Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Community
Miscellaneous
French rickshaw driver looking for the Channel escorted off dual carriageway in East SussexRickshaw rider- Sussex Police - Twitter

French rickshaw driver looking for the Channel escorted off dual carriageway in East Sussex

Frenchman made his way to Paris on three wheels thanks to Sussex Police
by Sarah Barth
Sat, Jul 12, 2014 11:00
12

Police were called to escort a confused French rickshaw driver off a dual carriageway this week after he took a wrong turn.

The rider, who was trying to get back to his home country from Britain, was near Lewes in East Sussex when he, dressed in a straw hat, rode onto the A27.

"Police helping a lost French man... on his way to Paris on his Rickshaw," local police tweeted.

 

The cyclist was escorted the end of the dual carriageway, joined a cycle path to continue his journey via the port of Newhaven. 

A police spokesman told The Local: “At 1.45pm on Thursday July 10th a motorist told police that a man had been seen on the eastbound Lewes bypass, just east of the Kingston roundabout, pedalling a three-wheel trike.

"Local officers quickly found the man who was a French national seeking to return home via Newhaven.

“They advised him that it was dangerous to be on that stretch of road, especially during heavy rain, and escorted him safely to the other end of the bypass where he was able to take a safe cycle path connecting with the A26 to Newhaven and went on his way."

Last year we reported how a Chinese man who was aiming to ride his rickshaw from London to Rio de Janeiro to “promote the Olympic spirit” ahead of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games was advised by police in Cambridgeshire to get off the A14 dual carriageway, which has a 70mph speed limit, after traffic built up behind him.

Chen Guan Ming, a 58-year-old farmer from Xuzhou, first decided to get pedalling to promote the Olympic spirit” – as a flag on his rickshaw exclaims – while sitting inside the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing during the closing ceremony of the 2008 Games and saw Mayor of London Boris Johnson waving the Olympic flag as it passed to the British capital.

He rode his rickshaw from Beijing to London ahead of the previous Olympics, and with the help of a free flight donated by an flew into London to begin his trip to the next host city.

Cycling is not illegal on A-road dual carriageways in the UK - as generations of time triallists know - unless the section of road has been given an M designation, such as the A1(M) - meaning that motorway regulations apply,

Twitter
Sussex Police
Rickshaw
police
dual carriageway

Add new comment

12 comments

Avatar
Bob's Bikes | 10 years ago
0 likes

The police said it was dangerous? why do they not actually police the roads then? and is it not their job to stop dangerous drivers?

Avatar
Paul J | 10 years ago
0 likes

I must save this URL for when anti-segregationists next poo-poo good cycling infrastructure because they fear they'll lose the "right" to use the road. It's de facto gone already on quite a few roads. On other A-roads, a hard-core of cyclists may still go out on them, but many others are put off from cycling on them.

I'm not easily put off, but there are a few single-carriageway A-roads around here that are really nasty to cycle on. Straight and flatter A-roads with good visibility particularly, for some reason - seem to get much higher rates of nasty, close & fast passes on them.

Avatar
Jack Osbourne snr replied to Paul J | 10 years ago
0 likes

Paul J,

The Ayrshire section of the old A77 immediately springs to mind as a great example of that.

For those that don't know it, the A77 is the old main road from Glasgow to Kilmarnock which was superceded by the M77 motorway. The road now has relatively little motor traffic on it, but still produces fatalities.

It's also home to several club TT's.

Avatar
Urban_Manc replied to Paul J | 10 years ago
0 likes
Paul J wrote:

I must save this URL for when anti-segregationists next poo-poo good cycling infrastructure because they fear they'll lose the "right" to use the road.

I'm not easily put off, but there are a few single-carriageway A-roads around here that are really nasty to cycle on.

Then you make them safe to cycle on, either by redesign, enforcement or a combination of both.

Wherever cyclists are legally entitled to cycle the conditions should be safe to do so, with political will, that will be easy to achieve.

Segregation IS NOT the ideal, good design and law enforcement is preferential.

Avatar
zanf replied to Urban_Manc | 10 years ago
0 likes
Urban_Manc wrote:

Segregation IS NOT the ideal, good design and law enforcement is preferential.

You speak as though those 3 were mutually exclusive.

Avatar
Beatnik69 | 10 years ago
0 likes

"a motorist told police that a man had been seen on the eastbound Lewes bypass, just east of the Kingston roundabout, pedalling a three-wheel trike."

I didn't know there was any other kind of trike. 7

Avatar
mrmo | 10 years ago
0 likes

Is there a TRO on this road? riding on a dual carriageway may not be pleasant but it is rarely illegal.

Makes you wonder if the Police are simply copping out and rather than deal with illegal and dangerous driving are choosing to ban the potential victims?

Avatar
Urban_Manc | 10 years ago
0 likes

If the police are saying it's unsafe they should be tackling those that have made it that way instead of taking the easy option, police, victim blaming again !

Avatar
workhard | 10 years ago
0 likes

"The cyclist was escorted the end of the motorway, joined a cycle path to continue his journey via the port of Newhaven."

Motorway? It's an A road albeit a DC. Surely he was perfectly within his rights to ride his rickshaw on an A road if he wanted to without plod and the locals getting steamed up?

Avatar
balmybaldwin | 10 years ago
0 likes

Why is this dangerous and require a police escort when a tractor on the same road isnt?

Avatar
jacknorell replied to balmybaldwin | 10 years ago
0 likes
balmybaldwin wrote:

Why is this dangerous and require a police escort when a tractor on the same road isnt?

Hit a tractor and your car is a crumpled mess. Hit a rickshaw, and the rider (driver?) of it is a red-stained puddle.

That's why.

Avatar
JonD replied to jacknorell | 10 years ago
0 likes

>Hit a tractor and your car is a crumpled mess. Hit a rickshaw, and the rider (driver?) of it is a red-stained puddle.

Which applies to any other road, DC or otherwise. There's at least a few DC A-roads used by cyclists in that neck of the woods, they're not complete no-go areas y'know - tho' in recent years the A23 has been turned into a motorway in all but name 2

I'm not even sure there's a great alternative going from N Brighton to/from Lewes, unless you skip down to the coast and add several miles on.
In fact, using google maps to get (cycle) directions from say Brighton Station to Lewes shows a route via the A27, or what looks like dirt tracks/unmade roads - wouldn't want to try that on a road bike, let alone a rickshaw.

Latest Comments