Accidentally strayed onto the motorway?

Stewie Griffin
Stewie Griffin Posts: 4,330
edited July 2009 in The bottom bracket
Ok the Points were clearly wrong but you must be quite stupid to follow a sat nav onto a Motorway on a bicycle?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/sou ... 149629.stm

Willier riders eh :wink: ?

Comments

  • Mettan
    Mettan Posts: 2,103
    Yes - he should have fully realised within the first 5 - 10 seconds or so, what he was on. Bit worrying that the officers put 3 points on his driving licence - quite right that they've been removed.
  • rhext
    rhext Posts: 1,639
    This is Scotland, remember. Home of A roads with passing places! He might not have noticed!
  • Infamous
    Infamous Posts: 1,130
    Scotsman doesn't want to pay fine shocker.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,665
    Already a thread on this in campaign...
  • geoff_ss
    geoff_ss Posts: 1,201
    One of our older club members strayed onto the M1 at when he took the wrong exit off a roundabout. He realised his error before he reached the end of the sliproad and got off his bike and walked back up the hard shoulder. Unfortunately for Bill, a police car met him, by chance, part way up. I think he got a ticking off but no points on his driving licence - I don't think he'd got one, actually :lol: I really don't see why a non-driving offence should result in a driving fine. Would they try the same with a pedestrian?

    It is easily done, though. I've done it in the car and been forced to continue until I could turn round at the next exit.

    Geoff
    Old cyclists never die; they just fit smaller chainrings ... and pedal faster
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,665
    Geoff_SS wrote:
    One of our older club members strayed onto the M1 at when he took the wrong exit off a roundabout. He realised his error before he reached the end of the sliproad and got off his bike and walked back up the hard shoulder. Unfortunately for Bill, a police car met him, by chance, part way up. I think he got a ticking off but no points on his driving licence - I don't think he'd got one, actually :lol:I really don't see why a non-driving offence should result in a driving fine. Would they try the same with a pedestrian?

    It is easily done, though. I've done it in the car and been forced to continue until I could turn round at the next exit.

    Geoff

    Me neither. The law is an ass sometimes. I would always use my discretion unless the person gave me reason not to...
  • robdaykin
    robdaykin Posts: 102
    In the space of 1 week in Edinburgh on 2 different nights, I found myself on sections of the Western Approach Road, which is closed to cyclists. The first time out near Murrayfield is signposted at the western end, but not the eastern, and the second time near Haymarket, from a side road, again not signposted till after I'd joined the road. I went back over both routes later, to see if I'd missed a sign in the dark, but I hadn't. First time there was no traffic, second time, moderate traffic, but everyone gave me loads of room, till I could find an exit, which was much appreciated. For reference I was up there on work, I'm not normally resident there :-) After that I did some research and found some great cycle paths, which kept me off the roads almost completely.
  • geoff_ss
    geoff_ss Posts: 1,201
    robdaykin wrote:
    In the space of 1 week in Edinburgh on 2 different nights, I found myself on sections of the Western Approach Road, which is closed to cyclists. The first time out near Murrayfield is signposted at the western end, but not the eastern, and the second time near Haymarket, from a side road, again not signposted till after I'd joined the road. I went back over both routes later, to see if I'd missed a sign in the dark, but I hadn't. First time there was no traffic, second time, moderate traffic, but everyone gave me loads of room, till I could find an exit, which was much appreciated. For reference I was up there on work, I'm not normally resident there :-) After that I did some research and found some great cycle paths, which kept me off the roads almost completely.

    Good cycle routes in towns are really hard to find if you're not a local. They're rarely signposted to the next town and as often as not use street names to indicate where they're going - not much use if you don't know the area. There are some reasonable back routes/cycle paths round Derby but how strangers find them I can't think.

    The cycle route signposting in Holland is excellent and works well in my experience, though I'm not a great fan of cycle tracks where the 'real' roads aren't very busy.

    Geoff
    Old cyclists never die; they just fit smaller chainrings ... and pedal faster
  • majormantra
    majormantra Posts: 2,094
    robdaykin wrote:
    In the space of 1 week in Edinburgh on 2 different nights, I found myself on sections of the Western Approach Road, which is closed to cyclists. The first time out near Murrayfield is signposted at the western end, but not the eastern, and the second time near Haymarket, from a side road, again not signposted till after I'd joined the road. I went back over both routes later, to see if I'd missed a sign in the dark, but I hadn't. First time there was no traffic, second time, moderate traffic, but everyone gave me loads of room, till I could find an exit, which was much appreciated. For reference I was up there on work, I'm not normally resident there :-) After that I did some research and found some great cycle paths, which kept me off the roads almost completely.

    Is the entire road really closed to cyclists? I'm pretty sure I've been on part of the eastern end of the road.

    Matthew
  • Angus444
    Angus444 Posts: 141
    Same goes for when travelling from Dundee to Edinburgh.....dual carriageway to Perth, across Friarton Bridge, and then surprise, surprise, you're on the M90....no signposting for cyclists. Come to think of it, I can't remember seeing any signposting on any of the approaches to the few motorways we have here......
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    MajorMantra wrote:
    Is the entire road really closed to cyclists? I'm pretty sure I've been on part of the eastern end of the road.

    Matthew

    I hadn't thought so until I read this...http://www.battyeweb.org.uk/edinburgh4.html....

    It seems that the sign for light vehicles does not include bicycles, but there is not a no cycles sign until you are actually on the road itself...
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,665
    Found the legalities and posted in the other thread.

    Not even the Manchester Central Ticket Office could find it but yours truly did :D
  • majormantra
    majormantra Posts: 2,094
    cee wrote:
    MajorMantra wrote:
    Is the entire road really closed to cyclists? I'm pretty sure I've been on part of the eastern end of the road.

    Matthew

    I hadn't thought so until I read this...http://www.battyeweb.org.uk/edinburgh4.html....

    It seems that the sign for light vehicles does not include bicycles, but there is not a no cycles sign until you are actually on the road itself...

    Curious. Thanks for the link.

    Matthew
  • singlespeedexplosif
    singlespeedexplosif Posts: 1,564
    meh..motorways. I rode on an autobahn in Germany for about 15k a few years ago. It made sense at the time.
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    Infamous wrote:
    Scotsman doesn't want to pay fine shocker.

    Ahem!

    "Jamie Barton, 34, from Essex, was stopped by officers on the A74(M) motorway near Gretna on Sunday."

    Never let the facts get in the way of a good bit of prejudice :?

    I have been on that bit of road and it leads from what looks like a standard 2 way road straight onto the motorway. I can't remember which signs there are but if you are not paying attention it could be easily done.
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Infamous wrote:
    Scotsman doesn't want to pay fine shocker.

    Except he was from Essex....
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    A few months ago I was on a train from Luton back to London with my bike. the train came to a standstill at Elstree and Borehamwood station and sat for aaaages. The driver said that there was a signal problem somewhere along the line. I decided to cycle the rest of the way and used the A1. At certain points the A1 has 3 lanes but is NOT a motorway, yet some drivers honked at me as though I shouldn't be there. I gave 'em the finger - cheeky w@nkers...
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • Soreknees
    Soreknees Posts: 68
    That particular piece of Motorway was only dual carriageway until last year when it was upgraded.

    Classic example of switching on sat nav and switching off brain though. Thought it was just dumb motorists that did that. :roll: :roll:
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    The thing is, most motorways would be safer than dual carriageways, because of the hard shoulders - in some countries it's legal to cycle on them.
    The A90 mentioned by my fellow Angusian above is a case in point - it has sections where it has hard shoulders perhaps a couple of feet wide, and sections where there are none at all; I've been along it a few times but only very early (before 6am) on summer mornings, and even that made me feel nervous every time I heard a lorry come up behind me.
    I was once driving along it, at night and in very heavy rain, on one of the sections without hard shoulders, when I realised that I had just passed a cyclist - draw your own conclusions.
  • oakins242
    oakins242 Posts: 36
    Headhunter (are you a fan of Front242?),

    The A1(M) is clearly a motorway in certain places, hence the (M), but not south from Elstree.

    Even so I don't suppose there are too many instances where sounding your horn at a cyclist helps them stay alive on a busy main road.

    I once got on the M6 from Manchester going North instead of South, it had been a very long weekend. Luckily I was in my car, not on the bike.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    oakins242 wrote:
    Headhunter (are you a fan of Front242?),

    The A1(M) is clearly a motorway in certain places, hence the (M), but not south from Elstree.

    Even so I don't suppose there are too many instances where sounding your horn at a cyclist helps them stay alive on a busy main road.

    I once got on the M6 from Manchester going North instead of South, it had been a very long weekend. Luckily I was in my car, not on the bike.

    Yeah but I wasn't on the A1(M), I avoided that, it's clearly signposted.

    Front242 - now there's a blast from the past! I used to listen to them in the late 80s/early 90s when I was in my teens! That's not the reason I names myself headunter, it's because it's my job, I headhunt investment bankers...
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • oakins242
    oakins242 Posts: 36
    I think they relaesed a CD with about 12 different versions of 'Headhunter' on it?

    Your very own soundtrack!
  • Infamous
    Infamous Posts: 1,130
    daviesee wrote:
    Ahem!

    "Jamie Barton, 34, from Essex, was stopped by officers on the A74(M) motorway near Gretna on Sunday."

    Never let the facts get in the way of a good bit of prejudice :?.
    I'm not being racist! just ignorant.
  • Angus444
    Angus444 Posts: 141
    Does anyone have the film clip of Cipo tailing his team car on the autostrada, from a few years ago? I had it, but lost it. The carabinieri pulled the car over, then realised it was the Lion King himself, and let him off with a warning, after he signed some autographs.

    He maintained it was the only class of road where he could safely ride at high speed, without worrying about numpties pulling out at junctions, roundabouts, etc....
  • nwallace
    nwallace Posts: 1,465
    Angus444 wrote:
    Same goes for when travelling from Dundee to Edinburgh.....dual carriageway to Perth, across Friarton Bridge, and then surprise, surprise, you're on the M90....no signposting for cyclists. Come to think of it, I can't remember seeing any signposting on any of the approaches to the few motorways we have here......

    The last big green direction sign directs Non-Motorway traffic onto the A85 and then there is the blue motorway "chopsticks" sign which tells you that you are on the motorway.

    Where as on a "Special Road" that isn't a "motorway" they need to actually tell you whats not allowed.

    The A92 Tay Road Bridge still has No Pedestrian Signs but the No Cyclists ones disappeared a few years back.

    The A74(M) Thing may have confused him, how many A roads under motorway restrictions are there down that way? I only know of the A1(M)

    You map would have to be seriously old to have any of the A74 south of Glasgow on it, the A74 mentioned was the Carlisle bypass that recently became part of the M6, the change to Motorway previously occurring at the border.

    The A90 has shared use paths at the side, fairly wide and hardly anyone uses them, though given how nice the Carse road is the only reason i can think to use the A90 at all is to avoid Kinoull.

    Also, Motorway is just a class of road, the majority of them are "HQDC" High Quality Dual Carraigeways (basically DC with no at grade junctions) with Hard Shoulders. Until recently there was one in the north of England that was single carriageway with 6 or 7 tidal flow lanes. and the M90 and M8 have parts with no Hard Shoulders at all.
    Do Nellyphants count?

    Commuter: FCN 9
    Cheapo Roadie: FCN 5
    Off Road: FCN 11

    +1 when I don't get round to shaving for x days
  • synchronicity
    synchronicity Posts: 1,415
    Yes. It's basically legal to cycle on any road in Australia, unless it specifically has a "no bikes" sign. I'm not sure if that's a goood or a bad thing. :lol:
    vertebr.ae | precision braking & shifting
  • Wappygixer
    Wappygixer Posts: 1,396
    I took a wrong turning a few years ago on my way back home after a night out.It was about 6am, I was sooo tired , on a road I didn't really know and I ended up taking the wrong turning off a roundabout and ended up on the hard shoulder of the M1 southbound.I didn't know until a truck pipped at me, I looked up and counted 4 lanes.
    I promptly stopped and ran up the embankment and back to the roundabout.
    To add insult to injury I got lost and 45 mins later I ended back up at the same roundabout.

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