Cycling safety

And now for something completely different ...

I had an experience on the A66 this afternoon which brought home to me the need for cycle lanes on dual carriageway roads and for cyclists to wear high visibility clothing or helmets.

I was fully alert, was not speeding (I was driving a few mph below the 70mph limit on the relevant dual carriageway section of road), and visibility was generally pretty good. I was in the left hand lane of the Westbound carriageway, and a car was overtaking me in the right hand lane.

It may have been a factor that I was driving west, with bright late afternoon sunshine coming from West-South-West, and a line of trees on the South side of the A66 was casting a shadow on the left hand side of the road, in which a cyclist was riding.

At the moment I spotted the cyclist he was about 100 yards ahead of me. I had two of three seconds to check the position of the overtaking car, and move safely to the right hand side of my lane, before I passed the cyclist.

If I had been speeding, or if the cyclist had not been wearing the bright yellow safety helmet which enabled me to spot him when I did, there could easily have been a very nasty accident.

It certainly brought home to me that we need to think more about cycling safety - I think that road, and many others, is in dire need of a cycle lane.

Comments

Jim said…
I often think the same sort of thing on my way to work in the mornings. The road is very, very busy, people generally are not at their best at 0630, its not quite dark on the way, yet, but that wont last long. Then you have push bikes on the left hand side and plenty of motorbikes on the right. Almost all the cyclings wear high viz but still its horrendous. The A595 passing Thornhill and down to the Black beck roundabout is not exactly a fantastic road anyway, whilst I am fully aware that there have been quite a lot people killed or injured on it, I am often surprised there has not been more.

If ever there was a road that should be a duel carriage way all the way, indeed with a cycle lane, then the A595 is it. Closely followed by the A66
9:14 am
Chris Whiteside said…
Agreed. We do need to do something about the A595, and the A66 - and I think a lot of other people would say the same about local roads in their part of the world with similar issues.
11:19 am
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