DOTD

[matthew]

I hope he had a good excuse:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-56291594

It's a lot safer than most other places people are expected to cycle?

ETA:
The cycle route between Paris and Rambouillet for the start of PBP:
https://goo.gl/maps/YSptqeMgwhxcSwYx9

I don't disagree, on one occasion I have considered cycling down the A329(M), when commuting and Windsor & Maidenhead and Bracknell Forest had not gritted before overnight snow and ice. After witnessing a car in the hospital fence at Heatherwood and sliding the front wheel on approach to a Bracknell roundabout I approached the off slip from the A329 where it become motorway as down hill into the next roundabout was not appealing. My conscience got the better of me and I took the exit rather than ride through the junction with the M4. Fortunately Wokingham Borough had been better with the forecast and had gritted the rest of my route.

[The Family Cyclist]

Not really a DOTD and if cycling infrastructure existed wouldn't be a problem but witnessed a quite scary lack of defensive cycling. Saw a guy on a bike with a big gravel truck at a safe distance behind him. I think he was juat trying to let it past but moved partly into a side road entrance but then carried on back into the road. Thankfully the truck driver was sensible as could easily have started to overtake and then had a cyclist pull back into the truck

[DuncanM]

The bloke weaving all over the road on a BMX while eating (an apple?) this morning. I was in the car, so I just stayed behind him trying to work out where he was going. A cyclist (who I know) came past on the (on road) cycle path and almost ran into the back of the BMXer when he swerved from the middle of the road back into the bike lane.

[The Family Cyclist]

A couple of days ago driving past local secondary school at arrivals time. 30 mph limit but doing much less as so many kids about  good job really as a young un who's bike appeared to have no brakes decided to cut straight in front of me to get to his mates while dragging his feet along the floor in an attempt to slow down

[Solocle]

I hope he had a good excuse:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-56291594

It's a lot safer than most other places people are expected to cycle?

ETA:
The cycle route between Paris and Rambouillet for the start of PBP:
https://goo.gl/maps/YSptqeMgwhxcSwYx9

I don't disagree, on one occasion I have considered cycling down the A329(M), when commuting and Windsor & Maidenhead and Bracknell Forest had not gritted before overnight snow and ice. After witnessing a car in the hospital fence at Heatherwood and sliding the front wheel on approach to a Bracknell roundabout I approached the off slip from the A329 where it become motorway as down hill into the next roundabout was not appealing. My conscience got the better of me and I took the exit rather than ride through the junction with the M4. Fortunately Wokingham Borough had been better with the forecast and had gritted the rest of my route.

I did once end up cycling down the M40 by mistake... 3am run combined with a propped open emergency access gate (the "authorised vehicles only" sign therefore invisible). Oh, and signage on approach suggested that this was the left turn onto the A40, which was only 150m away! (A329 Milton Common junction).

Less than a mile to the next exit, which turned out to be 1.5 miles of spur motorway to the A40. Riding on the A40 after that point felt less safe than the motorway, as I was now in a live 70 mph lane, rather than a hard shoulder. Functionally, it meant I was a bit more paranoid about my rear light.

Whether my heebie-jeebie-o-meter is correctly calibrated is the question. One of the two cyclists to die on the motorway network since 2015 died on the opposite carriageway on that very stretch of the M40. My main concern was whether any vehicles approaching from the rear would be police...

[nicknack]

A pair today.
I'm in my car waiting at red light on a country road. Road works variety. Two gentlemen on bicycles pass me and trundle on through the red light. Lights change and I catch them up very shortly. The next mile or so sees me crawling along behind them due to the bendy nature of said country road before I reach a safe passing space. I wasn't in a hurry so it didn't matter. Other motorists may have felt differently.

[Ashaman42]

In some measure of fairness some roadwork light timings are set such that a bike can't get all the way through on a green phase anyway so they'd be annoying a motorist whatever they did.

[DaveReading]

some roadwork light timings are set such that a bike can't get all the way through on a green phase anyway

Most, in my experience.

Though, if you think about it, extending the all-red period so that every vehicle is held up for longer on the off-chance that there might be a cyclist still coming through would be a bit daft.

Most of the time, that works well.  It's only the occasional driver who believes that a light turning green means "go, regardless" rather than "go, if the way is clear" that causes problems.

[nicknack]

In some measure of fairness some roadwork light timings are set such that a bike can't get all the way through on a green phase anyway so they'd be annoying a motorist whatever they did.

Indeed that may well be true. These two were lucky they didn't meet anyone coming the other way. A sharp bend in the middle of the road works meant there was no way they could see it was clear.

[Kim]

Sometimes the pragmatic solution is to jump the red or ride in the coned-off area.  Or use the pavement, but there usually isn't one.

[Cudzoziemiec]

And the coned-off area is sometimes a big trench or full of machinery or otherwise unrideable. Ideally, the lights would have sensors to detect people in the controlled section. I wonder what horse riders tend to do?

[rafletcher]

In some measure of fairness some roadwork light timings are set such that a bike can't get all the way through on a green phase anyway so they'd be annoying a motorist whatever they did.

Indeed. LAst summer there was a long straight stretch of roadworks, and even if I hit the green as fast as I can go (not very) I could never reach the other end before the lights changed. The fact that I was in the middle of the lane didn't stop the lead moton in the queue pulling out and driving at me, assuming, as moton's do, that I'd jumped the red, and anyway their light was green 

[Wycombewheeler]

In some measure of fairness some roadwork light timings are set such that a bike can't get all the way through on a green phase anyway so they'd be annoying a motorist whatever they did.

Indeed. LAst summer there was a long straight stretch of roadworks, and even if I hit the green as fast as I can go (not very) I could never reach the other end before the lights changed. The fact that I was in the middle of the lane didn't stop the lead moton in the queue pulling out and driving at me, assuming, as moton's do, that I'd jumped the red, and anyway their light was green 

I've had this,  I wondered if I should have stopped in the centre of the road,  and then walked backwards (no reverse gear) the entire length of the roadworks as clearly it was "their priority"

[slowfen]

I have to admit that in temp traffic light areas, unless short, I try and ensure there is at least one car behind me

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

some roadwork light timings are set such that a bike can't get all the way through on a green phase anyway

Most, in my experience.

Though, if you think about it, extending the all-red period so that every vehicle is held up for longer on the off-chance that there might be a cyclist still coming through would be a bit daft.

Most of the time, that works well.  It's only the occasional driver who believes that a light turning green means "go, regardless" rather than "go, if the way is clear" that causes problems.

French approach is to have no green at all. There is amber which goes to red so you stop and wait. Then the red switches off and you just get a flashing amber.  Your right of way is very much in doubt and your life is in your own hands whichever way you go.

These special lights are to be found mostly at roadworks and railway crossings.

[Cudzoziemiec]

At roadworks, the flashing yellow seems to make a lot of sense, precisely for the timing reasons mentioned. Unlike green, it isn't taken as "Go! Anyone in the way is wrong!"

[nicknack]

That's only going to work if you can see that the way is clear.

[Ham]

I'm sure in days of yore, French traffic lights went to flashing amber overnight, especially in rural towns, I can't remember when that changed.

[Jurek]

It was like that in rural Germany when I was in my teens.

[MattH]

Red for stop, flashing amber for proceed with caution (even if you can't see the full length) makes sense to me rather than red and green. Probably still wouldn't stop people going as soon as the light is not red though.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'm sure in days of yore, French traffic lights went to flashing amber overnight, especially in rural towns, I can't remember when that changed.

France might have abandoned it but it is still used in some countries.

[ian]

I'm sure in days of yore, French traffic lights went to flashing amber overnight, especially in rural towns, I can't remember when that changed.

France might have abandoned it but it is still used in some countries.

In some parts of the US they still do (or did when I lived there).

[TimC]

I'm sure in days of yore, French traffic lights went to flashing amber overnight, especially in rural towns, I can't remember when that changed.

France might have abandoned it but it is still used in some countries.

In some parts of the US they still do (or did when I lived there).

IIRC, 'flashing amber' in the US turns the junction into a multiway-stop - a concept which Americans understand but almost no-one else does.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I was just thinking, it's a lights version of an all-way stop. Though of course in Europe, you've often got one route marked as priority, so it transforms a traffic light junction into a give way one – or even into priorite a droite.

[fimm]

I'm sure in days of yore, French traffic lights went to flashing amber overnight, especially in rural towns, I can't remember when that changed.

France might have abandoned it but it is still used in some countries.

Saw this in Germany when my sister-in-law still lived there. Effectively converts a light-controlled junction into a Give Way / proceed with caution one when the traffic is light.