Side by side video
14th August 2015
Carlton Reid yesterday released the second of a pair of videos, 'Side by Side', in which driving instructor Blaine Walsh and Chris Boardman explain why cyclists sometimes ride two abreast. It is the companion film to 'How to Overtake Cyclists', a video released earlier this week, demonstrating rule 163 of the Highway Code in practice.
The video begins with Blaine Walsh explaining that according to the Highway Code, cyclists may ride two abreast. Boardman agrees, referring to rule 66, which says that cyclists should never ride more than two abreast - so 'three's out, but side by side is fine. Think of it like this. In your car, you have the driver's seat and the passenger seat. That makes a car suitable for two people to travel next to each other. Cyclists riding next to each other, well they're doing the same thing, maybe chatting, just like you would in your car.'
Boardman also points out the 'quirks' of the Highway Code. Rule 66 says that cyclists should ride in single file on narrow or busy roads, and when riding round bends. Rule 169 says large or slow-moving vehicles should not hold up a long queue of traffic. Boardman infers that 'cyclists will thin out into single file when it's safe for cars to pass, if it's the most appropriate action.'
He shows, however, with the group of eight cyclists in the video, that when they are riding side by side, they are about 10m long, about as much space as two cars would take up, but when they are in single file, they are 20m long, or four cars' worth. He concludes that it's often quicker and safer for motorists to overtake cyclists riding side by side - in any case, always leaving 'plenty of room.'
Chris Boardman on 5 Live Daily debate today
Chris Boardman was a guest on today's 5 Live Daily, with presenter Clare McDonnell, and fellow guest Chris Green, from website motoring.co.uk
McDonnell insisted on using the usual polemical language to introduce the debate, which she described as 'cyclists vee motorists'. As on Monday's 5 Live Daily cycling debate hosted by Adrian Chiles, the item was introduced with audio from the viral 'Clown takes a Pratfall' video. McDonnell added that the backdrop to the debate is that 2014's figures show an increase in the number of cyclists killed (113) and seriously injured (21,000, +9.5%) on the previous year.
Asked about the Pratfall video, Boardman said, 'However they are getting about, human beings have the capacity to be rude, to be aggressive, to be polite - all of those things, and it's not connected to what vehicle they happpen to use. It just so happens that in one of those vehicles, you can kill people, and the other, worst case, you're going to kill yourself. So I think what you heard there was somebody getting really upset because they think 'I'm in danger' and frustrated because there's nothing they can do, and then that got an instant reaction from the motorist.'
He explained that cyclists and motorists are not equal. One is causing an inconvenience at worst, and one can kill people.
Chris Green agreed with the idea that we need to be more aware, and give cyclists more space on the roads. 'Definitely. It's something that we've been trying to inform and educate at motoring.co.uk, even though we're first and foremost a motoring website, the one thing that we've identified over the last 12 months is the growth in cyclists is huge, the infrastructure on the roads is poor, and I think there's definitely an education exercise that we need to do to motorists to make them understand that these people on bikes are flesh and blood, and they have families...Motorists own bikes, cyclists own cars, so it's about time we just all had a little bit more patience and showed a little bit more respect.'
Green said he rode a bike when he was younger, then hadn't done so for 20 years. He has taken up cycling quite seriously in the last 12 months, and rode from London to Paris for charity recently. It is not just a problem in the UK, he suffered from aggression on the roads in France too.
Boardman explained rule 163, but said that he finds it quite ambiguous. He feels that the picture which accompanies the rule is the important thing.
A 5 Live reporter had done a 'voxpop', asking people if they knew how much space they were supposed to give cyclists when overtaking, and whether it is legal for cyclists to ride two abreast. The most common answer to the first question was 'about 6ft' (nobody knew the correct answer); one of four people thought it was illegal to ride two abreast, one knew it was legal, and two gave qualified yesses ('probably is even though they're a pain in the backside').