[Closed] 15 Cyclists have been killed since lockdown..

Sounds less than the average

Saw quite a few inexperienced families on big roads today.i avoid those roads and use the cycle path.

Maybe drivers are travelling faster on the quieter roads?

Overtaken twice this morning on the same B road. Sign flashed up I was doing 38 in a 40, then noticed I was being overtaken despite 100 metres ahead the speed limit changes to 30. Reckon it was doing 50.

Further along same road, car that had been behind me for quite a while decides to overtake in the 30 zone, I was probably doing 28 or 29, then proceeded to ramp up its speed even more.

How the cyclists must love these quiet roads, not.

Bring back speed cameras although have wondered whether it's worth reporting this as it's not the first time either on this particular road.

Edit: RIP to those poor cyclists and their families.

Sounds less than the average

The linked article reckons it's double the usual.

My wife & I both cycle, mainly off road but also roads to link up the bits. As always the majority of motorists giving a wide berth and generally courteous. There's a minority driving at frightening speeds assuming that there's no other traffic. Also a lot more people using bikes. The majority look like cheap hybrids or ancient MTB's which probably haven't seen much use since purchase. Some of these cycling with children on main 60mph trunk routes.

It's not a good mix.

Fewer cars but many aren't observing any speed limits. Bit grim really...

https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-suffers-broken-pelvis-deliberate-hit-and-run-273019

And then there's stuff like this too.

The media should collectively be charged with hate crimes and incitement. Years of drip drip drip anti-cycling articles and "opinion pieces", years of allowing victim blaming anti-cyclist comments on news articles because it's all good click bait.

Add in drastic policing cuts, the idea that driving is a right, paltry punishment by the courts for driving offences, mix in a bit of coronavirus circumstances, NIMBYism and some vigilante behaviour...
Article in both the Guardian and on BBC now condemning the vigilante behaviour, abuse to cyclists and so on, suddenly the media are desperate to reel back in the hook they threw out there.

Not sure if road.cc have caught up with it yet but a 15yr old lad was killed in a hit & run last night near Derby as well. At least the Facebook comments on the Derbyshire Police page were all as positive as one could expect (sympathies, memories from friends, condolences), not the usual "was he wearing a helmet?" shit.

Round here it seems better than normal, certainly more people out and about riding, but it seems a teenage cyclist was killed in a hit and run last night on a road I'd ridden earlier in the day.

Till we have thorough investigation reports on the incidents it's impossible to do more than speculate.

Wife was driving on the north side of Glasgow (Bishopbriggs) yesterday - she'd slowed down for a small group of kids cycling along in front of her, when a white Audi estate pulled up behind her, tailgated for a short distance then swung out, overtook and pulled in, scattering the kids. Fortunately, none of them were hit, but one had to hop onto the little pavement, and another fell off towards the verge, rather than the road, otherwise he might have ended up getting hit.

She phoned the police with a partial plate, but they said without a dashcam, or corroborating statements from other drivers, there was nothing they could do.

Definite drop in traffic/increase in speeding round here. 🙁

Yes. Out this morning. A woman driver in a very dented Honda Jazz followed a very poorly overtaking Juke. I had my right elbow inside her open passenger window for a short period. She got a fairly short series of comments about this from me. All of which are made better by her saying, 'sorry'. Which I also suggested fairly coarsely that she wasn't in the slightest bit sorry and it was quite clear that that was the case. So she gave me the finger.

crazy-legs
Subscribe https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-suffers-broken-pelvis-deliberate-hit-and-run-273019

And then there’s stuff like this too.

The media should collectively be charged with hate crimes and incitement. Years of drip drip drip anti-cycling articles and “opinion pieces”, years of allowing victim blaming anti-cyclist comments on news articles because it’s all good click bait.

Pretty much this, I drive almost every day key worker etc and have come across lots of what look like new to the road cyclists. waiting for them until I can see safe clear road to overtake probably costs me 45 seconds on a 30 minute journey.
I only wish I could ride to work but they have slashed the ferry & train services accross the Mersey.
shame as it would be the golden time otherwise to ride to work 🙁

I have seen an increase in REALLY bad cycling recently combined with emptier road meaning drivers are going faster. A dangerous combination

Maybe drivers are travelling faster on the quieter roads?

This is definitely a thing. Aside from comments from police forces on social media saying just that, I've seen it first hand. I know it's not relevant to cycling but it's been most apparent to me driving through the M65 50mph-restricted roadworks, most people are doing 50 aside from the odd nobber who comes steaming past at escape velocity. Including a police 4x4 a couple of weeks back.

Minimal traffic and minimal enforcement, it's party season for those with a heavy right foot.

It's a mixture of both, I think. Passed an elderly couple riding on the wrong side of the road(!) today, but in general my feeling is that with less pressure most drivers are more courteous, and the truly terrible ones have just got worse / faster.

Whether they thought that you ride facing oncoming traffic in much the same way as you'd walk, I don't know, but it's unlikely to be Covid-19 that sees them off.

Minimal traffic and minimal enforcement, it’s party season for those with a heavy right foot.

Yes. I also think, inevitably, that the percentage of dangerous and careless drivers is higher than normal, because the idiots are more likely to be out driving when they don't need to.
The driver ragging his Caterham around the back roads near where I live might have been returning from work or doing the shopping...

I have found cars seemingly more patient and careful, apart from the knobber who pulled out without looking today

A lot of drivers bombing up to junctions and roundabouts, not expecting to have to stop with the light traffic, only looking at the last moment to make a split second life and death decision, unfortunately not their life.

Fewer cars, same shit level of driving from those that are on road.

Literally every time I go out a car pulls out in front of me, usually on a round about but not always. I put it down to 2 things, one they are paying no attention, or 2 they see me and can't comprehend that a cyclist is travelling at more than 15 mph so judge my speed wrongly.

Either that or they see me and just pull out anyway

Either way I now make the assumption that someone is going to pull out in front of me whenever I see the potential for it happening..If they don't I'm presently surprised

Like AA I have found the majority of drivers being patient and courteous. However I a riding in the city or on roads that carry no traffic anyway

I have also seen some ruddy awful cycling!

I'm in a part of the country where thankfully there is very little traffic even without COVID.

I have found two things though.

People on the whole are giving me much more room when they over take than they did before COVID and being courteous waiting until its safe to overtake.

Then on the other hand I have been over taken a number of times on blind bends at speed, I guess because the idiots think they are the only idiots on the roads.

Is 15 deaths a month high or low?

I’ve done more Road cycling this month than ever before (700kms so far) and upto this weekend saw very little traffic. This weekend though there’s a distinct increase in the number of high speed nutters in Audi’s BMW’s and souped up mumsmobiles ragging round the countryside with scant regard for the well-being of other road users. I think lockdown boredom is setting in!

Literally every time I go out a car pulls out in front of me, usually on a round about but not always.

Exactly this.

I have also seen some ruddy awful cycling!

I saw one BSO rider going up a small hill on the wrong side of the road. It was a straight road and I could see him on the wrong side for a few mins. Then as we both reached the blind crest at the same time a car came the other way and he shot back to the right side almost hitting me.

Is 15 deaths a month high or low?

It looks like the average is around 100 per year, so assuming no seasonality this is high - on the other hand there are more people out on bikes; but given the lack of traffic you might have expected it to be lower rather than higher.

It may be that traffic density has less of an actual impact than the perceived impact and it is simply more miles of people riding means more accidents.

Doesn't surprise me unfortunately - loads of wobblers out there on new BSO’s without helmets and every weed and coke dealing Roadman wannabe’s out using the empty roads as a racetrack.

Im a key worker and cycling to work - I was initially hopeful that all these new cyclists that i started seeing would continue on when ‘normality’ returns but im less hopeful now.

On a long ride today, I probably saw about 20 cars and still had 2 dangerous overtakes. A Ranger Rover overtook me doing probably over 100mph and leaving barely 12” despite there being plenty of room and a little Peugeot overtook me into the teeth of a family walking on the other side of the road and had to swerve violently in front of me to avoid hitting them. No need for either.

I've barely had any cars pass me at all over the last five weeks, even heading out at traditional rush hour times.

But I have seen and heard some incidents of "boy racers" making use of the quiet roads.

Plus there's so many "rookie" cyclists on our roads currently who haven't ridden on tarmac for years.

Iirc 2+ of the cyclist deaths paid the ultimate price for trying to make too much use of the traffic free roads, taking liberties.

It's a sad statistic, but I think the cause isn't just motorists this time.

Either way I now make the assumption that someone is going to pull out in front of me whenever I see the potential for it happening.

I tend to use that approach when driving as well as cycling.

Either way I now make the assumption that someone is going to pull out in front of me whenever I see the potential for it happening.

I tend to use that approach when driving as well as cycling.

First, and most important thing my dad told me when he started teaching me to drive (30 years ago!) was "Always assume the everyone else on the road is a moron and will do something stupid, without warning, at any moment!"

That's stuck with me for all my roadgoing experiences and I'm still here.! 🙂

Local fuzz posted up in FB about catching a heap of speeding drivers recently

I've seen some absolute twunts. I was half way across a zebra crossing in my village with my 5 year old kid and some absolute loon buzzed past in front of us. 30 limit road, reckon it was 60 mph+ as it was not visible when we started crossing.
When I've been riding on the country lanes however everyone has been more courteous than usual.

They’ve pretty much done the info films for lockdown and clap the NHS to death - time for some “Drive safely; speed limits still apply” type ads?

Oh shit hits post, then realises - it’ll be “Ride safely” won’t it? because its always the cylists who need to improve and be responsible.

Yeah, went out for my first "not a zwift ride" this evening and as everyone above says, less cars but still a couple of complete idiot's, got overtaken in a 40 zone but some works van, easily doing 50 based on the speed of the other cars on the road and continued to accelerate after passing me, good job the lights stayed green as he'd never have been able to stop.

Speeds are def up round here.

Rutherglen Halfords had sold 60 bikes on Saturday.

I was driven at, quite deliberately, by an oncoming DPD van today, trying to force me off a narrow lane. He was going way too fast for the conditions.

People seem to be driving faster than normal.

The local police here in our part of Brussels often post up the results when they do big drink driving or speeding checks.  The one at the end of last week had 43% of drivers speeding and largest infraction was someone doing 149km/hr in a 50 zone (there was a similar one a couple of weeks ago in the centre).  My experience is showing a lot less traffic but some is travelling really quite fast in a scary way as it's not as predictable as normal

Sundays around here, a normally quiet village, have literally become the Suffolk Grand Prix de ****s. Bikes & cars APPROACH NOISE FAST MORE NOISE ACCELERATE LOTS OF LOVELY NOISE WELLY IT!

I normally hear the clatter of Screaming Eagles coming from the Harley shop near me, it's a bit of a meeting point. Nothing, not one, which has surprised me. All those old freewheeling, indivdualist, easy riders seem to have gone sensible and stayed home. Good thing.

And another 🙁 - 15 year old boy https://twitter.com/DerbysPolice/status/1254422135310868481

Less than a mile from my house. Same year as my daughter at school. Hope they find the low life that drove off.

Seeing as cycles are the new toilet roll it's not surprising.
I've been cycling to work each day. Cars have been odd! not had any of the usual issues. Mostly cars that seem to assume there's nothing else on the road and just pull out, same as pedestrians are doing right now. Also joggers are acting like traffic.
Witness appalling cycling everyday at the moment, and it's clearly new riders, they're just all over the place.
And new to me is actually being run into by other cyclists.

Deffo cars travelling faster in the new forest. Speed through our village is nuts. Seems all the rational people have stayed at home and the idiots with flashy m beemers, bazzed up corsas and big exhausts super golfs have come out to play. The usual heavy traffic isn’t there to slow them up and as there are more peo0le out and about there are more opportunities to get the dump valve working and get the speed up. Sports motorbikes stand out as well. How they’re going shopping in groups is beyond me.

The local copper emailed me asking if there’s anything they can be doing to help locals, I mentioned the speeding and the additional risk as there are lots more kids on b8kes and families using an unmarked crossing at the end of the Rd and he acknowledged the issue of raised speeds and said they’d get the speed watch team out when this is over! Doh.

I went from seeing zero riders on my local route to seeing about 30 so many more cyclists out than usual and results cannot be compared to the last average

Can only agree with so many other comments on here about the rise in inexperienced cyclists on the roads. Recently I saw a family out riding and a bus approached from behind. Rather than keeping their speed up and letting the bus decide when it was safe to overtake, they started slowing down (which then led to them wobble and swerve around the road) which simply put them more at risk. And that's just one example of the several events I have witnessed 🙁

Local police have been drafted in to help enforce stupid rules in a hoity toity country park. This morning I was awoken by what sounded like a drag race up our road in the 30mph limit.

Two posts on said police FB page.

Post A = cyclist killed in RTA. Comments = 2.

Post B = someone was a bit rude to one of the rangers in the aforementioned park. Comments = 157.

The focus is all to cock, but the NIMBY curtain twitchers are practically creaming themselves with all this new found 'legitimacy'.

I've been wanting to go out for a spin, not been out for months, but the standard of driving here is worse than the p*ss poor standard it is usually and perhaps I'm more nervous than I should be about getting back out. Also so many families out on bikes, which is great to see, but some of their bike handling and awareness is worrying, eg the mum and daughter in the middle of the road then on the wrong side of the road head on to traffic yesterday.

I went out over the weekend on the road bike and what I found particularly perplexing was the one driver who buzzed me despite being on a wide and straight road with absolutely no traffic coming in the other direction so they had plenty of space and time to overtake safely. I guess they assume they 'told me' suitably for having the audacity to be out on my bike.

The people going out just driving and ignoring lockdown guidance are more likely to be the ****ers in society who usually drive like arseholes and treat cyclist like shit.

My partner is still driving to work daily and says the driving is a s bad as she has ever seen it. She reckons she's been overtaken more in the last month on this commute than in the entire 4 years of doing it previously.

People pulling out without looking, speeding, getting right up the arse of the car in front.

Absolute bellends

Overtaking a slower moving car last week, to have someone overtake me mid-manoeuvre!
Definitely higher speeds and some crazy decision making.

to have someone overtake me mid-manoeuvre!

Ohh yes, I had that on my ride too - I was overtaken by an idiot on his little 125 motorbike (with L plates on obviously) as I was about to turn right (I was cycling up the marked out right turn lane and even had my arm out to signal as he flew by me).

The people going out just driving and ignoring lockdown guidance are more likely to be the **** in society who usually drive like arseholes and treat cyclist like shit.

Exactly, the rules and laws are not for them.

Literally every time I go out a car pulls out in front of me, usually on a round about but not always.

Exactly this.

Not exactly, but often. Yet on my first ride out during lockdown I had someone not even pull out on me, instead they simply slowed a little then accelerated out using the T junction as a corner in their real-life race fantasy. They only looked left (if that), and ignored me descending the hill to their right. Of course they cut the ‘corner’ as they carried on out of the junction and I luckily pre-emoted idiocy by dabbing brakes as a precaution. If I hadn’t been in the fortunate position to have had full view of them as I approached then I don’t know what. Only just missed me (by a foot) as it was. ****ing ****ers. On the nights I go out I often hear the roar and rush of some **** or other up on the Wells Road before I even get there. I now avoid and have taken to bridleways at night and patchy connecting-routes, stopping and/or mounting the pavement at the sound of cars

So, yes, the roads here have much less motorised traffic. But of the ones on the road there seems to be a much higher incidence of utterly self-absorbed shitbags who have decided that it’s now a racetrack and take this ‘opportunity’ to indulge their fantasies.

Extra-annoying thing is while cycling for exercise this last week I’ve had the police-car pass me slowly and closely a couple of times down side roads, at the exact same time as I can hear the pops and roars of hatchback-exhausts only half a mile away.

RIP those 15. Tragic.

There seems to be a higher % of uncool drivers making up the remaining driving population at te moment.

The other day I had close pass after close pass when there wasn't anything on the other side of the long straight road, just totally no need!

Even if there are lots of new/rubbish cyclists on the roads, cars still shouldn't hit into them and kill them!!!

The other day I had close pass after close pass when there wasn’t anything on the other side of the long straight road, just totally no need!

- Maybe they felt the ‘need” to ‘punish’ a more vulnerable road-user because ‘(insert Daily Heilism’)?

- Maybe they are really unaware of how to drive safely? Driving standards have been falling year on year (anecdotal observation, based upon near-misses and fashionably increasing redundancy of indicator-lights).

- Maybe they are aware yet don’t now care because, you know, ‘lockdown’ throws all the ‘rules’ out of the window, dunnit?’

A few possibilities.

In response to the original post “you would have thought it would be safer out there...”....it is isn’t it? Every death on our roads is tragic and regrettable, but usually about 100 cyclists die on British roads each year (not all as a result of collisions with cars). Not sure what the seasonal variation is, but you might say that would be about 25 deaths each quarter so it does seem the case it is significantly safer out there than usual despite the significant increase in cyclists and alleged higher proportion of speeding motorists.

Heading downhill 40 zone into a 30 a bus and car passed me perfectly. In the 30 they were holding me up with the bus somewhere in the mid 20s. Car behind me overtakes without enough room to pull in safely so sits beside me gradually moving over until I brake and let him in. Proper stupid move. Was still right behind him at the traffic lights (avoided the temptation to nip back past) and still behind him where he turned off at the bottom of the hill. I'd not have held him up in the slightest yet he just had to pass the cyclist.

Got to agree there does seem to be a massive split of people who have kicked back and tried to be as safe and courteous as possible to ones who are rebelling and angry at everything and every one.

Best one yet - Merc with private plate (JP 98) ran the red light at speed into a narrow road (restricted width bridge) as I was riding towards him. Obviously looked for oncoming cars but a bike is fine as they can be squashed to the side.

he just had to pass the cyclist

I honestly believe that some people don't think that they need to pass the cyclist as such, they simply don't process the thought properly and just see a bike and assume it will be slower than them and don't actually consider that the cyclist may well as quick as them and be travelling at the speed limit.

@johndoh couldnt disagree more. (warning anecdotal evidence coming...)

I haven't had to for a while, obvious reasons, but I drive a lot for work/union meetings all over the country. I drive a Transit, so not the fastest vehicle in the world, but on motorways limit is the same as everyone else. I have barely left the county (Devon) before I lose track of the number of vehicles that do this, in this order, every. damn. time.

1.Quite happily stay behind me in the left lane

2. Pull out to over take as I do

3. Sit as close to my rear bumper as they can even though the right hand lane is empty

4. Once I've moved back left, stay in the middle lane

5. Decide they want to pass me and do so by speeding up

6. Pull back left and SLOW DOWN meaning I either have to slow down too, or over take.

7. 5 miles down the motorway, go back to step 1 and repeat.

Moral of the story? (Some of? A lot of?) Drivers want to overtake any and all traffic in front of them, whether they "need" to or not.

The vast majority of drivers are actually being OK - maybe speeds have increased a bit but because the roads are quiet, there's less of the traffic jam / road rage stress and the huge majority of passes I've experienced have all been fine.

But it's offset by a minority of complete dickheads - racing, taking the inside line on corners like they're Lewis Hamilton, the Must-Get-In-Front'ers and people simply not looking at junctions because they assume nothing else is coming.

Wish there was more police enforcement and more overall acceptance of what "lockdown" actually means - namely that flooring your sports car around the roads is not an acceptable reason for being outside.

yet he just had to pass the cyclist.

Yep; as soon as they see a cyclist anything in front of the cyclist ceases to exist. Over the years I've had them all - overtake to then turn off 50 yards later (sometimes with added left hook thrown in); overtake to immediately have to slam on because of a set of red traffic lights clearly visible ahead; or a queue of traffic; or a width restriction.....or.....

If quizzed I'm sure no-one could come up with a valid explanation why, other than MUST......GET........PAST!!

Observations from yesterday's travel - much less traffic on the roads, still. It was like a very quiet Ne'er Day (with Tesco trucks). Quiet country roads were very easy to drive, good visibility which did lead to a sustained increase in usual speed I'm afraid to admit. There are more other road users out though, happened upon a lady walking two dogs along the roadside (seen in good time so slowed right down) and then a dad out with lad on little bike, with dog in tow as well - again saw in good time so no problem but just a lot of unexpected stuff around at the moment. Oh and a couple of big SUVs parked up, with bike racks, at entrance to an off-road moor path / access road, personalised plates (matching) as well.

I have seen a few more idiot drivers. I do hope something can be done about them

But I think the road.cc article says roughly double the number of deaths compared to the same period in previous year

But everything I see around me (Strava and my own eyes) says that the amount of cycling has more than doubled. I have friends who friends who didn't ride at all last year doing 60km a week. I have friends who road 20km now and again last riding over 100km a week. So if the total amount of cycling has doubled in every meaningful sense cycling has got safer.

As the evidence is that the more cycling an urban area has the safer cycling is we would say that the national picture is now doing the same?

Does anyone think that the amount of cycling hasn't more than doubled?

Quiet country roads were very easy to drive, good visibility which did lead to a sustained increase in usual speed I’m afraid to admit.

So even though you know that there are loads of inexperienced and vulnerable road users out there at the moment your solution is to SPEED UP?

I honestly believe that some people don’t think that they need to pass the cyclist as such, they simply don’t process the thought properly and just see a bike and assume it will be slower than them and don’t actually consider that the cyclist may well as quick as them and be travelling at the speed limit.

Some maybe, but the vast majority are just "see cyclist, must pass cyclist", so I'll have to disagree.

There are a few particular road junctions on my regular rides where it is very common that I get passed in the last 50 yards, often by someone who will have to pull in pretty damn quick should anyone come around the corner. What usually then happens is that they brake harder than they would really have to and be forced to wait until there is no traffic coming either way. Most times I end up catching up in about 5-10 seconds.

The vast majority of drivers who do this just subconsciously process 'cyclist' as 'must get past'.

Some maybe, but the vast majority are just “see cyclist, must pass cyclist”, so I’ll have to disagree.

But that is essentially what I am saying - they just see the cyclist as something they must pass without considering what speed the cyclist is moving at. So you are disagreeing with yourself 😉

I think @ampthill has a good point. If we want to understand the relative 'safety' of cycling then we need to know how the rate of cycling has changed as well - I have no idea how that is measured.

This, of course, does not take away from the importance of enforcing the traffic law appropriately and treating other road users with care.

So you are disagreeing with yourself 

That's STW for you, I guess.

My point isn't about the driver getting caught out by the speed of the cyclist specially, though. I don't think the average driver has any real concept, they just perceive the cyclist as 'someone slower than me who is easy to squeeze if I need to pull back in' so must be overtaken whatever the situation.

When driving myself I often get other cars tailgating me whilst I am waiting for a safe place to overtake a cyclist.

they just perceive the cyclist as ‘someone slower than me

That's what I said!

just see a bike and assume it will be slower than them

You see, you are arguing with yourself. I'll put it down to Lockdown Fever.

You see, you are arguing with yourself. 

How dare you accuse me of arguing with myself. Take it back immediately or it will cause an argu.......

Oh, I see. Lockdown fever probably explains it...

🤔

🙂

When driving myself I often get other cars tailgating me whilst I am waiting for a safe place to overtake a cyclist.

The indicator of a weapons grade moron is the lack of use there of at any time and beeping the horn because you have the bare faced cheek to hold them up whilst waiting for a safe overtake.

Always funny if this happens to slow down more!

Always funny if this happens to slow down more!

I find just gently taking the foot off of the accelerator a couple of times usually gets the message across.

^^^

Should have said, that's the thing about being in a two tonne metal box on wheels. I am ok if some tailgating twunt goes into the back of my car. It'll be their fault and I'll get have the dink I put in the back of it reversing into a gate post on a farm sorted at the same time. FOC. My car is a piece of shit anyway.

But on a bike they'll more than likely leave you for dead if they think they'll get away with it.

I find just gently taking the foot off of the accelerator a couple of times usually gets the message across.

While yes, I do tend to brake (slowly and controlled) as well a lot of the time as they still don't get the message. I hate impatience in a vehicle with a passion.

Mr Overshoot, old mersey tunnel now open to cyclists 24 hours a day.
But as its free to use by cars and vans probably a lot more idiots driving fast through there