Lets blame the Victim again

Kieran_Burns

TWH: point taken - where I lived there was a perfect stretch of single carriageway that was used for time trialling (oddly enough passing under the A50 at one end) so I never saw TT bikes on the dual carriageways around here (which happen to be the A50, A38, and A52 mentioned earlier as the nightmare ones to cycle on)

I guess my personal experiences with dual carriagways polarizes my opinion of them.

SBezza

I have ridden (raced) on both SC and DC including the A50, I have had closer calls on SC roads, so go figure. If anyone thinks a lorry will do less than 56 on a straightish bit of SC they are misguided, there is just alot less room (and oncoming traffic) on a SC, and they can be just as dangerous if the driver of the vehicle is not paying full attention to what is going on in front of him.

The A50 is no different to any other DC, it is busy, but most of them are, there is plenty of room for a car/lorry to overtake a cyclist without causing any issues, it just people don't drive with proper foresight to what maybe up ahead, and doing stupid things like texting etc.

shouldbeinbed

I'm totally behind KB on this one I know the area quite well but not as well as he.

I live in Manchester and have family around Leicester, I've used the A50 regularly for years, (at fearsome speed in many instances) I have seen a TT on it on a Sunday morning on the stretch between the Burton junction and the M1. I was astonished to see this as it is the fastest bit of the road and I was just glad I was going the other way.

I ride DC's with and without central reservations round here and there is nothing I've driven or ridden that comes even vaguely close to the A50, it is as near as dammit a 40 mile straight line, theres a couple of roundabouts & barely a junction to look out for, its mainly quiet (certainly coming off the M1 or M6 its a joy to behold) and its incredibly easy to get up to a good pace very quickly and take your brain down a notch because the cars are visible from a long way off and no sane person/ your average car driver would expect anyhing other than cars(+) on there

Cyclists IMO shouldn't be on there as it is simply too fast for either car or bike to react to even a slight error of judgement by the other without it being horrific.

I'm against this MP's proposal, not because I think cyclists should use that road, but because it will be used as an excuse by other places with equally well intentioned motives and by the Clarkson and Rayner types to pursue an anti bike exclusionist agenda.

Education on both sides

For bikers: better signage on this stretch for cyclists advising of the alternatives, appoint KB as the local cycling advisor and the 'x fatalities/injuries in the next y miles' signs so beloved of e.g the A1 past Morpeth (the town not the pub) and heading up to Edinburgh.

For drivers: awareness that it ISN'T a morotway and that other forms of road user are legally entitled to be on it, allied to far higher profile policing of and stricter punishment for homicidally stupid activities like texting whilst driving.