Your manager or an HR colleague will have this on hand. If they haven't signed up, invite them to get on board. Cycling is more pleasant on quiet routes but main roads might be the only option for part of your journey. Cycling is generally permissible on all roads except motorways. In themselves, major roads are fine by bike.
The issue is traffic. Fumes and noise are unpleasant; close-passing drivers are alarming. How to behave on bigger roads depends to some extent on where they are. With higher speed limits, traffic moves much faster. Your visibility, particularly in less optimum conditions , is critical. Hugging the kerb will encourage drivers to overtake you without straddling or crossing the centreline, so ride some distance out — the secondary position.
Take the lane at junctions, pinch points, etc. You need to broadcast your intentions in plenty of time; a car travelling at 60mph is covering 27 metres per second. The worst roads are: busy, narrow ones with a 60mph speed limit and poor sight-lines; and ring roads, which have lots of junctions and drivers jostling for position as they change lanes. In urban areas, main road traffic becomes congested. This is clarified in Rule 66 of the Highway Code , confirming that riding two or more abreast is okay unless going round a bend, or riding on a narrow or busy road.
Not wearing a helmet. Riding outside of the cycle lane. The benefit of this for cyclists is that often cycle lanes can be largely blocked by parked cars, increasing the risk of dooring , or there can be dangerous rubble and water gathered that increases the chance of injury. Riding in the middle of the road lane. This one can unfortunately really frustrate some motorists, but it is perfectly legal and often the safest option for cyclists to take.
When out and about on your bike, make sure you keep in mind the Cycle Accident Claims enquiry number, which is Call us at your earliest opportunity if you experience an accident, to ensure you get the full amount of compensation you are entitled to. It's usually reviewed every six or seven years but, whilst there have been some amendments in recent years, nine years have passed since the last full revision , and the confusion around some of the following 'should' and 'should not' rules demonstrates why that's too long.
Now for the urban myths, the things some people believe cyclists must do, or if they don't do they should do. Just for completeness, I should say that this is not a complete list of every legal requirement and HC rule that applies to cyclists, merely a review of some of the most common issues and questions. Further information can be found in many of Cycling UK's briefing documents , which are filtered into particular campaign themes.
CDF can't assist with every legal case concerning cycling or cyclists, but if you have a particular legal issue you can contact CDF who might be able to help. I like biking and drive a car. It is even worse in winter with low light conditions as the car daylights and headlights hide dark clothing even more.
The cyclists become shadows. With light clothing you stand a chance of seeing them in a car. A flashing light is even better as a steady light is often hidden by the stronger lights in cars and they seem to be getting stronger year after year.
The link in this article takes one only to those regulations referring to what a vehicle examiner may be exempt from in order to safely remove a vehicle. I think what evidence there is suggests that it is actually having a contrast with the background that makes cyclists more visible, so that may well mean that dark coloured clothing works as well as light coloured clothing in the day, but it all depends on context.
Its probably that any single colour or black is good, and anything that breaks up the shape of a rider as camouflage is meant to do makes the rider less likely to be noticed even if it is brightly coloured.
HiViz, essentially fluorescent dyes that reflect invisible UV light in the visible spectrum, they were initially used to make distant rail workers more visible to high speed train drivers.
In the right lighting conditions they really glow, but their affordance is really lower visible light conditions, overcast days and perhaps early evenings and mornings, where there is still a lot of UV light around. The rest of the time they are just a coloured jacket. Reflective clothing reflects light back at its source, so these work best at night, when illuminated by a drivers car headlights.
They are 'brightest' in the darkest conditions, when there isn't a lot of ambient light, so unlit country roads. Reflectors that allow a driver to understand that the pattern they see is a cyclist are probably best, so strips on body, arms and legs.
It is a good thing they are now legal. The downside is that flashing lights might make judging distance and speed harder. Basically its a combination of physics and some knowledge of human perception and attention that should guide our choices of ways to make ourselves more visible. The whole problem with all of this is it all amounts to victim blaming. If you all said "the girl shouldn't have been wearing short skirt, she was asking for it" then, quite rightly you would be held up as an intolerant, small minded, misogynist.
Yet many are quite happy to say that the cyclist had it coming to them because they weren't wearing a helmet, dressed up in fluorescent clothing and flashing like a Christmas tree. The bottom line is if motorists don't look, they won't see.
I have managed, in my 31 years as a motorist, to drive and not to run over a cyclist or a pedestrian. I must be so lucky to have missed all those people dressed in normal clothes all those years, or maybe I actually drive to the road conditions, taking care to look out for those vulnerable road users. I think that cyclists should have at least a third party insurance policy by law with registered number plates on the cycle as well.
There are some cyclists who, after causing injury or maybe damage to someone else's vehicle, wont give their details or even make a run for it! I know that most cyclists are honest and careful, caring people but some are most definitely not! I drive a car as well as ride my bike What do you all think? Is there any recommendations about cycling on the pavement when a cyclist is coming off the road and into a house to lock a bike up? I find it is much safer to get onto the pavement at the corner of a road, as if I am turning into another road.
Rather than turning across a lane of traffic into the curb. Skip to main content. Is it legal to ride two abreast? By Duncan Dollimore Tuesday, 23 May Riding two abreast, in the middle of the lane, with or without lights, reflectors and hi-viz - what does the law say, what does the Highway Code advise, and what are just urban myths?
The single file and alternative facts Road. Who needs to know the law when you have alternative facts? Highway Code Many people misunderstand the Highway Code, which is not of itself a statement of the law, but a combination of both advice and mandatory rules which apply to all road users in the UK, although there is a different version for Northern Ireland.
Cyclists must So, ignoring for a moment HC advisory 'should' and 'should not' rules, what are the absolute must do legal requirements?
It's no defence to say that it was past sunset but not yet dark, the legal lighting obligations for cyclists are determined by sunset and sunrise times, not the 'hours of darkness', which start 30 minutes after the former, end 30 minutes before the latter, and dictate when motorists must switch from sidelights to headlights.
Cycling UK's guide to cycle lighting regulations explains the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations in detail, but in summary you need a white light at the front and a red light at the rear, visible from the front and rear respectively and fixed to your bike. A light obscured by a saddlebag isn't legal and neither is a torch on your head, though there's nothing to stop you using a head-torch as an optional or additional light.
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