allowed to ride their cycles. The road is a little narrower than most in these areas, and is frequented by busses and delivery lorries to shops and a couple of supermarkets, whether this is local authority laws, I don't know.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 23/01/2022 13:34:24

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

If he mounted the pavement to avoid the door then was he previously on a path straight into the parked car?

[CalumParticipant @calumgalleitch87969]

The photograph in question is a stock image, meaning it has nothing to do with the article; a harassed subeditor typed in "car door cyclist" to a stock image library and selected the first image that came up. Since so few of us pay for our journalism nowadays, these things are hardly a surprise.

As for looking in a mirror, I am surprised and concerned that so many posters have forgotten or never learned what a blind spot is.

[Nigel BennettParticipant @nigelbennett69913]

Posted by Mike Poole on 23/01/2022 11:09:02:

If a cyclist gets hit by a car door they must be natural born stupid, if they cycle close enough for a door to to hit them then it should not be a surprise when it eventually happens.

Mike

I was cycling past a car on the cycle path on the inside of a stationary line of cars waiting for the traffic lights. Without warning, the rear door of a car was flung open and the pointy bit of the door corner hit my thigh. It caused a massive haematoma in time and they had to slice it open and give it a good rogering with a vacuum cleaner or something in hospital to clear it out.

Stupid? I hardly think it was I who was stupid.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

In Weston Super Mare, cyclists are allowed on pavements and that works quite well, but you do see old fogies driving their electric buggies along the roads which is illegal if the buggy does not have numberplates.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Posted by JasonB on 23/01/2022 07:34:03:

I'd like to know why the cyclist in the photo is riding on the footpath!

Because that's where they all ride and in my town they ride on the path when there is a cycle lane !

H

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I was a regular cyclist from the age of eleven until my late twenties and a motorcyclist until I was sixty. The cycle lanes that are now fashionable along the side of a road encourages cyclists to undertake stationary vehicles which as you have discovered is fraught with danger. I would be reluctant to use lanes that put me at risk in this way, cycling to school from eleven through city traffic I learned to avoid risk, I bet the idiot who opened the door on you never felt a thing even though they are in the wrong. Being hurt and in the right is not where you want to be so I regard those sort of lanes as a trap.Before the appearance of these traps the traffic would be close to the kerb and so like all the other traffic I would wait in line and be clearly visible to the car behind me and of no concern to the one in front. There is no need to be at the front of the queue unless you are one of the many cyclists who ignore traffic lights so just wait in the queue in safety. Pavements were for pedestrians and I feel these shared spaces we now have even if a painted line is supposed to separate us are just dangerous. The passing distance that is recommended is just not achievable in many situations and how can it be achieved with oncoming traffic on a country lane? The requirement to pass wide must be to allow for avoiding a wobbling or crashing cyclist but they can still wobble or crash into oncoming vehicles and do. I long ago decided that everyone else on the road was an idiot so you have to look after yourself and ride or drive defensively, so far it is working well and the idiots certainly keep coming.

Mike

[Anonymous]

Good post Mike!

[old AlParticipant @oldal]

I have been practicing opening the car door with my left hand. Its not difficult, but when you transfer to the right hand to fully open the door, wind can snatch the door away from you and the door opens uncontrolably. I cant work out how this give anybody any advantage and i cant see how i might get seen opening with the wrong hand. But hey, hoe, its fun playing to different rules

I havent seen the new rules at rounderbouts yet, im working on one rule at a time, still got 5 days to work it out

[egaParticipant @ega]

The Dutch reach (ie with left hand for us in UK) makes it more likely that you will see me coming past you. I will, of course, be a car door's width away if there is space for it.

[David LeaskParticipant @davidleask63627]

You just got to accept that the roads in this country are managed by people with no comonon sense.

Evidence, driving on the wrong side of the road from our continental friends.

Road signs that people cannot understand, especially if you are from abroad, they are always asking you what the speed limit is.

Steel pillars with wire rope down the centre of the motorway, will rip a motorcyclist to shreds and probably the car too.

Not so SMART motorways.

Cars parked along the side of the road, its illegal but the Police take no action.

Probably just one of the reasons people are leaving this country for good every year.

We have been nice for to long.

[MikeKParticipant @mikek40713]

Posted by blowlamp on 23/01/2022 11:53:26:

The new rule seems to complicate the matter – what's wrong with something like Check for other road users before opening the vehicle door?

Yep. If it isn't already a rule, it should be. I think it is a rule in CA, here in the States. I futilely argued this with a motorist, explaining that he was "throwing a large metal object into traffic". His response was that I "should be in the line of car traffic". Uh huh, right…and he'd be the first one to complain about me holding up traffic at my 14 MPH and that I should keep to the side. Can't win. I think all able-bodied people should be forced to get around entirely by bike for at least six months before having an opinion on the matter.

[Anthony KendallParticipant @anthonykendall53479]

Posted by Calum Galleitch on 23/01/2022 14:22:18:

Snip…

As for looking in a mirror, I am surprised and concerned that so many posters have forgotten or never learned what a blind spot is.

Since I was one of the first to make the point of using mirrors instead of the latest trendy nonsense – I have made sure there are no blind spots which would affect the situation in question.

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

Always have a good look round before opening the door, not only to the rear, you don’t know wether anything coming from your front may come close as well.

How many dog owners restrain there animal in the back of the car, not a new law.

[speelwerkParticipant @speelwerk]

Done my driving test almost 50 years ago but never heard of the "Dutch reach" and I am sure 99% of my countrymen also. But if you do not look over your shoulder when opening your car door you will fail your driving test in The Netherlands. Niko.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

As an ex motorcyclist it took me forever to stop looking over my shoulder when pulling out instead of checking mirrors. Cycle lanes make me chuckle. The ones outside the Lab (both sides of the road) are used by cyclists travelling in either direction. So you can have two cyclists approaching each other on the same cyclepath. Usually one either pulls over onto the road or the pavement. It make it interesting leaving the Lab car park as you not only have to check for road traffic but for cyclists travelling either way on the bit of cycleway you are about to cross. But then it is Cambridge and we are reasonably close to the language school.

regards Martin

Edited By Martin Kyte on 24/01/2022 13:59:59

Edited By Martin Kyte on 24/01/2022 14:00:28

[egaParticipant @ega]

Posted by speelwerk on 24/01/2022 13:48:41:

Done my driving test almost 50 years ago but never heard of the "Dutch reach" and I am sure 99% of my countrymen also. But if you do not look over your shoulder when opening your car door you will fail your driving test in The Netherlands. Niko.

There is a Wikipedia article for those who are interested. It claims that "public awareness of the method in the Netherlands extends at least back to 1961".

Of course, it may not have been known as such then; my impression is that the phrase was coined out of compliment to The Netherlands as a leading cycling nation.

Edited By ega on 24/01/2022 14:34:19

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

**LINK**

[modeng2000Participant @modeng2000]

Is the Guardian a pro-cycling newspaper?

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

A good link there from John Haine – pretty much all of the changes are merely basic common sense and courtesy.

Rob

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

It would be good, if having past your car driving test, (Not on the same day). You had to cycle around a busy route.

Then take an articulated vehicle around a off road route (Under supervision), it would enable you to appreciate other

users. I know, wishful thinking.

Bear………

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Any road user should watch this VIDEO

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Posted by Nicholas Wheeler 1 on 24/01/2022 19:06:57:

Any road user should watch this VIDEO

Quite so, and it underlines the cataclysmic stupidity of the new rule giving cyclists right of way to overtake on the inside. The Road Haulage Association tried to get this legislation dropped, to no avail. I'm glad I no longer drive lorries, the thought of cyclists trying to zoom past at night, in the dark, in the rain, when all you can see behind is a mass of lights and reflections…

With regard to the 'Dutch reach', I've always looked over my shoulder before opening the door, not, I must confess, out of consideration for cyclists, but from the purely selfish motivation of not wishing to have my door, and arm, removed by a passing bus.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Been watching the news the last couple of nights quite a bit about the new code not much mention of e-bikes or scooters so it looks like us motorists should pay our car tax stay home or get a e-bike/scooter

H

[Anthony KendallParticipant @anthonykendall53479]

Mmm! So it's all down to common sense and courtiousness, according to The Guardian.

Have to say I'm not seeing so much of it really – particularly on the roads.

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