Near Miss of the Day 405: Oncoming cyclist on wrong side of road

Most joggers seem to get the keep left concept, though pedestrians it is a crap shoot. But when cyclists do this they are taking the piss, they really should know better. The worst offenders are people who see you, you move to your left and then they move to their right, what are they thinking!

Someone doing that cost me two broken ribs and a near fatal embolism from the subsequent period of lying up a few years back.

Dingaling wrote:

I think some people commenting here have been locked up for too long.

Or not long enough?

Zebulebu wrote:

Unless I'm mistaken, that's either Spring Lane or Barns Lane. Neither of which could be considered a 'road' in any true sense of the word.

I think you're mistaken  - my money says its Oldfield Lane that goes from the golf course down to Dunham Massey Brewery. Single track, more craters than the surface of the moon and the middle is a strip of grit/gravel/horse sh*t. 

Picking a line that won't puncture road tyres is a major challenge.

Surely the convention of riding on the left should apply to all paths to help prevent accidents? It really annoys me the amount of cyclists that approach me on the 'wrong' side of cycle paths, why do they do it? I've noticed a similar thing when running and wonder if that's their convention as it's advised to run on the right facing oncoming traffic. Maybe these cyclists are runners on bikes?

I think you will find that it is rule 2 of the highway code

Also useful to know rule 5 which many are not aware of.

Rules 1-35 are related to pedestrians - first bit of rule 160 might be relevant though

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/using-the-road-159-to-203 wrote:

Rule 160

Once moving you should

* keep to the left, unless road signs or markings indicate otherwise. The exceptions are when you want to overtake, turn right or pass parked vehicles or pedestrians in the road

I was responding to the bit about runners.

I don't think I'd ever read Rule 5 (large groups of pedestrians); interesting!

It came up on a walk I was on. Some old boy was ranting at us from his driving seat as we were holding him up and on the wrong side. Unfortunately for him, he picked a rather experienced teacher who was somewhat used to dealing with unruly types, to attempt to make his 'point'

I had a collision with a another cyclist, the other day, who was doing this. she flew round a blind corner, on a shared path, on the right hand side. I braked sharply and moved as far left as I could, but still could not avoid her (she semed to veer into me more, as I braked). She managed to buckle my front wheel and give me some nasty cuts and bruises. So annoying. Don't go round a blind corner on the wrong side!

If the 'narrow single track road' is a public road,users should keep to the left - that oncoming cyclist just wanted to use the smoothest part of the track and didn't care about road law; as for using primary position on a narrow,unsealed track..laughable.

What a ridiculous comment. My commute heads in to the sun in the morning, and again at the end of the day. Do you suggest I change jobs, have two homes, or not ride at all?

How do you propose someone who wants to do a loop at dawn or dusk ride? A north/south loop? Let's hope they don't travel east or west at any point! Can I get my groceries as the sun is setting? I'll be riding in to the sun on the way home. I guess east/west rides should be banned during sunrise/sunset?

I would suggest having a rear and front light in such situations but what you're suggesting is comical. Give me strength.

If only there was a simple and readily available eyewear device that could be worn when travelling toward the sun that made it easier to see...

PRSboy wrote:

If only there was a simple and readily available eyewear device that could be worn when travelling toward the sun that made it easier to see...

Don't be so ridiculous 😅

Boopop wrote:

What a ridiculous comment. My commute heads in to the sun in the morning, and again at the end of the day. Do you suggest I change jobs, have two homes, or not ride at all?

How do you propose someone who wants to do a loop at dawn or dusk ride? A north/south loop? Let's hope they don't travel east or west at any point! Can I get my groceries as the sun is setting? I'll be riding in to the sun on the way home. I guess east/west rides should be banned during sunrise/sunset?

I would suggest having a rear and front light in such situations but what you're suggesting is comical. Give me strength.

Whoooooooooooooooooosh.

I can't begin to fathom the depths of stupidity reached by your comment.  I think I actually lost thousands of brain cells just by reading it.

Now I'm not going to excuse Tim's seemingly foolishness, but I have changed sections of my old morning commute (soon hopefully to be my new commute too) to remove a part that would eliminate riding into the sun, less about me being unable to see, I have sunglasses and a visor for that, but that of having half asleep impatient motorists coming up behind me, on a fast and twisty road, that also had the addition of double white lines in the middle (most motorists know there are some odd rules about them, but most have no idea what they might be, so results, for some reason, in more dangerous close passes).  It took me longer, but I did go off road through some wonderful common land, unfortunately quite muddy and sometimes flooded, but this is a commute, something you do every day for months if not years at an end.

Going home I would sometimes travel into the sun but because of weirdness and bits of that route only being open in the evening, it was for a very short distance and not the several miles of the morning trip.  There is slightly less urgency in motorists and less sleepiness.  Different levels of tree cover because of time of the year things too.

Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:

I can't begin to fathom the depths of stupidity reached by your comment.  I think I actually lost thousands of brain cells just by reading it.

2x Whoooooooooooooooooosh.

Tim K wrote:

Hasn't this bloke learn't to plan his rides so as not to be riding into the sun? Just as stupid as riding on the wrong side of the road. Maybe not quite as stupid as riding on the wrong side of the road while oncoming traffic has the sun in it's eyes. Such a lack of common sense in the world.

/s (for y'all Americans reading this page.)

hirsute wrote:

I think the use of the word "road" is a bit misleading. Perhaps they took the best line based on the surface.

That's what it looked like to me.  There seem to be some quite serious potholes at the end of the vid, so perhaps the wrong side rider was avoiding them.  That said, he should have been alert to the possibility of another road user coming towards him, and been ready to move back to the correct side.

This is the view from Google Maps 

https://goo.gl/maps/Xsdzsyi8HMwBR93Z6

and a bit further up 

https://goo.gl/maps/Z6fHhbUKcjVoHLxA8

have a look behind as well