But the sad thing is, like animal welfare campaigners releasing mink to ravage the countryside, and lab animals to starve in the wild while spreading disease, or the (chair?) of PETA welcoming the prospect of foot and mouth in the US because it will hit factory farmers where it hurts (allegedly): it's exactly what you would expect of councils and cyling activists.
Anyone actually read the Welsh Road "Safety" Enquiry web page.
www.wales.gov.uk/subitransport/content/consultatio...m
Perhaps that was a spoof site too :-(
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Come on Reg... I'm a motorist and a cyclist and I know which is the safest and which is the most offended against. Three of four times a week off I go on my bike and return feeling that someone has put out a contract on me. Hope its not Randolph from the states!!!!!!! Even little old ladies seem determined to put me up on to the pavement and insist on drawing alongside with their indicators signalling to turn left, and then proceed to do so as if I was invisible.
Its a fact of life unfortunately that the bigger you are the more you have to give way and us cyclists are the smallest on the road.
And don't forget we were there first....
Alvin
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I agree with you Alvin.
What about the cycle lanes that end just where you need them, at junctions, crossroads, rounabouts?
What about people who park on cycle lanes that are on the road - surely this should be viwed like parking on double yellows - a nonsence!
As both a cyclist and a motorist, I see examples of bad driving and its effect on cyclists on a daily basis. I've experienced hardly any such probelems in France though, where I have cycled extensively.
Traffic calming measures can be a danger to cyclists too. The restrictions are narrow that widevehicles cannot safey pass a cyclist.
Tom
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Not Me Alvin!
I also ride/drive both but for me the problem is the 50% of cyclests who ignore the rules of the road and ride on the pavement and worst of all ignore one way streets... I have neve seen one cited and police that I have asked about say they get the micky taken out of them if they cite cyclests or walkers... also if a kid is the law breaker he has nothing that the cops can come after... when i was kid if was caught tyhe wrong way on a one way street my byke was impounded and My folks informed... I then would have to spend a Sat. helping to clean up the police station to get it back... simple and effective and I never again broke that law... My folks were over joyed to back up the cops... but about 20 years ago they picked up the kid of an Civel Liberties type who took the cops to law under lack of due process and made a lot of mone out of it... now the streets are full of wrong way bikers of all ages...
BTW the other pages of the
www.framleyexaminer.com/pages/frontpage.html
Are also a good laugh esp the personals!
~R
Nantucket Island USA
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I got a £20 fixed penalty for jumping three red lights on Oxford Street in London while a few thousand lesbains were bearing their breasts in Parliament Square! It took a riot van to issue that ticket, complete with 10 officers!
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I once spent a year driving a long stretch of the A4 (I think).
Dual 3 lane urban dual carriageway (with very few junctions to cross - the usual excuse).
Plus verge, plus cycle lane, plus more grass, plus pavement, and even more grass.
And where it crossed a bridge it reduced to dual two lane to leave room for the cycle lane and pavement (I'm surprised it wasn't reduced to dual single lane to make room for the grass).
But it was effectively a dual two lane, reducing to dual single lane over the bridges.
Because in a year I *NEVER* saw a cyclist on the cycle path: they *ALWAYS* rode on the road, leaving the narrow inside lane useless for cars.
And is it just me: but why, when I pull up at a junction and there is a cyclist approaching, do they seem to speed up to get to the junction, and then backpedal across it?
I once even saw a cyclist pedal furiously through a just changed red light and across the empty lane to get in front of the busy lane before, obviously over exerted from the exercise, nearly collapsing, and having to crawl across the blocked in traffic at 1mph, poor thing. He must have been so embarrased by the unintended inconvenience his honest mistake had caused.
> Its a fact of life unfortunately that the bigger you are the more you have to give way and us cyclists are the smallest on the road.
So if you were a rowing boat you'd expect the supertanker to stop?!
Reminds me of the time I pulled up at a zebra crossing one evening with a group of adult riders crossing. The lead one was at the back before they were half way across, and not even half way across by the time the rest were on the (non cycle path) pavement. Even his fellow cyclists were annoyed and having a go at him.
Not I though: because I had merely pulled up to reverse onto a shop forecourt, but it appeared closed, so I was just about to drive off when I spotted another still open, but as I parked up again, it, too, closed, so I drove off again, only to see there was one across the road still open, but by the time I had reversed back into the parking bay.......................
By which time his colleagues were doubled up with laughter (see they aren't all po-faced kamikaze cyclo-terrorist environMental activists) but the laggard was getting somewhat irate.
In fact he was fast getting to the state that I might have been in if I HAD been driving along and been delayed at the crossing, and had been prone to road rage rather than shopaholicism...............
> And don't forget we were there first....
"we" ?
I take it that you are speaking as a motorist now.
The advent of the safety bicycle as "serious" transportation coincided with that of the horseless carriage.
And we carriage drivers have been on the roads fo far longer than cyclists.
And the roads were built for our carriages.
We even pay for the pavements and paths provided for pedestrians ; - )
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And the pavements TOO ;-)
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Nothing like a spoof for a serious point.
Far too many cycle lanes end abruptly, pitching the users into dangerous junctions or (by waterloo station) into hordes of disoriented pedestrians straight off the eurostar. A product of councils given a budget to use or lose on cycle facilities.
Those on IO's stretch of the A4 were probably avoiding the broken glass, thorns and lethal gravel traps on the ill maintained cycle lane.
Same here in Northampton on the A45.
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On the contrary, it was immaculate, unlike the road.
AND no junctions to negotiate: one of the usual excuses, as mentioned.
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"A product of councils given a budget to use or lose on cycle facilities."
I get really angry about the waste of money on cycle lanes. These seem to fall into two categories.
1. A green stripe painted down the side of the road. What a pointless waste of money! Most of the time they are full of parked cars and even if they weren't I can't see the difference between this and just cycling down the side of the road.
2. If you are really lucky a section of pavement will be set aside for the use of cyclists. Again useless to anyone who wants to get anywhere. Now you have to stop at every side road and the cycle path will be full of meandering pedestrians throwing themselves into your path at every available moment.
After trying to use some of the cycle paths on my route to work I quickly gave up and started to use the road again. Cars are safe and predictable compared with pedestrians.
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A drunk walking (tottering?) along the road came
across a motorist with the bonnet up. "Wash ze Traable,
mate, hic!?"
"piston broke"
"Sho am I, sho am I"
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