Cyclists on motorway (M9/Falkirk)

Bingo cards at the ready. TBH I don’t know why I even clicked on it as I knew how the comments would go. The sheer lack of compassion shown by certain parts of society (yes, I know, a very narrow part of the general population) is shameful.

(a post by PS last night was removed due to the nastiness of the comments)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/x1KrFXK5fjtwgGiC/

From the fb comments..

Horrific to pass with kids in the car! I hope the cyclist recovers but I feel more for the Audi driver!!!!

Both cyclists in hospital, one critical, whilst the Audi drive uninjured. Yet they feel more sorry for the driver

what is wrong with these people. Im obviously not condoning cycling on a motorway but show a little empathy ffs

Agreed that social media is toxic for cyclists these days.
There’s so much outrage and nastiness around anyone daring to ride a bike. It’s awful. Both FB and Twatter seem to enable this behaviour through being ‘anonymous’ online.

I feel bad for both the cyclists and the driver.

However, I hope everyone in the comments dies a very nasty death.

what is wrong with these people.

A lot of people just hate cyclists, and they are encouraged to do so my right wing media whipping them up into a fury.

The Facebook comments / hatred around a closed road sportif local to me is remarkable. But, last weekend, similar level of road closures for connecting stages of a car rally and not a single negative FB comment. Not one. The only difference being cyclists.

FB comments section of police or local newspapers really is like a window into a world of shouty, angry, irrational stupidity.

Awful stuff, but…unless it was deliberate then the car driver is going to be in a terrible state mentally…not good for anyone involved.
No idea what made them think cycling on a motorway is a good idea. I hope the cyclists make a full recovery and the driver gets support as well.
Happy not to read comments on social media as they’ll no doubt just anger me.

No idea what made them think cycling on a motorway is a good idea.

Could be foreigners making a mistake.  It’s not that uncommon in all countries for people not completely familiar with the roads to end up somewhere they shouldn’t.

A lot of people just hate cyclists

Yesterday as part of a ride, I rode a short distance up from the centre of Hebden Bridge to the junction to Midge Hole, it’s maybe half a click.  A guy in a van learnt on his horn as we passed some curb-side parked cars becasue he couldn’t get past me, and a couple in a white SUV Audi in the queue behind the van actually wound down the window and slowed down to have a pop…

Some people have seriously lost the plot.

Oh don’t get me wrong I also feel for the driver if they have done nothing wrong. But I’ll caveat that by saying it was 5pm, so presumably visibility was ok. I don’t know the circumstances, but should it really be too much harder to avoid a cyclist on a motorway than on a dual carriageway (where cycling is legal) assuming you are adhering to the speed limit?

I’d not ride on either, and I’m certainly not condoning riding on a motorway, it’s madness. But maybe they didn’t know the rules.

regardless of whether the drive was expecting to come across cyclists, you’d expect they would be able to avoid them if they weren’t speeding and driving with due care and attention. Not a popular opinion with the majority of road users however I suspect.

Could be foreigners making a mistake. It’s not that uncommon in all countries for people not completely familiar with the roads to end up somewhere they shouldn’t.

Its well possible they had come over the kincardine bridge which is an A road  with roadworks and a crappy cycleway and ended up on the motorway inadvertently.  If you come down here its not that clear that its only the motorway ahead and that the “local traffic” is the route y0ou need

https://maps.app.goo.gl/AWzhYYuQRcTUkUxu7

Edit – actually there is another junction a bit further up where its clearer and does say ” non motorway traffic”  the cycleway is not marked and the entrance to it is lost in roadworks

Could be foreigners making a mistake.

True…there have been a few cases of national teams being caught on motorways in prep for races in the UK over the years.

TJ, I think that Google image is out of date, I’m sure it is motorway right from the roundabout just behind where that image is taken from)…it used to be a single lane road (cars going both directions) and it then got made into a dual lane a good few years ago and I think when the new bridge was opened, the motorway was extended to the roundabout at the end of both bridges.

Edit – Hmmm, looking on Google Maps, it appears that the motorway starts right after the junction in that picture…which I’m still unsure of – I drive that road a couple of times a week so I’ll have a nosey – more than happy to be wrong, but it isn’t something I’ve noticed before as the motorway got extended once the new bridge was built, so I’m maybe just assuming it goes to the roundabout.

The signposting for the cycleway there is terrible – unless you know what you are looking for you can very easily miss it – but that seems to be the case for all the cycle network, so unless you know what to look for, it is easily missed.

Could be foreigners making a mistake.  It’s not that uncommon in all countries for people not completely familiar with the roads to end up somewhere they shouldn’t.

There’s a stretch near me like that, signposts are good, but if you jump off the cycle way onto the road junction without noticing the road signs that you’ve just ridden past (no separate signs for the cycle path) it’s possible to turn right onto the motorway. Unfortunately it’s nearly 15km to the next junction, and fenced all the way, first opportunity to get off is through a gate onto a dirt track after about 6-7 km.

Get a handful of tourists a month on there all through the summer. No deaths yet as visibility is good and speeds are (relatively) low, as is traffic, for a motorway.

However, I hope everyone in the comments dies a very nasty death.

I think you need to actually read the comments and re-evaluate your vile post.

Think people are forgetting there has been injuries here and the guy is in critical condition. Yeah they shouldn’t have been on the motorway bit come on show some compassion eh!!! They obviously didn’t know.

and

No great lover of cyclists myself but one got literally squished, have a heart folks. If they weren’t from UK, they probably didn’t realise the script with motor ways.

It took me about 15 seconds to spot those two posts – I am sure there are more.

regardless of whether the drive was expecting to come across cyclists, you’d expect they would be able to avoid them if they weren’t speeding and driving with due care and attention

I’d disagree. If you’re following a large vehicle (so no visability around it) with 2 seconds between you and the vehicle in front (60m), on a motorway, you’re driving with due care and attention. If that vehicle suddenly brakes hard then swerves into the other lane to avoid some cyclists doing 12mph, you’ve probably got around 1 second (30m) to react before you make contact – you may have already started braking in response to the vehicle in front braking, but your speed won’t have changed much. The stopping distance from 70 is give or take 100m – if someone is in the lane next to you, you wouldn’t stand a chance of avoiding the collision.

I think you need to actually read the comments and re-evaluate your vile post.

Sorry, I should have clarified.  I don’t actually have the authority to condemn people to death.

Yet.

But well done for spotting 2 comments that weren’t made by complete and utter ****.  You must have been good at Where’s Wally.

Agreed that social media is toxic for cyclists these days.

There’s so much outrage and nastiness around anyone daring to ride a bike. It’s awful.

If only there was a week long event coming up to promote cycling! We, cycling organisations & the media could all get behind it & perhaps start to change things.

No idea what made them think cycling on a motorway is a good idea.

There was a thread on here recently about cyclists on the M60 – it’s not uncommon for people to end up on motorways via a wrong turn or just through drunken stupidity (plenty of instances of pedestrians trying to cross carriageways as well).

Edit: this thread[/url]

One of my friends is on those comments and saw the cyclists, and called the police.

His view, echoed by others, is that they were foreigners and looked very disoriented. Some comments suggest who they are – and not European just arrived this week for some work.

We’ve had quite a few instances of motorists driving on the wrong side of the A9 dual carriageway this year. Mistakes happen.

The stopping distance from 70 is give or take 100m

It’ll be similar at 60 yet it’s legal to ride on a DC . Tbh I’m not going to argue with you as I think your point is valid. However in the circumstances you are describing I think it’s fair to say someone isn’t paying attention, in your example your it’s the lorry in front!

My point being that if a cyclist is visible, and all road users are paying attention, then this accident would unlikely have occurred.

My point being that if a cyclist is visible, and all road users are paying attention, then this accident would unlikely have occurred.

I guess it depends on the exact circumstances – they could have swerved into the road as the car was approaching, both parties took action to try to avoid the accident, but ended up going in the same direction. All guesswork though, but it could happen like that.

Yikes.

That part of the world (Falkirk / Grangemouth) is a mess of motorways, A-roads and other such nightmares. It would be very easy to end up on the motorway if you’re not from round these parts.

Agreed that social media is toxic for cyclists these days.
There’s so much outrage and nastiness around anyone daring to ride a bike. It’s awful. Both FB and Twatter seem to enable this behaviour through being ‘anonymous’ online.

He said, anonymously on social media. 😁

Public groups do seem to be particularly bad for attracting pondlife.  The comments on that Police Scotland account are likely typical of most local police / local news accounts.

It’s ring-wing media, I can’t explain it otherwise.

I’ve never experienced anywhere near this irrational hatred of outside of three main countries — UK, US and AUS.

No prizes for spotting the connection there in relation to media.

We got stuck in / diverted around this yesterday. The Audi was stopped up in the “fast” lane. The driver sat on the central reservation looking very shaken and being consoled by a police officer. A few ambulances around and a heavy blue light presence.

Going by where the bike / Audi were, I have no idea how a cyclist could have stumbled onto the M9 at that bit by accident without travelling for some time on the Motorway.

Horrendous stuff.

Is there a hard-shoulder on that stretch of Motorway??

most of it yes IIRC

If you came from Kincardine bridge onto the M9 its only a couple of miles with no way to get off it easily but I have no clue as to why they would not be on the hard shoulder

Is there a hard-shoulder on that stretch of Motorway??

Yeah, used to live just outside Falkirk, it’s more of a 2 lane dual carriageway construction than a 3 lane motorway that we know, even so, you’d think the driver would see the danger a while before, it was 1700hrs on a Sunday so not a busy time, or dark, and the weather was pretty good. No point guessing though, just a truly sad accident to have for all involved and their families.

Remember a few years back competing cyclists for the commonwealth games were stopped on the M74 practicing for the games, thankfully that ended with the police guiding them back safely.

If you came from Kincardine bridge onto the M9 its only a couple of miles with no way to get off it easily but I have no clue as to why they would not be on the hard shoulder

we were diverted off the m9 and onto the Kincardine bridge road. It was coming up that slip road that we saw/passed the accident on the main carriageway. Therefore it’s improbable that the cyclists came down that way and presumably had been on the M9 for some time. I suspect the antecedent to the accident was them crossing the slip road off the motorway

Oh shit – the bit with two lanes that go m876 and two that go M9  ~Even less comprehensible then.  that would explain why they were not on the hard shoulder then.

If it is the bit I’m thinking of going west on the M9 the M876 merges from the left meaning any cyclists going west on the M9 find the hard shoulder disappears and the only way west is to cross two live motorway lanes.

Even driving that section needs care at busy times as drivers are changing lanes both ways.

Terrible.

Some non UK/European perspective  you can ride on the shoulder on multilane (motorway style) highways  where I currently live in Victoria Aus’ outside of urban areas if there isn’t a parallel alternative…no its not pleasant but sometimes essential and there is a defined protocol to cross on/off ramps  (slip lanes)… stop, wait and cross at right angles as soon as the shoulder you need to get to appears…appreciate  not quite the same as a full speed multi lane no shoulder merge /split. Also had to (legally)ride freeway shoulders in rural California and am still amazed that despite the shoulders being wide truck drivers routinely moved across a lane when passing…

Happens more than you’d think. The M8 in Glasgow. 1 deliveroo driver and 2 neds. I’m sure when either the commonwealth games or the world champs were on, one of the African teams took a wrong turn on a training ride and ended up on the M8

According to a local FB page here, there was another cyclist spotted on the M9 yesterday near Earlsgate/J6 just along from the Kelpies. No incident, just spotted.

Haven’t seen the post myself as I’m banned from the group after they found out I rode a bike – I’d moaned about filthy folk dumping dog poo bags along the local canal path network.