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Walking on correct side up a 1 in 7 single track country lane 7.30pm yesterday, 3 x cyclists whizzing down silently at 30+mph round blind bends & brows - sheer fluke that me & the mutt didn’t get knocked into kingdom come, having stepped into a gateway 2 seconds earlier to admire the view …
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:13 - Aug 14 by Ewan_Oozami
Also, there are not many footpaths that can be reached without using a car - sounds like from what you've said before that you were walking along the road where your house is maybe? A road that normally sees very little vehicular traffic maybe? Oh and if cyclists were letting loose down a 1 in 7 where they really couldn't safely see what was happening, then that is dangerous cycling....
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:28 - Aug 14 by Wallingford_Boy
Wallingford = South Oxon, ie. the countryside, so no ignorance here, other than yours.
If you just look a little harder, you will find a footpath.
People like you...
So according to you, I should never leave my house except in a car.
“Looking a little harder” will not create instant pavements or footpaths outside my door or the surrounding area.
Yeah sure that’s my fault and nothing whatsoever to do with selfish, reckless, ignorant people who don’t know or care what’s over the next blind brow or round the next blind bend when they mow them down at 30+ mph.
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:09 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
Electric cars are also a dangerous menace on this and other country lanes, but 1. Do have a hum to them which is audible if you listen out carefully 2. Are massively bigger in size so you’re more likely to catch a glimpse of them oncoming 2. Most drivers have taken a driving test and are aware of the requirement to drive within their stopping distance.
Some electric cars have an audible hum, a neighbour with a Kia electric has a clearly heard hum, but the Leaf is virtually silent, is it that small electric cars with low powered motors make less noise?
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Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:53 - Aug 14 with 639 views
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:40 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
So according to you, I should never leave my house except in a car.
“Looking a little harder” will not create instant pavements or footpaths outside my door or the surrounding area.
Yeah sure that’s my fault and nothing whatsoever to do with selfish, reckless, ignorant people who don’t know or care what’s over the next blind brow or round the next blind bend when they mow them down at 30+ mph.
Blimey, you are having a bad day!
RIP Sir Bobby
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Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:59 - Aug 14 with 632 views
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:40 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
So according to you, I should never leave my house except in a car.
“Looking a little harder” will not create instant pavements or footpaths outside my door or the surrounding area.
Yeah sure that’s my fault and nothing whatsoever to do with selfish, reckless, ignorant people who don’t know or care what’s over the next blind brow or round the next blind bend when they mow them down at 30+ mph.
They are riding within the speed limits perfectly legally, no bell would have made any difference if they came round the corner to find you in the middle of the road.
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:40 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
So according to you, I should never leave my house except in a car.
“Looking a little harder” will not create instant pavements or footpaths outside my door or the surrounding area.
Yeah sure that’s my fault and nothing whatsoever to do with selfish, reckless, ignorant people who don’t know or care what’s over the next blind brow or round the next blind bend when they mow them down at 30+ mph.
Were they club cyclists Ryorry? You can usually tell as quite a few would have the same colour tops.
If so, no harm a polite contact pointing out that said road is used by local pedestrians with no available alternatives.
IF not - guess you are bggered. The advice about walking on the outside of a bend sounds well worth taking (if not already) to help keep safe.
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 12:53 - Aug 14 by dryas
If it's on a road in the countryside why would anyone pre-emptively use a bell, not that road bikes will typically have one fitted? Funnily enough drivers don't hear bells.
I ride a gravel bike off-road on bridleways and the use of a bell is an interesting one and the subject of quite a lot of debate. Many people get more angry and het up after you use a bell to let them know you are approaching and, if it's clear and safe to get past, what's the point? Some people then feel obliged to move aside more than was necessary or indeed was needed at all and then get annoyed about it. I've actually tried making a noise with my brake levers instead of a bell given the reaction I've had from several pedestrians.
[Post edited 14 Aug 12:57]
Guessing this won't be a popular alternative, but I cycle on towpaths quite frequently and have taken to sodcasting instead (not too loud by the way)
Found that the walkers seem less stressed hearing a bit of Roy Ayres or Nick Drake coming out of my speaker approaching from the distance behind them than suddenly hearing a bell and having to take evasive action (although sometimes have to resort to the bell for people wearing noise-calling headphones)
In my defence, the areas I cycle are pretty deserted and I ride at quiet times of the morning too...
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:59 - Aug 14 by LeoMuff
They are riding within the speed limits perfectly legally, no bell would have made any difference if they came round the corner to find you in the middle of the road.
Just hating on cyclists for no reason.
Being pedantic, speed limits do not apply to cycles, so it doesn't matter what actual speed they are doing. In fact with a decent carbon bike with good tyres would roll along very easily at 30MPH without too much effort.
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Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:32 - Aug 14 with 555 views
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:11 - Aug 14 by BlueBoots
Guessing this won't be a popular alternative, but I cycle on towpaths quite frequently and have taken to sodcasting instead (not too loud by the way)
Found that the walkers seem less stressed hearing a bit of Roy Ayres or Nick Drake coming out of my speaker approaching from the distance behind them than suddenly hearing a bell and having to take evasive action (although sometimes have to resort to the bell for people wearing noise-calling headphones)
In my defence, the areas I cycle are pretty deserted and I ride at quiet times of the morning too...
If I heard Nick Drake coming out from a speaker on a bike behind me, I'd be jumping into the canal.......
You are the obsolete SRN4 to my Fairey Rotodyne....
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:31 - Aug 14 by Basuco
Being pedantic, speed limits do not apply to cycles, so it doesn't matter what actual speed they are doing. In fact with a decent carbon bike with good tyres would roll along very easily at 30MPH without too much effort.
You're not wrong - but that's a real can of worms!
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:59 - Aug 14 by LeoMuff
They are riding within the speed limits perfectly legally, no bell would have made any difference if they came round the corner to find you in the middle of the road.
Just hating on cyclists for no reason.
I cycle on road of all shapes and sizes a lot and I do time trials in the A14, so I'm not a complete softy. My view is this - if I was going down a steep hill on a narrow road with bends, reduced visibility and basically went as fast as I could and met something in the road and I couldn't stop in time, it would be my fault. In every single other interaction of road users, if you can't safely stop within your line of sight, it's your fault if something happens - I'm not sure why that seems to be suspended in this particular case?
You are the obsolete SRN4 to my Fairey Rotodyne....
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:59 - Aug 14 by LeoMuff
They are riding within the speed limits perfectly legally, no bell would have made any difference if they came round the corner to find you in the middle of the road.
Just hating on cyclists for no reason.
BELLS ARE TOTALLY AUDIBLE up to 1/4 MILE AWAY, maybe more on roads with 0 other traffic (ok, maybe 2 cars & a tractor/hour).
I was NOT “in the middle of the road “, I was hugging the right-hand verge going up, to the inch; the cyclist going down & his 2 mates following were hugging their left hand verge.
That is not “hating on cyclists”, that is me expressing thankfulness that thanks to the serendipity of having stepped into a gateway 2 seconds earlier to admire the view, I avoided serious injury/death (and possibly the same to them, which seems like it may be the only thing that gets you to think again).
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:05 - Aug 14 by bluelagos
Were they club cyclists Ryorry? You can usually tell as quite a few would have the same colour tops.
If so, no harm a polite contact pointing out that said road is used by local pedestrians with no available alternatives.
IF not - guess you are bggered. The advice about walking on the outside of a bend sounds well worth taking (if not already) to help keep safe.
No, those three weren’t - I did call after them in a friendly manner “please use a bell!” and didn’t get any “get stuffed”s in reply, but maybe out of hearing range by then!
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:45 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
No, those three weren’t - I did call after them in a friendly manner “please use a bell!” and didn’t get any “get stuffed”s in reply, but maybe out of hearing range by then!
Maybe one of them was this guy?
You are the obsolete SRN4 to my Fairey Rotodyne....
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:25 - Aug 14 by Crawfordsboot
Half my scout group got wiped out crossing the road on a blind bend. It was tragic but they meant well.
If i'm walking down narrow country roads i cross to the "wrong" side before i actually get to the blind bend. Then recross to the correct side as soon as i can see what's coming from both directions.
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Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 17:07 - Aug 14 with 423 views
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:37 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
BELLS ARE TOTALLY AUDIBLE up to 1/4 MILE AWAY, maybe more on roads with 0 other traffic (ok, maybe 2 cars & a tractor/hour).
I was NOT “in the middle of the road “, I was hugging the right-hand verge going up, to the inch; the cyclist going down & his 2 mates following were hugging their left hand verge.
That is not “hating on cyclists”, that is me expressing thankfulness that thanks to the serendipity of having stepped into a gateway 2 seconds earlier to admire the view, I avoided serious injury/death (and possibly the same to them, which seems like it may be the only thing that gets you to think again).
[Post edited 14 Aug 16:47]
I will ask again, are you seriously expecting a cyclist on windy country lanes to tinkle their bell every blind corner which may be in the region of dozens of times ?
Are you expecting a cyclist cornering a bend at possibly 30 mph to move a hand from the bars to tinkle said bell ?
Just stay on the right sides of the road and you have a clear view of oncoming traffic be that an EV or a bike
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 15:40 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
So according to you, I should never leave my house except in a car.
“Looking a little harder” will not create instant pavements or footpaths outside my door or the surrounding area.
Yeah sure that’s my fault and nothing whatsoever to do with selfish, reckless, ignorant people who don’t know or care what’s over the next blind brow or round the next blind bend when they mow them down at 30+ mph.
Sorry, but it doesn't sound like you're making a point about road users in general on that road, but cyclists in particular when they pose much less of a risk to you than most.
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Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 17:12 - Aug 14 with 412 views
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:57 - Aug 14 by ronnyd
If i'm walking down narrow country roads i cross to the "wrong" side before i actually get to the blind bend. Then recross to the correct side as soon as i can see what's coming from both directions.
If I understand you correctly, I do the same on normal width (2-lanes) country roads/lanes. Though you do have to be more careful with a dog, always keeping them on the verge side.
As others have said. it's best line of sight. Sometimes there are verges you can walk on, but more often than not there's only the road itself.
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 17:09 - Aug 14 by dryas
Sorry, but it doesn't sound like you're making a point about road users in general on that road, but cyclists in particular when they pose much less of a risk to you than most.
"Much less of a risk"?
It's *only* been cyclists that have nearly killed us. That's why I was talking about them. No vehicular drivers have ever come ever close - literally.
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 17:07 - Aug 14 by LeoMuff
I will ask again, are you seriously expecting a cyclist on windy country lanes to tinkle their bell every blind corner which may be in the region of dozens of times ?
Are you expecting a cyclist cornering a bend at possibly 30 mph to move a hand from the bars to tinkle said bell ?
Just stay on the right sides of the road and you have a clear view of oncoming traffic be that an EV or a bike
Maybe we wouldn't mind them not tinkling their bells if their hands were busy managing their speed appropriately using their brakes....
You are the obsolete SRN4 to my Fairey Rotodyne....
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 16:57 - Aug 14 by ronnyd
If i'm walking down narrow country roads i cross to the "wrong" side before i actually get to the blind bend. Then recross to the correct side as soon as i can see what's coming from both directions.
I think pedestrians should have to take a test! Round here on the edge of the Pennines driving home on narrow lanes i frequently come across walking groups. They ramble along in the middle of the road and then simply scatter left and right to either side leaving me to drive between them negotiating a slalom of bodies and dogs. Shouldn’t be allowed out without their carers.
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Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 17:48 - Aug 14 with 322 views
Cyclists - don’t say balls, sound your bells 🔔 on 14:56 - Aug 14 by Ryorry
Perfectly valid; unfortunately on an extremely narrow single track road you’d still be quite likely to be knocked flying by a silent, invisible cyclist at speed.
Going at such a speed on such a road is madness not least because even a bell wouldn't warn an oncoming car, so not only were they being reckless as to your safety, they were being reckless as to their own.
On country roads, one also has to be aware of the possibility of horses.
As it is, I was driving on such a road with high hedges yesterday and made a point of driving slowly and sounding my horn at bends.
Finally, I am always astonished when I see people walking on roads the incorrect way. Still, I suppose it has the advantage of not anticipating one's own death when a car ploughs into one's back.
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