Crossing white lines

buckles

Just watched a Racesmart video that said never to cross white lines in the centre of the road. Why? Surely crossing a broken line is OK. There is nothing in the highway code saying you can't if road ahead is visible far into the distance (i.e. not approaching a corner or going up a hill) and there's no oncoming traffic. It's solid white lines that should never be crossed.

If you were in a car overtaking another slower-moving car, a tractor or a bunch of cyclists you would cross the white line so what's the reasoning behind GCN telling people not to?

okgo

Agree. Solid white line is of course different. But there are countless photo's out there of riders spread over the road, plenty from the Fens race last week even. I am guessing they didn't dq half the field, so perhaps they need to be a bit more clear...

mm1

Circuit of the Fens had NEG and rolling road closure.

Pross

I don't see any need for a rider to cross the line, as soon as the race speeds up the bunch strings out and you have space to move up. If you can't do it then you aren't likely to be able to win so why risk it? I've had the misfortune to organise a race where a rider made the fatal mistake of crossing a broken line. I've also raced in an event where riders were doing it with oncoming vehicles then cutting in resulting eventually in a crash that brought me down. I can't work out why people are prepared to risk so much for a few points and prize money that just about covers their entry fee.

kingstonian

Quite frankly, anyone risking a head-on collision with a car just to try to eke out an advantage in an amateur road race needs their head examined.

DavidJB

I've seen some stupid moves but I don't see anything wrong with crossing a broken white line with a clear view up ahead. Around blind bends, solid whites and up hills is a no no in my book and I've called a couple of people out for being idiots before.

DeVlaeminck

With a clear view of the road ahead crossing the white line to overtake is safe - that means moving out and going past the whole bunch before moving back in - but how many people who cross it are actually doing that ? Most are either just riding over the line to keep a position or trying to move up a bit and cut back into the bunch.

I wouldn't have a problem with there being a blanket ruling that you do not cross the line at all and if you are forced to - say you get pushed out then you move back in without moving up so you don't do it to gain an advantage. Whether you can enforce that in a bunch sprint though is another matter but you could enforce it for the rest of the race if commissaires clamped down on it - so long as it remains a case of appealing to riders' better nature it'll continue.

CYCLESPORT1

But not "Closed Roads"

mm1 wrote:

Circuit of the Fens had NEG and rolling road closure.

Pross

This may be rose tinted glasses and nostalgia but when I raced much more regularly in the 90s I really can't recall riders crossing white lines very often at all and when they did they would get a warning from the comm (who used to have a loudspeaker on the roof). It was quite a shock to see the risks people were prepared to take when I did my first race back after a 12 year break. I'm not sure of the reasons, possibly a combination of larger fields (we now have a single 80 rider race whereas we used to run two races with 60 rider maximum fields, some races are permitted up to 100 riders), more riders able to stay in the bunch whereas the races I did very rarely had more than 30 left by the finish and some sort of blase attitude to the safety of themselves and others.

Considering many cycle specific circuits are the width of a single road lane and riders manage to race in that width I really can't see why it's necessary to cross the line :?

hatone

Ultimately it boils down to being sensible.

If there's a clear road ahead, you should be allowed to overtake, even if it means riding on the right side of the road to safely pass the pack or an obstruction ahead.

I find most of the time in a typical 3rd cat or above RR riders stick to the left side.

However, I generally find the last lap is the most dangerous, especially the last 8 or so km from the finish. Everyone's jostling for position and often the adrenaline and sadly, desperation, overrides rational thinking and leads to people taking enormous, do-it-or-die risk. That's the nature of competitiveness amongst us humans.

I think trying to enforce a strict no-riding-on-the-ride-side rule is difficult at best. Disqualification should be for dangerous riding or putting others at risk, not safely passing on the right side with a clear road...

celbianchi

Kingstonian wrote:

Quite frankly, anyone risking a head-on collision with a car just to try to eke out an advantage in an amateur road race needs their head examined.

This.

I think the best idea is to simply make crossing the white line a DQ offence. Or encourage the Chief comm to abandon the race at the first offence. You'd only need a couple of races being pulled for people to police it themselves.
By having 'fluffy' reasoning like "it's ok if it's safe and you can see up the road" just encourages folk to do it whenever they see fit. It should be BLACK and WHITE and not open to an individuals own risk assessment on the fly with the adrenaline pumping.

Put yourselves in the shoes of other road users - without citing specific cases, if you are driving legally on the other side of the road and a racing cyclist ploughs head on into you then as well as killing yourself and causing upset to your friends, family and others also racing - think of the person who has to live with the mental strain of being the other party.

jgsi

Maybe it just needs to be messaged across each time..
just had start sheets for my weekend's 'work' ... the 25 Open TT has dire consequences for breaches of public road use... the road race however has somewhat glossed over the issue.

Pross

JGSI wrote:

Maybe it just needs to be messaged across each time..
just had start sheets for my weekend's 'work' ... the 25 Open TT has dire consequences for breaches of public road use... the road race however has somewhat glossed over the issue.

I'm not sure if it would help. I do a 'notes for riders' section on my race programmes and the first item is

1. Any rider crossing a solid white line may be removed from the race by the Commissaires. Riders should be aware at all times (including the run in to the finish) that they are racing on an open road and that there may be oncoming vehicles.

The Commisaires briefing always warns of DQs for infringing. This warning was repeated at least 3 times at the start of the last event I organised and the Comm still ended up DQing several riders who ignored him (one of these subsequently refused to drop out and tried to push the motorcycle commisaire off his bike when he pulled alongside to tell him to drop out). Doubtless the next weekend some of the riders that had been present that day were crossing lines again. The Chief Comm in that race got criticised for his attitude but ultimately if riders are going to take unnecessary risks it needs action like that - once the race has started the safety of riders is the Chief Comm's responsibility and they will be the one who has to stand in front of the Coroner's Court if the worst happens.

I'm inclined to agree with the comment above that you should make the rule that no-one crosses the white line at any time as it removes the ambiguity and reliance on judgement. 'Safe to overtake' is subjective and too many people rely on other riders being prepared to let them in.