Stop Cycling up Ditchling Beacon!!!!

[leigull]

 

[banjo]

I'm pretty sure it's only a problem in this country, when driving abroad cyclist get a lot more respect. Especially in France, and the roads are a lot smoother.

 

[Albumen]

Everyone should have to pass the practical driving test every 20 years.

 

[Notters]

What I really don't understand, as a cyclist and a driver, is how the thread starter and others such as [MENTION=27125]Wrong-Direction[/MENTION] manage to get stuck behind bicycles for so long and so frequently.

I drive a quite a lot. I drive drive to work, I drive for work and I also drive in my spare time. I do a good 15k per year in a car or van and have done for over ten years. I can't remember EVER being stuck behind a bike for more than five or ten seconds (let alone a couple of minutes as some are saying). I used to commute from Brighton to Haywards Heath, over Ditcling beacon and don't remember ever getting stuck behind a bike for long.

I now drive up bear road every day and I can't recall ever getting stuck behind a bike for more than a couple of seconds. Once or twice a week I get stuck behind a street-sweeper lorry or a dustbin truck. Nearly every day I get stuck behind some dozy git driving up bear road at 10 - 15mph and have to change down a couple of gears.

Equally whilst I do occasionally see bikes go through red lights, and it annoys me, I see FAR more stupid things done by motorists (probably because there are far more motorists).

I'd like to know where all these people are driving that cyclists are such a menace because I've yet to experience it myself.

 

[symyjym]

Your example is just one scenario. The image below is another scenario with the casual cyclists wobbling up the road chatting to their mates and stalling for them to catch up..

 

[virtual22]

I drive up or down the Beacon at least 300 times year. It's not too much of an issue during the week to be honest but the weekends can get pretty scary sometimes so I try to avoid it then. The drivers that do it regularly are patient enough and know where to over take safely. I was waiting patiently behind a cyclist the other Sunday when a transit decided at the start of the bend where you can see about 10 foot in front to over take both me and the cyclist. Given where it was, if someone was coming down the hill it would have stood a good chance of being fatal.

Most of time it will add a maximum of two minutes onto my journey (or less). I do think that if you can't make it past the first bend you should use the footpath that goes up the left hand side of the road. I'd also say that some of the cyclists during the morning in the week can get up there almost as fast as you should be travelling on a road with that many bends anyway.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

The worst people on the road? Anyone with a 'Baby/small person/little princess on board' stick on thingy stuck in the back.

There is definitely a strong positive correlation between them and the drivers driving like absolute Kenny Lunts.

 

[sydney]

two of the biggest bum-holes on the road , cyclists and drivers.....there you have it...!

 

[CheeseRolls]

Cyclists - other climbs in Sussex are available. I recommend the Bostal Road coming out of Steyning. The climb is ferocious and the descent to Sompting, is worth every ounce of effort in the climb.

Edit forgot to mention - there are not many cars on this road.

Motorists - Chill it is the weekend. If you are in a hurry, other routes between Ditchling and Brighton are available. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone on here now, that you will have to drive slowly up the hill.

 

[symyjym]

I had a cyclist almost crash into me when I was parked up the other day.

I had just pulled into a parking space along New Church Road to drop someone off, and I was waiting for traffic to clear before indicating to pull out so I was just looking in my mirror.

Then comes along a cyclist in cloud cuckoo land who was clearly daydreaming with his eyes focused on the other side of the road and wobbling directly towards the back of my car. I had all of five seconds believing he was going to crash into me, and it was only at the last split second he had to emergency swerve to avoid hitting me. The thing is if he had hit me it could have looked like I pulled out on him, and if he got knocked out with amnesia or even died I would have had a lot of explaining to do.

I don’t mind cyclist but this one was an idiot, funny/bemusing at the time waiting for him to hit my parked car though.

 

[Greavsey]

The one that they've been building for five months that consists of loose gravel and is completely unsuitable for cycling on? Any idea if they're going to tarmac it?

This has been one of life's great mysteries to me over the past few months. How the hell has it taken them so bl00dy long to dig 6inch deep trench and then fill it back in with an inappropriate surface? I can't possibly see what has taken so long and how they could get it so bl00dy wrong. I am delighted to find that someone else is having the same thought as me, as everyone else I have mentioned it to doesn't seem to give a toss!

 

[Wrong-Direction]

This would all be solved if the law was changed to making cyclists use the pavement! A bike hitting a person is going to cause less damage then a truck hitting a bike

 

[Stat Brother]

This would all be solved if the law was changed to making cyclists use the pavement! A bike hitting a person is going to cause less damage then a truck hitting a bike

Now wrong'un your 'beginning' to get a little desperate for the attention.

 

[Notters]

This would all be solved if the law was changed to making cyclists use the pavement! A bike hitting a person is going to cause less damage then a truck hitting a bike

I do think cyclists should be allowed to use the pavement except in particularly busy areas such as North Street. A good example is New England Road, which is lethal for bikes, but has largely empty pavements.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

Now wrong'un your 'beginning' to get a little desperate for the attention.

It amuses me Brother [emoji38]

 

[Premiership Dream]

I never know whether these posts about road tax are fishing or not.

Road Tax was abolished in 1937.

1937.

Your tax disc (and mine) is for vehicle excise duty, and relates to the polluting gases that your car emits. Electric cars are exempt, and so are bicycles, as they do not pollute.

1937.

So its not for the wear and tear of the road?

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

I'm 58 and I renew my ROAD TAX every year.
I don't give a flying feck what anybody else calls it.
The money is more likely to be spent on cycle lanes anyway.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

So its not for the wear and tear of the road?

No. It's not. Everyone pays taxes that contribute to that, and the money from Vehicle Excise Duty does NOT go towards that.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I'm 58 and I renew my ROAD TAX every year.
I don't give a flying feck what anybody else calls it.
The money is more likely to be spent on cycle lanes anyway.

Why should anyone care that you are 58?

I also tax my car every year. I pay my Vehicle Excise Duty.

 

[looney]

Nothing brings out the twattishness in people better than a motorists vs cyclists "discussion"

Relative anonimaty on a public forum will do that as well.