Is commuting by bike anti-social and irresponsible?

I have a 23 mile commute on single carriageway, twisty A roads in the North East of Scotland, roads with some of the worst RTA statistics in Britain. Almost every passing car and lorry is doing 50 – 60+ MPH and many do not appreciate my presence. Some barely acknowledge it, passing just a foot or so from my right hand.

It occurred to me that perhaps I am wrong to be doing this, risking killing or injuring myself just getting to work. By the way I am treated by some drivers you'd think I have no right to be there, perhaps they're right and I shouldn't be putting them in a position where they could kill or injure me.

I want to ride my bike more but have little opportunity to do it these days and commuting helps me feed my need, but am I being selfish, irresponsible and anti-social by cycling to work under these conditions?

Yes you are.. cycling on the road.. especially at busy times is anti-social although it may not be irresponsible..

You have as much right to be on the road as them, but I do sympathsise re them riding so close.
Is there no off road option?

in principle you have as much right as them to be there.

being right isn't going to stop them from driving into you.

There is a part offroad option, but then it'd take more than 2 hours to get to work. I work shifts so I'd need to leave at 3.30am to get in for 5.30am and have time to wash etc.

Yunki – is that an opinion as a driver or a 'mountain biker'?

I will say it first, could it be your road position that is allowing them to push past?
I ride 26 miles a day [round trip] Most of it is ok and most drivers treat me well. But i dont use A roads at peak times.
Could you be more responsible by taking a safer route? Granted your allowed on the road but at certain times of day when commuting the busy roads are not worth the risk.
Ben

I use a few miles of similar (although probably not quite so busy) 40-60mph road on my commute and I rationalise it like this:

What's more selfish – using a form of transport that takes up about 1/8th of the road width per person, or (assuming the most common single occupancy) 1/2 of the road width per person?

If you use something as wide as a car you're just going to have to accept that it needs a lot of room to pass anything and either (a) live with it or (b) buy a motorbike.

SO how much traffic is there at 3-5 in the morning?
When i do use the A road its for my early shift at 5am on the road! There is usually nobody about apart from regular shift workers who I feel expect to see me and give me room [usuallly].

I sometimes sit in the middle of the carriageway and get passed on corners with double white lines. I do try to be assertive when necessary, but it can be very risky. Its their speed that scares me, I don't stand a chance of surviving if I get hit at 60mph.

There is a slightly safer route than the main roads, I've mapped it but not found it yet, I was planning to time that today. But my previous experience of these roads is that they are driven mostly by 'locals' who boot it because they 'know the road'. Potentially safer, but potentially more lethal. At least I am very visible on the A road.

Normally I'm on the road at 4 -4.30am for my 6 start, thats a really pleasant start to the day as the roads are dead. But my 2- 10 involves riding out at noon and thats horrible.

Sound like the option i had but luckily my longer route is lovely and only 10 minutes longer.
Give the other route ago on the return home usually your not in such a rush to get back as you are to clock on at work.

Good idea, but I car share so usually I get a lift home. I'll just set off sharpish today. My car sharer is not that keen a cyclist!

I have to use the car for some of the time, so I can sympathise with the drivers a bit, you expect to travel at 50- 60mph 90% of the time and slower road users can be a nuisance with it being single carriageway.

Funnily enough it seems to be less grief in the dark too, I guess its from being lit up like a Christmas tree.

I did a section of the alternative route a few times in the winter (to miss out the A96) and it adds about a mile or so.

In the general scheme of things, you probably steal about 20 seconds of each motorist's journey as they sit behind waiting to pass. Weigh that off against how prepared some of them are to kill you in order not to lose that twenty seconds and you might get some perspective on the whole anti social issue.

My view on the subject is not a popular one on this forum.. But I myself am no fan of the motorcar..
I simply firmly believe that it takes a certain pigheadedness to choose to disrupt the flow of traffic with your choice of vehicle.. Our roads system was designed with motor vehicles in mind and makes very little allowance for cyclists as it stands.. The culture of the motorcar is so deeply entrenched in our society that I fail to see how militant cyclists with their daily go-slow protest are doing anything positive to change things.

I would liken it to choosing to ride a horse to work in many ways. So I find road riding an extremely uncomfortable choice and avoid it at all costs.. (not to mention the personal safety issue)

Other folk on here will be driven to an almost incandescant rage by my point of view on this subject as has been noted on this forum before..

As you may know, I cycled round from Aberdeen to Inverness recently. Mostly, it was a very pleasant experience, and I didn't feel any more at risk or exposed than normal. However, the A96 was fairly unpleasant. I managed to avoid most of it by using various back-roads.

Our roads system was designed with motor vehicles in mind

That is pretty far of the mark. Cars didn't exist when much of the road network was laid out. You have a point on motorways and arterial routes.

I simply firmly believe that it takes a certain pigheadedness to choose to disrupt the flow of traffic with your choice of vehicle..

So the cars I see every day disrupting the flow of traffic because there are so many of them, are their drivers pigheaded?

I think like many of the others have said it's a fine call. When commute I even use a dual carriageway section. Ironically I think it's one of the safest sections where I cause the least issues. Cars can see me, easily pass me, theres a pseudocycle lane (the white line is a good 4 ft from the edge although not always rideable on a roadbike). I have an alternate route which is on very minor roads. These roads get heavily used though and there are very few places where cars can safely pass (although that doesn't stop them) as there are lots of corners and blind summits.

Our roads system was designed with motor vehicles in mind.

That is pretty far of the mark. Cars didn't exist when much of the road network was laid out. You have a point on motorways and arterial routes.

C'mon, that's pretty disingenuos. Yes the road network was laid out before cars but the actual road layout is very car centric. I have one roundabout where I go right. One of the other joining routes actually gets the nearside lane. This results in me being left in the outside lane of a dual carriageway. I usually try and get across but it really p*sses some drivers off. Ironic really as if I can't get across they should sit in the inside lane but of course they don't and illegally undertake.

rich penny – sorry geez but your arguments are kind of churlish at best.

Druidh, I read your report and it made great reading. Road riding on quiet roads is a really pleasant experience, touring is even better as you don't have work at the end of it! Avoid the A95 when you come to Speyside, its almost as miserable.

As for riding a horse to work, brilliant idea. Pure genius! If I could, I bloody well would! However I'd never subject such lovely animals to the ignorance of modern road users.

Roads were not developed for cars in the 1st instance, but for horses and carts, if it had stayed that way we'd all be better off. But thats 'progress' eh? I don't know ANYONE who enjoys driving to work. But I'm not getting into a debate about that here as I'm sitting on the internet, using a computer, preparing to ride my carbon bike to a comfortable job I wouldn't have if it wasn't for all things modern.

Spey Stout – Member
Druidh, I read your report and it made great reading. Road riding on quiet roads is a really pleasant experience, touring is even better as you don't have work at the end of it! Avoid the A95 when you come to Speyside, its almost as miserable.

Err – I haven't written a report on that one yet!

rich penny – sorry geez but your arguments are kind of churlish at best.

Perhaps atttempt to argue against them then. Who cares, I am happier and healthier due to my commute. Are you? 😉

yunki has hit the nail squarely on the head.
I might have the right to, but there is no way i'm going to risk cutting it up with cars and lorries on the main roads, its foolish and near suicidal.
Pavements for me (riden carefully and with consideration to pedestrians) if i have to traverse roads, controversial and illegal and a royal pain in the butt to pedestrians, but hey, i do not want to be killed by some half asleep moron in a car.

yunki writes:

I simply firmly believe that it takes a certain pigheadedness to choose to disrupt the flow of traffic with your choice of vehicle. Our roads system was designed with motor vehicles in mind and makes very little allowance for cyclists as it stands.

The second point doesn't seem relevant to a single-lane A-road. The road system has evolved from one used entirely by unmotorized transport to one used predominantly by motor vehicles in a relatively short period. The issue here is the conflicts that occur as a result.

The culture of the motorcar is so deeply entrenched in our society that I fail to see how militant cyclists with their daily go-slow protest are doing anything positive to change things.

That seems like a misrepresentation of the situation here. "Spey Stout" doesn't seem like a militant – quite the contrary – he's using his bike to get to work, as many of us do, and is concerned about the social conflicts inherent in so doing. It's not a protest at all – it's a means of transport.

For what it's worth, I've been in similar situations, and haven't ever been able to resolve the conflict in any satisfactory way. I use my bike as transport for all kinds of reasons (convenience, pleasure, economy) but not least because I think it's a socially responsible way of getting about. There may be specific cases, like this one, where that view conflicts with the immediate inconvenience it causes other road users, but there's no element of protest involved.

I'll say it again: I haven't ever been able to resolve the conflict in a satisfactory way.

As I didn't crawl out from under a rock yesterday morning with gills and fins.. I am aware that the history of our roads is slightly longer than that of the motorised vehicle..
However… the road system that we are discussing has been evolving and mutating.. particularly swiftly in the last hundred years or so.. so that it is now a different creature to the one that 'the wise historians' are so wittily pointing out to us poor ignorant souls.

30 MPH+ speed limits (and therefore suggested speeds) are very much a modern and fundamental part of the system..

EDIT: yeah.. sorry about the militant reference.. I was just being slightly assertive in anticipation of the furious backlash that I anticipated from some forum members

What's more selfish – using a form of transport that takes up about 1/8th of the road width per person, or (assuming the most common single occupancy) 1/2 of the road width per person?

If you use something as wide as a car you're just going to have to accept that it needs a lot of room to pass anything and either (a) live with it or (b) buy a motorbike.

Its this attitude and a total lack of understanding human psychology regarding territoriality that is gonna get you killed one day.

yunki is right about the design of the road network. It's not about where the roads go, what's motor vehicle specific is the lane markings and traffic lights. Lights that only change if a lump of metal big enough crosses an induction loop, I have two sets like that one my commute, one of which is a very busy junction. Not good on a carbon road bike. I have to wait for a car to come along or jump a red light. Plus as I mentionned above there are a lot of junctions set up that making cycling correctly almost suicidal. Then there's the absolute joke of most cycle lanes, but that's a whole other thread.

I am happier and healthier due to my commute. Are you?

I commute from the kitchen at home.. to my studio in the room adjacent.. and I ride for fun and fitness.. offroad.. every evening.. for many traffic free miles
so…in answer to your question..

yeah baby

Cycling on the road is a right as is the space and consideration given to you by other road users. Car driving has become a scourge as most people believe that it's their right to drive as fast as possible, unimpeded by other road users so that they can get to their destination in the minumum of time, usually because they've left only that amount of time (or less) to make the journey. Their woeful lack of roadcraft, ignorance of the Highway Code and failure to modify their speed or driving style to cope with weather or road conditions is lamentable.

Slower, older or less experienced car drivers, learners, bicycles, horses and scooters are all threats to your average driver's ability to get to their destination in time so they're all targets for agression and campaigns to get them off the road so that journey times can come down because, hey, every one of these retards believes the ads that says they're "busy mums" or live in a demanding world where everything has to be done at the speed of light to stay ahead.

So I say ride. OK, there are roads where it might be happier all round if you took alternate routes that are more fun for you and avoids the wrath of these self-obsessed to55ers but you don't have to if you don't want to. If it's legal to ride, carry on.

Druidh: Oops! Look forward to reading it, more pics this time as I'm clearly no good at reading!

I'm not making a protest. Whats the point? Motorised transport is here to stay and thats it. It has its advantages and disadvantages just like non motorised transport and even if there was a path for walkers, cyclists and equestrians to use, since most humans have a greedy and lazy streak we'd probably all still have both for when we can't be arsed.

What I will say is that when I lived in London I only had a short commute on a road, the rest was on barely used cycle/ foot paths. It is a shame there is not something similar in rural areas that keeps you completely segregated from the cars. I'd even pay a tax for that. The cycle network up here directs you onto small backroads, sometimes they are dead, sometimes they are used by articulated lorries.

stumpyjon writes:

yunki is right about the design of the road network. It's not about where the roads go, what's motor vehicle specific is the lane markings and traffic lights.

Parts of the road network and aspects of traffic law often seem designed with the motorist in mind, to the exclusion of other users. I don't disagree.

But explicitly the highway code calls for mutual respect and the sharing of space by diverse road users.

The problems occur in situations – like this one – where there's a conflict. The motorist has a duty to share the road with slower road users. The cyclist has a duty to avoid causing unneccessary delays to faster vehicles. The width of this particular road doesn't allow both needs to be met simultaneously.

am I being selfish, irresponsible and anti-social…?

No, of course not. I can sympathise with you about the hostile road conditions, but it's not your behaviour that is responsible for this.
The single biggest change that would make cycling in the UK safer is more cyclists on the road, and more cyclists would benefit everyone. You have to make your own decision about the risks vs benefits for your commute, but don't let anyone tell you that you are wrong to be there in the first place.

Well said!

The single biggest change that would make cycling in the UK safer is more cyclists on the road

On paper I agree with this and there's evidence to back it up. However, in reality putting more cyclists on roads that a) are not designed for drivers and cyclists to coexist on and b) are already overcrowded with all sorts of vehicles doesn't seem like a good idea. We don't have the dual-use infrastructure of somewhere like Copenhagen nor do we have the wide, straight roads of Australia and the US. Instead we have an antiquated, overloaded network used by aggressive, blinkered drivers. I used to ride and commute on the road a lot; I don't any more simply because I don't feel safe.

I ride a similar distance although only about 50% of it on roads of the sort you describe, the rest being urban or segregated cycletrack/sustrans stuff. I aim to ride this 4x a week all year round (most of the time I succeed!)

I try to make myself very visible – good bright riding lights even in daytime, day-glo jacket etc. I do take up an assertive road position when necessary, but return to L and make a point of thanking anyone I have held up as soon as safe. The vast majority of car and lorry drivers are courteous and considerate to me, and in turn I try to acknowledge this and to avoid some of the things I know annoy car drivers (like jumping red lights).

As I was only a week or so ago, if you are subject to acts of dangerous or careless driving these are both offences. Assuming you survive, try to get numberplate and description and report it to the police. IME they won't do anything about the specific event, but repeated reports may result in increased surveillance of the road and is far better than taking matters into your own hands by swearing and door-kicking, which polarises the 'them (- bloody cyclists) and us (- smug mobile armchair pilots)' attitudes.

Like others have said, more riders, riding responsibly and with consideration, will increase awareness amongst drivers of their responsibilities.

Only you can decide if your particular route is too dangerous and scary but, as long as you are riding responsibly, I don't think you should worry about things like holding drivers up – you'll be going faster and are a lot easier to pass than many a teuchter farmer with his load of dung after all!

I can cycle into Aberdeen in two ways.

One involves doing about 8 miles of my 15 mile route on a busy dual carriageway – A90 – and the other involves taking the B979 in a longer loop.

The B979 frequently has cars doing 70-80mph going both ways which leave you no room at all. The supersmooth A90 gives drivers more chance to pull a bit wider as they have two lanes, both of which are wider than the one lane of the B979.

People think I'm mad to ride on the Dual Carriageway but I know which one I feel less likely to be killed on.