Mapping app sends cyclist onto M60 motorway

A ​cyclist found riding on the M60 was sent there by his mapping app, according to police.

The male rider had been looking for the quickest route to his destination – and perhaps because he hadn’t ensured that the app was set to give bike-specific results, got a bit more than he bargained for.

He was intercepted by traffic officers from Greater Manchester Police who were on their way to a separate incident.

In a tweet posted on Saturday morning, officers said: “#XT84 was going to an emergency when they came across this pedal cyclist cycling along the #M60.

“Rider stopped and stated his maps told him to go on the motorway as it was the quickest route.

“Rider removed from motorway network and reported.”

#XT84 was going to an emergency when they came across this pedal cyclist cycling along the #M60. Rider stopped and stated his maps told him to go on the motorway as it was the quickest route 🤦‍♂️ Rider removed from motorway network and reported @NWmwaypolice pic.twitter.com/HimbbUaaYC

— GMP Traffic (@gmptraffic) August 29, 2021

Highway Code rule 253 states:

Prohibited vehicles. Motorways MUST NOT be used by pedestrians, holders of provisional motorcycle or car licences, riders of motorcycles under 50 cc, cyclists, horse riders, certain slow-moving vehicles and those carrying oversized loads (except by special permission), agricultural vehicles, and powered wheelchairs/powered mobility scooters.

> Cyclist on motorway pedals past sign warning of … cyclist on motorway

We regularly see reports of cyclists ending up on motorways, whether through ignoring signage or inadvertently being guided there by sat-nav apps.

During last year’s the first national lockdown, a cyclist who had strayed onto the M58 near Skelmersdale in Lancashire due to a sat-nav error was fined after a van driver crashed while trying to avoid him.

> Motorway cyclist fined after van driver crashed trying to avoid him

While no-one was injured, police said that the cyclist himself was very lucky he had not been “wiped out.”

One of the most high-profile instances of cyclists found riding on a motorway came the day before the opening ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, when four cyclists from the Sri Lanka national team were spotted cycling on the M74 near the exit for Motherwell and Hamilton.

> Commonwealth Games cyclists go training ... on a motorway