Why is it OK for cyclists, and not for others?

Every single year, the Surrey Classic 100 brings chaos to the roads of South West London and into Surrey, and every single year someone dies - yet, every year it returns.

Cyclist dies in RideLondon race

So why is it that cyclists seem to be immune to the restrictions that others have imposed upon them (thinking the likes of the Jim Clark Rally for a start!)

Rally deaths 'could have been avoided'

Don't get me wrong - I am in no way belittling the loss of three lives at the Jim Clark Rally; it should never have happened, and things certainly have to change. But, in the time the Surrey Classic has been happening, there have been more people die, and yet there is no enquiry, nothing.

 

It certainly is chaos and a right pain in the you know what with all the road closures. These events seem to break a lot of common sense rules, I recall last year the marshalls would not let an ambulance through on an emergency call, I don't understand why.

 

Because they're dicks. Emergency services have right of way on call.

Perhaps write to the organisers, local rag and council and ask the question?

 

It has been asked - there has been a lot of complaints about this event as a lot of people are effectively prisoners in their own homes from 0530 until middle of the evening.

The Marshall's do not apply any common sense either - when I was in my last job, I had no end of trouble getting night buses back to the garage in the morning when they closed roads.

 

It was actually 2 years ago, just found the news item:

Frustration as RideLondon road closures block route to hospital

 

There has been a lot of letters again in the local paper (Surrey Advertiser) - for and against the cyclists. Also many articles about it in the build up, I think they actually consulted the public before this year's race.

I would be fuming if I was blocked in all day, I am lucky that my house is away from the route and we just avoid that area completely that day.

 

It does - I was heavily involved in public transport planning around the event, including the test event in 2011. It creates utter chaos for many, but the Lycra louts seem to be able to get away with it year after year, despite there being at least one death each year.

 

As a matter of interest, do they have an inquiry after every TT race death on the IoM?

 

I imagine that there would be a police enquiry, but not aware of any public enquiry