[Closed] Is it the law for a cyclist to give way on a bridleway?

Yes. You should always give way to more vulnerable road/bridleway/etc users.

I believe that the hierarchy for right of way is walkers, horses, cyclists but you may need to check that. Personally I think it's polite and will win brownie points for MTBs.

horses, walkers, us. bridle being the key word. 😀

Not arguing the fact.
We give way to everyone.
Just wondered if it was technically correct as the law stands?

I'm not sure that there's a law, it's probably in the "countryside code" or something similar.

yes, it's technically correct

the reality is that if everyone has manners most of the time a reasonable "compromise" occurs and everyone gives way to each other and gets a thank you from the other trail user

be nice out there on the trails 🙂

Section 30 of Countryside Act 1968. (So Google tells me)

Is it not time for that law to be looked at? It seems like cyclists cannot ride anywhere without being considered impostors.

Not sure everyone has the manners we do.
By the looks and comments we get from other bridleway users you'd think we all rode flaming Harleys and had 666 tattoos on our foreheads.
A cheerful hello seems to catch them out though.
Will carry on giving way and smiling at everyone however miserable they seem to be.

We were walking before we rode horses and riding horses before we were cycling so as far as I'm concerned that's the order of priority. And who in their right mind would want to upset half a ton of dum animal often piloted by someone with less intelligence than the horse 🙂

just to start another argument pedestrians, horses, cyclists going up, cyclists going down 😉

It is not law no, i.e. you will not be prosecuted for not complying with it.

. And who in their right mind would want to upset half a ton of dum animal often piloted by someone with less intelligence than the horse

This. I amazes me the speed that strava says people go down one narrow and well used bridle way with blind corners near me. Meet anything going the other way at 50kmh and someone will end up in the hospital.

On the plus side, horses and cyclists can both gang up on chavs razzing their 105's round quiet country lanes!

Will carry on giving way and smiling at everyone however miserable they seem to be.

this is also remarkably good for one's own health. we need less angry people out there, so bravo to you!

an act is not law
an act is a statute obeying a statute is voluntary ie which requires consent
anyone can withdraw their consent to a statute
so unless you consent to the act it means nothing
slow down to walking pace for walkers and stop for horses
just respect other bridle way users a smile and hello

so jogers 3 abreast running at me and forcing me off the path is ok ....because thats what they allways ?

because they allways what wicki

Forced you off the path? You obviously didn't slow down/give way then! Although perhaps the signs in the OP could do with an extra sign attaching, a reminder that everyone should respect other trail users, even if technically they have the right of way.

^ Speed awareness 😳 101: There is no such thing as a right of way. Its about common sense and respect

Do I smell a FOTL up there?

Animals get priority as they are unpredictable. As others have said politeness from all parties goes a long way.

We are all animals technically

One of those always give way to horses and let them know you are there when approaching form the rear as who wants to spook them

Walkers its about mutual respect I slow down, pick a side and expect them to give me room to get past.

They dont always do this and I dont always take it well.

As hebdencyclist says - Section 30 of Countryside Act 1968

30 Riding of pedal bicycles on bridleways.E+W.
(1)Any member of the public shall have, as a right of way, the right to ride a bicycle, [not being a mechanically propelled vehicle], on any bridleway, but in exercising that right cyclists shall give way to pedestrians and persons on horseback.

It seems perfectly reasonable to me that cyclists should give way. These are bridleways not cycle trails.

Definitely [url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/41/section/30 ]Countryside Act 1968 (Section 30)[/url]: -

cyclists shall give way to pedestrians and persons on horseback

Would a cyclist not giving way on BW be illegal? Yes, but only if the circumstances met the standards as set out by the [url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/part/I/crossheading/cycling-offences-and-cycle-racing ]Road Traffic Act 1988[/url] (if the cyclist acted recklessly, carelessly, without due care, etc).

However, it would be very unlikely that a solitary act of not giving way would meet this standard, so it would need additional factors such as by not giving way [i]and[/i] also acting recklessly / dangerously by knocking someone over [i]and / or[/i] killing them (i.e. it needs more than just someone being annoyed at someone else for not giving way).

I'm unaware of any case law relating to cyclists being prosecuted under the RTA by virtue of any wrongdoing on a BW, there are a few on roads, but again relating to matters more serious than merely not giving way.

Everyone gives ways to horses.

Personally I think that is wrong - everyone should give way to walkers.

It bugs me giving way to horses as normally the riders are just out for a social gathering - the horse is getting bugger all exercise and neither are the riders - witness how fat many of them are and the fact that they ride two abreast holding conversations without any sign of being the slightest bit out of breath.

Road cyclists dawlding about on Sundays for a social bug me as well.

One of those we should but the reality is it is often much easier for a pedestrian to take a sideways step than for us to stop and dismount etc - depends massively on the BW to be clear but a technical downhill it not always easy.

Mutual consideration/respect/cooperation is the key here rather than an absolute adherence to the code.

I always slow down so it is obvious I have reacted to them but I then expect them to make reasonable efforts to leave space for me to pass. If they dont I do stop as the alternative is to ride into them.

It's just good manners as much as it may be law (or not)- on BOATs and RUPPs 4x4s (are supposed to) give way to motorcycles, which give way to cycles, which give way to horses, which give way to walkers. I don't know why she swallowed a fly, perhaps she'll die...

I agree with JY though, some walkers are just arseholes and make themselves as wide as possible regardless of the size of kindness bomb you let off near them.

do lol .....uups!

I allways give way to walkers horses etc ...but the jogging fraternity wind me up with an attitude that the entire path width is theirs just so they can run abreast of each other and chat.

They should update the law - "Strava users have priority" 😆

For the most part, as a bike isn't a flighty big creature with a mind of its own, unless it's muddy, I am happy to slow down or stop and let the person riding the flighty big creature with a mind of its own pass at their own pace.

was thinking about this the other day we give way to everyone, horseists give way to pedestrians.

Whereas one would have thought common sense would prevail: walkers being the easiest to stop and stand aside would be first to give way, cyclists next easiest to move aside then horses biggest and hardest to yield to others so they get priority.

Or you could go with the danger thing, horses have most momentum so should give way to everyone, cyclists next, (then runners I guess) walkers top of the pile as they do the least damage.

Either way we should be in the middle but we're lowest of the low, probably due to timeline as avdave says, doesn't seem sensible really.

but if everyone is considerate we tend to rub along ok.

<edit>If you're faced with a line of walkers/runners coming towards you completelyt blocking a wide trail just stop on the trail, they can then choose to walk around you or have some shouty stand off while you calmly give way to the walkers, I wouldn't let them "force" you off the trail. Bit tricky if they are walking in the same direction and they're being obstructive as technically they don't have to move aside for you and so you could come to some stupid impasse caused by them being nobs. edit2 actually had this with a horse rider a few weeks ago, was a tricky one.

It's about manners, from my experience walkers tend to move to one side if you give them heads up and you are travelling at speed. I normally give way to horses however yesterday a horse rider gave way twice was very polite.

horseists give way to pedestrians.

wrong way round...

The one thing people forget in priority conflicts (whether bridleway or road) is that 'manners' is undefined and very subjective - what one person thinks is 'manners' someone else thinks isn't e.g. joggers coming at you 3 abreast think you not moving out of the way is rude, but you think they're rude... and from there comes a load of passive aggressive conflict e.g. silliness like this

Road cyclists dawlding about on Sundays for a social bug me as well.

We all need to remember that in most situations everyone has a right to be there and when it comes to bridleways, everyone's out for some exercise and fresh air and in that respect we're all on the same side.

Just think about what you can do to make the situation better, forget your own needs, smile, be generous of spirit and remember that people often don't hear or see bikes coming, often make mistakes when moving out of your way and often have a different definition of 'manners and politeness'

I do wonder how we can all get so uptight about leisure pursuits!

wrong way round...

Geek Facts

When the 1968 act was discussed in parliament, the original recommendation of the gosling committee was that cycles be allowed to ride on footpaths, in its way through parliament this gained the caveat that it would be illegal for cyclists not to dismount when passing either horseriders or pedestrians - it was of course recognised that this would lead to a game of chase every time you tried to overtake a walker and got off your bike, then by the time you got back on they would have overtaken you and you would have to ride to catch them up and then get off the bike again 😀

inconsistencies like this led to the amendment not being adopted, so we were stuck with just bridleways.

horseist>walker>mtber
still seems silly/arbitrary that way round

That's the class system for you.

Is there a legal definition of what "give way" actually means?

It clearly does no mean 'stop'

You know the worlds donald ducked when we need laws for this sort of stuff.

ninfan - Member
Is there a legal definition of what "give way" actually means?

I suspect, like many words / phrases, 'give way' isn't defined by statute. Indeed, like 'reasonable' could it even be defined? I doubt it, as once embedded in statute you would have people constantly debating every nuance and forever redefining it's meaning as a single phrase ("as my client doesn't meet the definition of 'give way', he therefore can't be found guilty of XYZ"), when in reality its a more of a concept.

It would therefore need correctly assessing by a judge e.g. "Person X, acting with a disregard to other highway users (e.g. a flighty horse) or traffic directions (e.g. ignoring a sign), failed to 'give way'"

Although not the same as, it could be synonymous with 'stop' / 'letting the other user go before you' / whatever, depending on the circumstances 🙂

Thanks Schnor - yes, that was my thought really, it's a concept that you sort of 'know it when you see it' - I was thinking that it would be very hard to ascertain whether someone had or hadn't 'given way' if there was a complaint.

Having a read there's some case law of drivers being done for careless driving by going through junctions without giving way despite no other road user present or having been forced to take evasive action - no idea how you would show that.

so jogers 3 abreast running at me and forcing me off the path is ok ....because thats what they allways ?

Whilst I will always try to slow down/stop, where appropriate, The above scenario is particularly difficult to know how to handle.
If you stop, the joggers still have to move over, in order to pass you, so it would be just as easy for them to move over while you cycle slowly past them.

It's all a bit bewildering really - people are just a bit strange, sometimes.

(I also have questions about the use of bells - if don't ring my bell, I get "Where's" your bell, if I do ring it, I feel like I'm saying "Get out of my way!!")

Lots of fire-roads where I live and ramblers insist on walking 6 or 7 abreast leaving with no consideration for any cyclists (and there are a fair few)

I tend to show them the respect they deserve and find it best to sneak around them rather than startle them as find they panic (in much the same weight a caught out deer does)

so jogers 3 abreast running at me and forcing me off the path is ok ....because thats what they allways ?

Had this last night in fact; a team of joggers and a dog off a lead that took up the whole bridleway between them.

None of them looked like they were going to make any room, or take charge of the dog, so I simply stopped dead and allowed them to work their way around me. It probably cost them more time to do this than it would to have made some space.

Actually did about 9 miles of NCN / B/W this morning and encountered everything from horseists to a big group of 'tourists' doing some kind of social bike ride.

For once I didn't encounter any doggists with those f'%kn lethal extending leads though quite a few of them were plugged in. I personally find this annoying and rude especially when you ride up behind someone. No amount of "Hello", "Cyclist", bells, or clacky freewheels will make any difference.

Just about everyone responded to my 'morning!'s and 'thank you!'s which was nice and required no effort on any party. Only issue I had were a couple of joggers who did single up only for their free running dog to dart across in my path.

Tis not difficult for us to share the roads and paths