Man bets friends he can cycle from London-Brighton - and gets stopped by police on M23

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

It's not my own speed or stopping distance that worries me on such roads, rather nervousness about fast oncoming vehicles (or ones coming round a bend immediately behind me). I suppose one has to trust that drivers will be cautious because they have to expect other motorised vehicles even if they aren't thinking of bikes. But I worry that they won't be looking for something smaller than a car or even if they see me, they'll carry on at speed, expecting me to move over and then to squeeze past me without slowing down. I dunno how people get about without a car in country areas where all the roads are like that. And unlit as well.

statisically the risk of being killed/seriously injured in a head on, on a narrow country road is pretty low, it's likely to be even less at night time as a decent to see by light will stand out long before the driver sees you.

the more you do it the less daunting it seems, i love night time runs in the country because you can see the motors headlights well before they get to you, giving you chance to adjust your beam, position in the road, speed or all three with more time than you would during the day.

Beecho wrote:

There are so many nice routes. Love my rides to Brighton/Hove from London.

There really are.

I pity those who can't scan an OS map and understand the wealth of useful insight it provides.

andyp wrote:

Meh. I ended up on an autobahn when touring. It happens.

Was it fun, fun, fun...?

ibike wrote:

I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.

Surely it should read " dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger"

john1967 wrote:

ibike wrote:

I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.

Surely it should read " dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger"

Really? How was he putting any other road users in danger?  He's right over against the grass, probably eight or nine feet from the motor traffic.

brooksby wrote:

john1967 wrote:

ibike wrote:

I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.

Surely it should read " dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger"

Really? How was he putting any other road users in danger?  He's right over against the grass, probably eight or nine feet from the motor traffic.

The statistics on fatal crashes involving the hard shoulder of motorways in the UK proves otherwise. Every year many incidents occur when vehicles career off the motorway lanes into other vehicles stopped on the hard shoulder. This can be due to drivers falling asleep or burst tyres for example. Cycling in the hard shoulder is simply stupid and is banned for good reason. If a car driver lost control inadvertently and hit him at speed, he'd be splattered across the front and the risk of serious injury to the vehicle occupants would be enormous also.

OldRidgeback wrote:

brooksby wrote:

john1967 wrote:

ibike wrote:

I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.

Surely it should read " dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger"

Really? How was he putting any other road users in danger?  He's right over against the grass, probably eight or nine feet from the motor traffic.

 

The statistics on fatal crashes involving the hard shoulder of motorways in the UK proves otherwise. Every year many incidents occur when vehicles career off the motorway lanes into other vehicles stopped on the hard shoulder. This can be due to drivers falling asleep or burst tyres for example. Cycling in the hard shoulder is simply stupid and is banned for good reason. If a car driver lost control inadvertently and hit him at speed, he'd be splattered across the front and the risk of serious injury to the vehicle occupants would be enormous also.

Though you'd have to compare that to the danger of the same thing happening on all the very fast A-roads where cycling is legal.

I used to cycle regularly on one such road (as there was no other route) till while walking along the pavement next to it one evening I witnessed a driver swerve across the road and hit an oncoming car head-on, right in front of me (combined impact speed must have been 80-100mph). If it had been me on my bike coming the other way rather than a car, I'd have been every bit as dead as if it had happened on a motorway.

Anyway, the fellow should have turned off well before that point and gone up Ditches Lane/Farthing Down [used to be my preferred route to Brighton after I decided the A23, never mind the M23, was not for me]. Though that road itself is a bit unnerving to cycle along when it gets to the bit with high foiliage on both sides and not much visibility and drivers going inappropriately fast.

This bit's good

https://goo.gl/maps/6dMUU1wg8cr

Then not so much

https://goo.gl/maps/Yoqc8aSKyS52

Am I the only one who gets nervous on the latter bit? I suppose that sort of road is pretty typical for country lanes. Is it because I'm not used to cycling ouside cities? Trees and green stuff are just generally unnerving.

https://goo.gl/maps/9mXBzXxfUjN2

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

Though you'd have to compare that to the danger of the same thing happening on all the very fast A-roads where cycling is legal. I used to cycle regularly on one such road (as there was no other route) till while walking along the pavement next to it one evening I witnessed a driver swerve across the road and hit an oncoming car head-on, right in front of me (combined impact speed must have been 80-100mph). If it had been me on my bike coming the other way rather than a car, I'd have been every bit as dead as if it had happened on a motorway. Anyway, the fellow should have turned off well before that point and gone up Ditches Lane/Farthing Down [used to be my preferred route to Brighton after I decided the A23, never mind the M23, was not for me]. Though that road itself is a bit unnerving to cycle along when it gets to the bit with high foiliage on both sides and not much visibility and drivers going inappropriately fast. This bit's good https://goo.gl/maps/6dMUU1wg8cr Then not so much https://goo.gl/maps/Yoqc8aSKyS52 Am I the only one who gets nervous on the latter bit? I suppose that sort of road is pretty typical for country lanes. Is it because I'm not used to cycling ouside cities? Trees and green stuff are just generally unnerving.

Think it really depends on your style of riding and how you are able to assess the conditions/chances of meeting another vehicle. Fortunately though pretty narrow it looks fairly clear and not rutted/strewn with shale/flint etc, there's a few similar not too far from me with about a 5/6% downhilly bits that I've used in the past but you really can't get any speed up at all due to the narrowness and the fact that they're strewn with stones/flinty bits washed off the banking so really have to pick your line, barely do 12-15mph down those.

Try and open up the view as far as is possible, particularly on left hand bends so you want to be as far right as possible (this is counter intuative to most), it also means vehicles coming up behind you see you earlier too. Also go at a speed you can stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.

Whilst an oncoming motor will obvs shorten that distance pretty quickly it gives you more time to react and your positioning more time to see and be seen.

this can be a bit cheek clenching at 35mph https://goo.gl/maps/GgY5VeW6HxC2

but has just enough space for two cars to pass at the top but narrows to 1.75 cars width (not as narrow as your one near the bottom. there are a couple of kinks so you have to scrub off 10-15mph before you get to the blind left hander which is best to approach from the absolute right hand side just in case someone is hogging the whole lane and you can see them earlier and simply move right over to the left. like most things, do it often enough and choose when is good to go faster and when it's not and you get better/more confident.

brooksby wrote:

john1967 wrote:

ibike wrote:

I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.

Surely it should read " dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger"

Really? How was he putting any other road users in danger?  He's right over against the grass, probably eight or nine feet from the motor traffic.

That photo was taken from the police car that was escorting the dickhead of the hard shoulder.So if nothing else he was putting the police in danger.You may have to remove you carbon tinted spectacles to see the entire danger of this situation.

john1967 wrote:

ibike wrote:

I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.

Surely it should read " dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger"

But that wouldn't be newsworthy, given that those attributes apply to the majority of the driving population, and they're generally 'controlling' metal deathboxes with a minimum carnagespec of 90mph and 1 tonne.

john1967 wrote:

ibike wrote:

I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.

Surely it should read " dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger"

Yeah looks like he missed the, so safe and well marked, cycle route leading you off the M23:

https://goo.gl/maps/NDZVmZ1cGzQ2

a1white wrote:

Yeah looks like he missed the, so safe and well marked, cycle route leading you off the M23:

https://goo.gl/maps/NDZVmZ1cGzQ2

And beautifully maintained too! A wonderful piece on cycling infrastructure, the dutch would envy it!

DaveE128 wrote:

a1white wrote:

Yeah looks like he missed the, so safe and well marked, cycle route leading you off the M23:

https://goo.gl/maps/NDZVmZ1cGzQ2

And beautifully maintained too! A wonderful piece on cycling infrastructure, the dutch would envy it!

Can you imagine crossing that?! You're bascially crossing the M23, on a corner. Insane!

gbzpto wrote:

Road.cc seriously is this news or clickbait

Seems like the story is about exactly what it says on the link...