OT: Highway Code changes

[nothanks]

Where are you reading a definitive list of the changes?

[Andy Burns]

[Chris Green]

'crossing the road' doesn't relate directly to 'turning traffic gives way'. However I'm sure habits vary across France. The area I'm familiar with at present is NE France around Maubeuge and there turning cars do, really, stop for pedestrians who are simply waiting to cross a side road. This even applies to cars leaving a roundabout.

[Steve Walker]

Of course that is correct, but in the real world, people get it wrong and adding extra reason to stop, where the following vehicle may not even be able to see the reason why, is adding unnecessary risk.

[nothanks]

Thanks! H3 is going to cause a few issues when cyclists "undertake" in stationary or very slow traffic because the car driver may not have seen them. WIBNI: ... cyclists had to pass a test and show knowledge of the rules ... cyclists needed insurance ... flashing lights on bikes were banned unless co-located with a non-flashing light ... front lights on bikes had the same rules as car headlights ... front lights on cycle helmets were banned I (an occasional cyclist) could go on (and on and on and ...)

[NY]

It only because the HC idiots allow and even encourage undertaking that the driver even needs to look. That rule has to be one of the "harest" of hare-brained rules ever to come out of the HC.

The main thing on my WIBNI list would be that cyclists had to display number plates by which they could be reported to the police for HC offences (running red lights, running occupied zebra crossings) and that such prosecutions led to equivalent penalties to those for a car doing the same thing.

Also high-up on my WIBNI list is a complete ban (*) on all under/overtaking of vehicles on the side which they are indicating, with the fault for any accident being placed 100% on the overtaking vehicle in that circumstance. That would also need cycle lanes on the left hand side discontinuing n-hundred yards before a left-turn so turning vehicles could position themselves properly (ie hard over to the left) which would physically prevent any cyclists trying to overtake on that side. The onus should never be on the vehicle in front having to look out for and potentially give way to the vehicle behind.

Like you I'm an occasional cyclist - but I try to obey all the same rules (red lights, zebra crossings, not undertaking) that I would as a car driver, and to ride as if I had a number plate which could be used to trace me if I transgressed the rules. OK, so if I get held up in traffic I have the option of dismounting and wheeling my bike past the queuing traffic, crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing and continuing on the far side - be nice if that was possible as a car driver ;-)

(*) I'd make it an instant-disqualification offence... oh but cyclists don't need any sort of permit to ride so this can't be taken away from them as a punishment :-(

[Dave Plowman (News]

That sort of accident is extremely rare in comparison to a cyclist undertaking a vehicle signalling left - especially large vehicles that likely have to move away from the nearside lane to allow that turn.

This is easily shown by the very few prosecutions when a cyclist gets injured under these circumstances. Their view seems to be - similar to joggers - that once up to speed they're not going to slow down or stop for anything.

[Tim Streater]

It *is* lunacy, and for it to happen involves the cyclist not paying attention. Which should be an offence in its own right, just as it is for car drivers.