Idiots on the A1



On Aug 15, 4:17 pm, Ian Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Aug, [email protected] <> wrote:
> > This event amounted to reducing a major trunk route to a single
> > lane at a busy time,
>
> Early on a summer-holidays Sunday morning?
> When is the quiet time you would advocate instead?

Outside school holidays.
Start earlier (they started at 6.45, it had been light for at least an
hour then).
Restrict the field - 120 is quite a lot.

I know there's a great tradition of one minute intervals, but would it
really spoil things that much if for such a long event on an important
trunk road, they set off at 30 second interals instead? It would halve
the time it used the road. Might make it more exciting, you'd feel you
had more chance of catching your "30 second man" than your minuteman.
Yes, I'm sure this is heresy and it won't happen, but in changing
times such things should be considered.

> > authorities go to some trouble to avoid peak times for road works.
>
> absolutely - and one of the times they consequently choose is ...
> Sunday morning in the summer holidays!

Are you sure about that? ISTR reports of road works being suspended on
holiday routes for school holiday weekends. I claim no expert
knowledge, but guess that Sunday mornings would be an excellent time
for commuter routes, but during school holidays they would be avoided
for long-distance holiday routes, which this is. And remember, at its
peak the event used 20 miles of each carriageway, longer than any road
works.

Rob
 

>
> It's not very safe but they have just as much right to be there, sorry.

It's actually very safe. The accident rate of time triallists on dual
carriageway 'dragstrip' courses is less than on single carriageway
'sporting' courses.
 
On Aug 15, 6:24 pm, Ian Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> Traffic is lighter in teh holidays, pretty much universally.

Certainly not on the M5 through Devon and Cornwall, I'd rather drive
on it at weekends in June/September than July/August any day. Got
badly held up on it travelling to Bristol Airport last year, a one
hour journey took 2.5 hours - no accidents, just volume of traffic.
Can't remember if it was a Saturday or a Sunday. Also got held up on
south of Bristol a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, again just
volume of traffic.

Cornwall certainly think they have a summer peak:

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=11746

A special case maybe, but it shows not everywhere is quieter in the
holidays.

> Last time I scheduled roadworks with lane closures (just off teh
> Hanger Lane gyratory, as it happens) the Met police were very
> insistent that we started in August and worked every available
> opportunity (including weekends) to get it completed.

Sounds very much commuter territory to me. I know London roads were
noticeably quieter in the holidays when I lived there (no school runs
helped as well), but that doesn't seem a safe extrapolation to a trunk
road 200 miles away.

> You think the A1 is not a commuter route?

I'm sure people commute on it, but that stretch isn't close to major
connurbations. It's the London - Edinburgh trunk road, and that far
north, the main north-south trunk road east of the Pennines. The
stretch in question also gets traffic that has come up the A1 and
turns off at Scotch Corner to use the A66/M6/A74 route to Scotland. OP
was obviously using it as a long distance route, and felt he was
amongst holiday traffic earlyish on a Sunday morning.

I don't want to get into a long debate on this as I really don't know
for sure - my evidence is limited to regular experience of the M5
during summer weekends, which seems a better comparison than Hanger
Lane gyratory.

Rob
 
On 15 Aug, 18:47, "Adam Lea" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Rola" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
>
>
> > Who in their right minds would go up north for a holiday?
>
> Those of us who like hillwalking.
>
> Those of us who have family up there.

The Dales and the North York Moors (just off the A1) are great places
for a holiday
 
On 15 Aug, 17:55, "wafflycat" <w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com> wrote:
> > It's not very safe but they have just as much right to be there, sorry.
>
> It's actually very safe. The accident rate of time triallists on dual
> carriageway 'dragstrip' courses is less than on single carriageway
> 'sporting' courses.

You'd be the first to ***** if a car club decided to start using a
dual carriageway for a sprint
 
> You'd be the first to ***** if a car club decided to start using a
> dual carriageway for a sprint

By sprint you mean trundled down at a steady 25-30mph? That would be YOU
*****ing.

--
Mark T
 
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:57:01 -0700, jd <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On Aug 15, 11:45 am, Artleknock <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Before I start a rant - I have been a cyclist all my life.
>> On Sunday morning the 5th I was driving down the A1 about a couple of
>> miles short of the first A1M after Scotch corner when I joined a long
>> tail back of traffic. On finaly reaching the hold up it was a bloke on
>> a bike, drop handle bars, crash hat, lycra budgie smugglers, the
>> works, riding on the carriageway!! A bit further on there was a
>> marshal at the next turn off. The idiots were doing time trials on a
>> major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
>> heading home from up north.
>
>I couldn't help but giggle a bit when I saw the OPs posting
>history . . .
>http://tinyurl.com/38zul6
>
>A complaint about congestion caused by cyclists.. coming from a
>Caravan user :)

Yes the OP has a caravan, had it on that day and was done for speeding
on the same journey. I also spend weekends away in a tent. I do a lot
of hill walking and go away for cycling weekends.

Your point is?
 
Artleknock wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:57:01 -0700, jd <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> On Aug 15, 11:45 am, Artleknock <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Before I start a rant - I have been a cyclist all my life.
>>> On Sunday morning the 5th I was driving down the A1 about a couple of
>>> miles short of the first A1M after Scotch corner when I joined a long
>>> tail back of traffic. On finaly reaching the hold up it was a bloke on
>>> a bike, drop handle bars, crash hat, lycra budgie smugglers, the
>>> works, riding on the carriageway!! A bit further on there was a
>>> marshal at the next turn off. The idiots were doing time trials on a
>>> major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
>>> heading home from up north.
>> I couldn't help but giggle a bit when I saw the OPs posting
>> history . . .
>> http://tinyurl.com/38zul6
>>
>> A complaint about congestion caused by cyclists.. coming from a
>> Caravan user :)
>
> Yes the OP has a caravan, had it on that day and was done for speeding
> on the same journey. I also spend weekends away in a tent. I do a lot
> of hill walking and go away for cycling weekends.
>
> Your point is?

The point is that you are stereotyped as someone who
causes lots of traffic jams on British roads, due to your
caravanning. Yet you complain about cyclists using a duel
carriage way on a Sunday morning, the least busiest time
of the (daylight) week.

If you do want to go away for cycling weekends, why not
cycle from home.
Or do you just cycle on off road facilities, and complain
about any cyclists in the road?
 
Artleknock wrote:
> Before I start a rant - I have been a cyclist all my life.
> On Sunday morning the 5th I was driving down the A1 about a couple of
> miles short of the first A1M after Scotch corner when I joined a long
> tail back of traffic. On finaly reaching the hold up it was a bloke on
> a bike, drop handle bars, crash hat, lycra budgie smugglers, the
> works, riding on the carriageway!! A bit further on there was a
> marshal at the next turn off. The idiots were doing time trials on a
> major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
> heading home from up north.

I regularly ride on dual carriage way A roads. In fact I
commute to work on a dual carriage way. I have no choice
about this as my company is placed next to a dual carriage
way.

Do you object that I have to ride in the carriageway, or
do you expect me to get off and bow as you pass.

If you truly are a cyclist as you claim, why are you
ranting about cyclists legally using British roads.
 
"Martin Dann" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Artleknock wrote:
>> Before I start a rant - I have been a cyclist all my life.
>> On Sunday morning the 5th I was driving down the A1 about a couple of
>> miles short of the first A1M after Scotch corner when I joined a long
>> tail back of traffic. On finaly reaching the hold up it was a bloke on
>> a bike, drop handle bars, crash hat, lycra budgie smugglers, the
>> works, riding on the carriageway!! A bit further on there was a
>> marshal at the next turn off. The idiots were doing time trials on a
>> major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
>> heading home from up north.
>
> I regularly ride on dual carriage way A roads. In fact I commute to work
> on a dual carriage way. I have no choice about this as my company is
> placed next to a dual carriage way.
>
> Do you object that I have to ride in the carriageway, or do you expect me
> to get off and bow as you pass.
>
> If you truly are a cyclist as you claim, why are you ranting about
> cyclists legally using British roads.<<


I crawled along behind two cyclists on a narrow Devon lane recently. They
were the epitome of 'smug' - dressed in bloody silly lycra costumes with
daft pointed pixie helmets and wrap-around sunglasses as they slowly rode
two abreast up a hill, preventing anything from passing them.

The emanations of self-righteous 'greenness' coming from these two gaily
coloured carnival performers was almost overpowering! - and if someone
finally lost their temper and drove over them and their bloody bicycles it
would be hard to condemn them for their actions.


--
In Memoriam

http://www.drypool.net/cgi-bin/system.pl?id=nfflist
 
[email protected] said the following on 15/08/2007 19:14:

> Certainly not on the M5 through Devon and Cornwall,

The M5 barely touches Devon, and doesn't go anywhere near Cornwall :)

> on it at weekends in June/September than July/August any day. Got
> badly held up on it travelling to Bristol Airport last year, a one
> hour journey took 2.5 hours - no accidents, just volume of traffic.
> Can't remember if it was a Saturday or a Sunday. Also got held up on
> south of Bristol a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, again just
> volume of traffic.

I used to commute from just east of Bristol to Weston-super-Mare, and I
can assure anyone that traffic on the M5 around that area during the
holidays was much worse. The mornings weren't usually too bad during
the week, but on Saturday and evenings it was an absolute nightmare to
get to/from work, often taking two hours to get home, sometimes three
(that was the scenic route over the Mendips!). Many of us formed the
opinion that holiday traffic should only be allowed on the roads outside
of commuter times, but not when we were on holiday ourselves :)

Now I live in sunny WSM, so don't have that aggro any more, but judging
by the traffic reports the widened motorway doesn't seem to have helped
much, mainly because people don't seem to want to use the extra
left-hand lane up the hill!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
Rola said the following on 15/08/2007 14:26:

> Who in their right minds would go up north for a holiday?

Who in their right minds would go abroad for their holidays when there's
beautiful scenery up north?

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
jd said the following on 15/08/2007 15:57:

> A complaint about congestion caused by cyclists.. coming from a
> Caravan user :)

Jeez - that puts a different perspective on it! I deliberately avoided
mentioning caravans not observing the voluntary restrictions on using
the middle lane up and over the hill in my post just now about holiday
traffic on the M5 and thereby causing massive congestion from the M4/M5
junction right down to WSM, but now I wish I'd laid right in!

Caravans are welcome to use the motorways, of course. At any time
between 2am and 3am on the first Thursday of the month :)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:51:00 +0100, Paul Boyd
<usenet.is.worse@plusnet> wrote:

>Rola said the following on 15/08/2007 14:26:
>
>> Who in their right minds would go up north for a holiday?
>
>Who in their right minds would go abroad for their holidays when there's
>beautiful scenery up north?

It's a weather thing, I guess. Having lived abroad for some time now I
must admit I have a bit of a hankering to revisit the peaks, the
lakes, the moors... but then I remember the weather and I'm not so
keen :)

--
Ace in Alsace - brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom
 
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007, Artleknock <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Yes the OP has a caravan, had it on that day and was done for speeding
> on the same journey. I also spend weekends away in a tent. I do a lot
> of hill walking and go away for cycling weekends.

So, you were ranting about cyclists doing something perfectly legal,
but proceeded (on the same journey) to break the law.

And you call the _cyclists_ idiots?

Perhaps if there were more cyclists conducting time trials it would
help you stay within the legal speed limit.

regards, Ian Smith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|
 
"I've lost my Dhobi Wallah!....." <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> I crawled along behind two cyclists on a narrow Devon lane recently.
> They were the epitome of 'smug' - dressed in bloody silly lycra
> costumes with daft pointed pixie helmets and wrap-around sunglasses
> as they slowly rode two abreast up a hill, preventing anything from
> passing them.

> The emanations of self-righteous 'greenness' coming from these two
> gaily coloured carnival performers was almost overpowering! - and if
> someone finally lost their temper and drove over them and their bloody
> bicycles it would be hard to condemn them for their actions.

As a motorist, caravanner, and cyclist:

I suspect that they were just protecting themselves from unsafe motorists
and you from yourself. This was a _narrow_ lane (your assertion), where I
suspect that defensive positioning is warranted. You need road width of at
least the width of your vehicle plus 1.6m (600mm for the cyclist's
handlebars + 1m safety clearance) to pass a cyclist in safety - and that's
if the cyclist is riding "in the gutter". If the cyclist is riding
correctly in the secondary riding position (approximately where your
nearside wheels would track), you're going to need a much wider road. Also,
it's dangerous to overtake approaching the brow of a hill.

Reading between your lines, and particularly your second paragraph, I
suspect that if you could have "squeezed past" you would have - even though
that would have been unsafe. So, IMO the cyclists' are completely
vindicated.

--
Geoff
 
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