Rules of the road - disabled cyclist.
Discussion
This morning the other half witnessed a bus narrowly missing a disabled cyclist. Slammed on the brakes, goodness knows what his passengers were like. She was cycling on the wrong side of the road, towards oncoming traffic, on a narrow busy road.
Fearing her safety hoping she would pass our house, which she did via a busy roundabout, (also the wrong way) stopped her and explained the danger, she said she was told by the disabled society to do this, in fact when in her wheel chair she cycles/wheels towards oncoming traffic.
I hope I'm right in persuading her to ride on the correct side of the road. Which she did, but for how far I don't know.
I can't find any info saying otherwise on any disabled web site or Highway Code etc.
Fearing her safety hoping she would pass our house, which she did via a busy roundabout, (also the wrong way) stopped her and explained the danger, she said she was told by the disabled society to do this, in fact when in her wheel chair she cycles/wheels towards oncoming traffic.
I hope I'm right in persuading her to ride on the correct side of the road. Which she did, but for how far I don't know.
I can't find any info saying otherwise on any disabled web site or Highway Code etc.
AFAIK it's the same for everyone else. When riding a bike, driving a car etc. You stick to the correct side of the road as usual.
Where this person has got confused is that the guide for walking on roads WITHOUT pavements (and by extensions wheelchairs) is to walk/travel FACING traffic. I think we all have heard of this. Presumably the charity told her to do the same when travelling by chair when there are no pavements and they've not understood the difference between a pavement object (feet or chair) and a road object car/bike.
Of course the anti-cyclist dicks (thankfully a minority on this site these days) will use this person as an example of ALL cyclists thinking the world owes them everything and they never obey the law.
When, as ever, it's a single person who requires educating.
Where this person has got confused is that the guide for walking on roads WITHOUT pavements (and by extensions wheelchairs) is to walk/travel FACING traffic. I think we all have heard of this. Presumably the charity told her to do the same when travelling by chair when there are no pavements and they've not understood the difference between a pavement object (feet or chair) and a road object car/bike.
Of course the anti-cyclist dicks (thankfully a minority on this site these days) will use this person as an example of ALL cyclists thinking the world owes them everything and they never obey the law.
When, as ever, it's a single person who requires educating.
Thank you, that's eased my mind. I was dreading to think I'd given her the wrong advice, she was obviously doing so well on her bike, independent, confident too. I'd hate to dull her confidence. I tried to catch her up with a spare dayglow vest I had, but she had gone. I understand her reasoning, she didn't want to be hit in the back.
Rich_W said:
Where this person has got confused is that the guide for walking on roads WITHOUT pavements (and by extensions wheelchairs) is to walk/travel FACING traffic. I think we all have heard of this. Presumably the charity told her to do the same when travelling by chair when there are no pavements and they've not understood the difference between a pavement object (feet or chair) and a road object car/bike.
Yup, that.If you have to walk in the road then you do it towards traffic, so you can see what's coming and take action as necessary.
Cycling, whatever kind, should be done with the flow of traffic.
However what's not totally clear would be wheeled "vehicles" which can use pavements. Rich says that a (hand powered presumably?) wheel chair should go against traffic. I think the adviser to the user said the same thing. I can see how that makes sense as a hand powered chair would logically follow the same rules as a pedestrian who is walking.
So I can see a confusion when you get an electric powered wheel chair. Or a mobility scooter which does up to 4mph and is intended for pavements. Or a mobility scooter which does up to 8mph and is intended for road use as well. I think it's less clear which of these should go with or against traffic.
Is an electric wheel chair going to follow a manual wheel chair, and therefore walking, and hence against traffic? Or will it follow a mobility scooter, and therefore with traffic?
Notwithstanding the above confusion surrounding less common scenarios it should be pretty clear that a cyclist should always move with the traffic, no matter the abilities or disabilities of the rider.
the reason pedestrians on the road face on coming traffic is that they are unlit and to allow them to stop and/or move to the verge if necessary for oncoming vehicuilr traffic
the exception is a large group of pedestrians who should be 'marching' en-bloc and treated as a slow moving vehicle and at night lit as such with the outer front man carring a white light and inner and outer last men carrying a rear facing red light as well as hi-vis jackets / bergan cover especially if in subdued colours )
a handbike/trike or a wheelchair with a handbike add -on is a vehicle same as a conventional (foot powered) bike - some of the dedicated 'handbikes' are very low slung - and face the same issues as recumbant foot powered bikes do.
the exception is a large group of pedestrians who should be 'marching' en-bloc and treated as a slow moving vehicle and at night lit as such with the outer front man carring a white light and inner and outer last men carrying a rear facing red light as well as hi-vis jackets / bergan cover especially if in subdued colours )
a handbike/trike or a wheelchair with a handbike add -on is a vehicle same as a conventional (foot powered) bike - some of the dedicated 'handbikes' are very low slung - and face the same issues as recumbant foot powered bikes do.
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