How can he be so stupid

Cyclist on M25 because his phone instructed him to do so.

Pretty safe, I would have thought, given that he was probably the fastest vehicle on the road.

All I can take from that is — The BBC get their news stories off Twitter??

“You didn’t notice him until you were right up close to him. He came out of nowhere.

“No-one could react to him until you were almost on his backside.”

Is this one of those the-hard-shoulder-gets-used-as-a-normal-lane bits? Or do some drivers think passing a cyclist in the lane to the left on a motorway is alarming, but passing a cyclist on a normal road with inches to spare is fine?

I wouldn’t do it myself, obviously, but was it really that “crazy”?

the m25 around heathrow is simply a dumb place to be on a bike. surely even if your phone app said turn left onto a road, you wouldnt blindly go onto the m25. nuts.

I do think sometimes being labelled a ‘cyclist’ is a dodgy statement, there are all sorts of cyclist from school kids, casual riders, mountain bikers to fast road guys. all of them are humans. all of us are humans. my family and non cycling friends all jump to the assumption that a cyclist as labelled in the press is like me and think I might do this. I suspect most of us cyclist sadly categorize drivers similarly. such a shame.

The media want to perpetuate the myth that “cyclists” are all stupid and/or nutters don’t they?

Fairly frequently I’ve seen cyclists and ped’s on the motorway flyover that goes round the city centre. Its mental as there is nothing but 2 or 3 lanes and then the barrier. Pure suicide.

It doesn’t say how old the fella was or if he was wearing a helmet. We need to berate him properly.

the m25 around heathrow is simply a dumb place to be on a bike.

FTFY.

{Shrugs shoulders} no one died, a few commuters on the M25 were delayed.

Unsurprisingly hasn’t passed the ‘is this news worthy?’ test for me, as opposed to the 3 top news stories on the BBC

1. Ex-Guantanamo detainee Begg arrested. Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg is among four people arrested on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offences, West Midlands Police say.

2. Harman ‘regret’ after Mail claims. Harriet Harman has said she “regrets” that a civil liberties group she used to work for had links to pro-paedophile campaigners in the 1970s and 1980s.

3. Ukraine’s interim president warns of “dangerous signs” of separatism, as parliament votes to try ousted President Yanukovych at the ICC.

Which have, so not a slow news day either…

More importantly had the cyclist paid any road tax?

That’s what I want to know…..

Duh. He’s on the hard shoulder.

OK, Hard Shoulder tax?

“He was merrily cycling along, like he was taking in the sights.

More like looking for a way off the motorway.

I’ve ended up on the mway a couple of times. Walked sheepishly back down the sliproad one time, another time toughed it out til the next exit and ended up at a toll booth on the French border. Thanks to Strava I later found Marco Pinotti had done the same so in good company…

It doesn’t say how old the fella was or if he was wearing a helmet. We need to berate him properly.

They obviously have no idea who the hell it was. Hence Twitter story source.

I ended up on the M2 once – I was significantly faster that the traffic but still got a bollocking off the drivers which I have to say was fair enough

What tyres for the M25?

Fairly frequently I’ve seen cyclists and ped’s on the motorway flyover that goes round the city centre. Its mental as there is nothing but 2 or 3 lanes and then the barrier. Pure suicide.

How many people have died from doing that?

Non story this isn’t it, if it had been a pedestrian would it have made the news?

The UK has a strange obsession with classing ‘cyclists’ as idiots. If a pedestrian crossed a road and gets knocked down and dies it doesn’t generally make the news, same thing happens to a cyclist and it’s front page news.

It doesn’t say how old the fella was or if he was wearing a helmet. We need to berate him properly.

So no Road Tax, no lights, no helmet, no hi-viz, probably didn’t even indicate, riding a fixie, was listening to head phones.

These people are the scum of society…..

{Shrugs shoulders} no one died, a few commuters on the M25 were delayed.

Unsurprisingly hasn’t passed the ‘is this news worthy?’ test for me, as opposed to the 3 top news stories on the BBC

Sadly, any delay of more than 30 mins on M25 is deemed as ‘news’ these days. 🙄

The UK has a strange obsession with classing ‘cyclists’ as idiots.

I caught the tail end of the queue and was intrigued that there was no mention of what the problem was on t’radio, just that there were delays. Great opportunity to rile the anti-cyclist brigade not taken.

So no Road Tax, no lights, no helmet, no hi-viz, probably didn’t even indicate, riding a fixie, was listening to head phones.

These people are the scum of society…..[list]

he may also have been an immigrant over here to take our jobs. Perhaps even a gay one. 😯

As far as I can tell, no-one was delayed. Despite the police telling us it’s lucky everyone was vigiliant, as far as I can tell no-one changed their behaviour in the slghtest.

Of course, some bell-end screamed away from the lights on Oxford road in Manchester on the same day, crashed into another car, rolled his over, risked the lives of the hundreds of people walking alongside the road, hospitalised two people, closed Oxford road ALL DAY and did that get a mention on national news?

it would seem not.

So no Road Tax, no lights, no helmet, no hi-viz, probably didn’t even indicate, riding a fixie, was listening to head phones.
These people are the scum of society…..[list]

he may also have been an immigrant over here to take our jobs. Perhaps even a gay one.

Not only that but my mate down the pub told me the cyclist had been killing swans with a ray gun!

He’s not a cyclist; he’s a very silly boy! (to misquote some more cleverer people)

It was on the news because it was unusual, and because of the guy’s stupidity in blindly following directions. No-one’s pretending it’s a major issue.

Unusual but benign stuff also makes the news – are you lot from Mars or something?

What a stupid headlong ne. His phone didn’t tell him to go on the motorway, it only suggested it.

So a cyclist riding on motorist only infrastructure is national news…..when will George alagai be popping round to film the cars parking on the pavement outside my daughters school…….

are you lot from Mars or something?

We come in peace. And we really mean it this time. Honest.

To be fair to the guy..a hard shoulder on a motorway looks safer than plenty of cycling infrastructure in UK. Its entirely possible he mistook it as such.

What gwaelod said. No one is going to pull out or in on you!

This bloke makes a related point

Idiots

Is it really as bad as it’s being made out?? As long as he doesn’t drift into the carriageway. I sometimes ride on the Western Point Expressway in Runcorn. Cars travel at the same speed, very busy, I just ride on the hard shoulder. Ok the difference is I’m allowed to be there but in terms of a safety risk I can’t see it’s much different.

I saw a cyclist on the M60 a few months ago. Called the police, she said she was getting a few phone calls about it!
Some bloke on a white BSO, cycling down the hard shoulder towards the Bredbury turn-off with a plastic carrier bag slung over his handlebars.

And many years ago, a mate and I ended up on a French motorway by accident – got a bit lost on the roads outside Grenoble, took a wrong turn and next thing we’re on the hard shoulder. Oops.

This bloke makes a related point

aye, the only difference is the hard shoulder of a motorway is a fair bit safer than lots of purpose built cycle infrastructure as it’s actually a decent width.

From Bez’s blog in case you haven’t looked at it – this is the ‘traffic chaos’

Strangely enough, a cyclist on the hard shoulder doesn’t affect traffic at all…..

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UPRIb6GvOho[/video]
……and is significantly safer than a cyclist using a narrow cycle path alongside the nearby A3, which also has a 70mph limit