more CYCLING AT HOME

 More “CYCLING AT HOME”

 In the Highway Code an official sign is depicted, which is to show the crossing of a slip-road.

There are a number of examples of this scenario along British ‘A’ roads, which are dual-carriageways; the very busy, and fast (70mph) “A2” being just one of them. 

     In my opinion cycling along one of these high-speed thoroughfares is just asking for trouble, and I can understand that if one were to do so, then crossing an incoming slip-road would have the potential to be even more hazardous.  

      I do realise that some cyclists like to compete in time-trails, and often they seem to prefer to use main roads, but these are normally marshalled, and warning notices are usually displayed. 

      In all my long years of cycling and driving, I have never seen a cyclist using any of these slip-road bypasses.   Why do we have them? 

    

    In many countries cycling along “A” class roads would not be allowed, however there (more than likely) would be a quality cycleway running route close by.   When, for example,  cycleways of the standard that run through the dunes on the west coast of Holland the north of Den Hague, then who would want to ride on the nearby highway anyway?

Magnificent grand cycleway through the dunes up the west coast of Holland.

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     I have shown this "crossing-a-slip" road sign to Dutch and German cyclists, they have puzzled at first, and then horrified.

   

Get off?

     I have cycled thousands of miles on the Continent, and I have never felt threatened, and I have never seen any cycleway facilities there, that have (quite unlike here) prompted the reaction: “What an earth have they done that for?”  

The sign:- "CYCLISTS DISMOUNT"      is common in this country, but it is rare on the Continent. 

Why should cyclists have to dismount?  Drivers are not told to get out of their cars when they arrive at road junctions.