Laws of the road for cyclists and drivers alike

I am sorry if this has been done before. I searched to no avail.

What are the laws of the road for cyclists and drivers in regards to cyclists in the UK?

ex: Here a car must allow a bike 3 meters when passing.

 if there is a bike lane provided, if a cyclist gets in an accident because of riding on the pavement, it is their fault not the drivers. 

I have only been riding in the US and haven't been able to find anything in regards to this when on American search engines.

Hello Snails.
Obtain a book called "The official highway code" published by the department for Transport. I bought mine in W.H.Smiths for £2.50. cheers

UK roads are seldom wide enough to allow for three metres passing space...

You can read the Highway Code for free here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm

You can read the Highway Code for free here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm

perfect, thank you.

one thing to note is that nobody, even the police, takes any notice of the highway code.

it's all a bit of a free-for-all in london, most drivers round here don't bother with simple things like using the correct side of the road.

Cyclists just fit in where they can, the main aim is survival.

I find two simple rules work for me:

1: Don't ride/walk/drive like a dick
2: Expect everyone else to ride/walk/drive like a dick

unless you can see the whites of their eyes never assume that anyone has seen you

I think you need to make your own laws when riding in London.
You need to decide what is acceptable and what is not. For example, I will always jump reds, go down one way streets and get up on the pavement( if needs be ) as long as I am not endagering myself, firstly and others secondly. I will also always assume that every other car driver is going to attempt to kill me, and every other cyclist is a dangerous maniac.

I try to avoid stopping at zig-zags and pelicans too unless there are old people/kids on them. I guess it is probably cyclists like me that give cyclists in general a bad name. But heh. I am not out to make friends on the road. Just get myself from A-B, unscathed in a manner which I see fit. 20 years of riding in London has taught me this and n all this time, no accidents, excluding those bought on by mechanical failure or not looking at the road ahead with 100% concentration

Remember always that approximately 5% of drivers in London have never taken a driving test. A similar number are uninsured. Don't expect drivers to know, still less obey, the rules of the road.

@MikeC - No problem with you RLJ'ing etc as it's your own neck, but riding on a pavement, cycling through pelican crossings with people crossing is just.....

Fail

I would only get up on a pavement to avoid an accident or if I sensed a potentially hazardous situation ahead of me, which amounts to far less than once a month. People that ride on the pavements as a matter of course are idiots. And jumping pelican crossings isn't a hard and fast rule. If there are loads of people crossing, then obvioulsy I stop, but if they have just turned red and I am flying along in the middle of the road, then I know I can't stop in time. Similarly with zebra crossings and those people who just fling themselves on to them n front of you. Its all about saving energy for me really.

But yeah, you need to be flexible in the way you ride. Take each situation as it presents itself. I was just trying to get the point accross that if you stick to the law 100%, you will not be helping yourself, in my opinion

@MikeC - No problem with you RLJ'ing etc as it's your own neck, but riding on a pavement, cycling through pelican crossings with people crossing is just.....

What's a pelican crossing? I know what a zebra crossing is, but I've not heard of a pelican crossing...

(bear in mind that I've only been in the UK for two years).

link for you :)

Slightly off topic, My grandad always calls Zebra crossing "belisha" crossings after the guys comissioned them. It rubbed off on me and I call them belisha crossing every now and then, with the result of friends giving me lond odd looks.

link for you :)

Thanks. I get a massive 'fail' for not googling that myself!

Slightly off topic, My grandad always calls Zebra crossing "belisha" crossings after the guys comissioned them. It rubbed off on me and I call them belisha crossing every now and then, with the result of friends giving me lond odd looks.

I pronounce them the American way (ZEE-bruh) because I whenever I use the British pronunciation (for almost any word) I imagine my friends back home making fun of me for 'putting on a fake English accent.'

I think you need to make your own laws when riding in London.
You need to decide what is acceptable and what is not. For example, I will always jump reds, go down one way streets and get up on the pavement( if needs be ) as long as I am not endagering myself, firstly and others secondly. I will also always assume that every other car driver is going to attempt to kill me, and every other cyclist is a dangerous maniac.

I try to avoid stopping at zig-zags and pelicans too unless there are old people/kids on them. I guess it is probably cyclists like me that give cyclists in general a bad name. But heh. I am not out to make friends on the road. Just get myself from A-B, unscathed in a manner which I see fit. 20 years of riding in London has taught me this and n all this time, no accidents, excluding those bought on by mechanical failure or not looking at the road ahead with 100% concentration

+1, ride with purpose!

unless you can see the whites of their eyes never assume that anyone has seen you

I saw the whites of a driver's eyes on Monday and he still fucking knocked me off - so I wouldn't even assume it then.....

2 words, bike tuff.

I think you need to make your own laws when riding in London.

• 1 but you have to make sure you look out for coppers.
  
  

as far as im concerned i dont what mt instincts tell me, if im blasting down oxford street and a light turns yellow or red i quickly decide if im going or stopping. occasionally i think "fuck it" and then start going only to see cars starting and have to slow down really fast. i think the most important thing about cycling in london is to not be indecisive and to know your limits of what you can and cant do

A pedant writes...

Chap who invented the yellow flashing light at crossings was actually Hore-Belisha, but you can sort of see why the whole name didn't catch on. Also invented the driving test (what, you didn't need one once?) and rewrote the Highway Code, currently on about version 63.7. Er, what was the question?

More pedantically, he was the Minister of Transport when they were introduced. "Belisha beacons" is the name givcen to the orange lollipop-like beacons which ar epositioned either side of zebra crossings. Zebra crossings are so called because they are black and white like zebras (pronounced zebras not zebras as the Americans do). No idea why pelican crossings are so called.