Around here a number of cycle lanes have been introduced which, due to the amount of parked cars blocking them 24/7 are totally useless ! These lanes are carefully marked out with white lines and have a red or green synthetic surface applied to them and accompanying signage - all of which I would guess makes them very costly.
What is the point of laying down cycle routes which few people bother to use and those who do must find highly irritating if not dangerous ?
|
Volvoman,
same round here (North West). Must be a European directive or something that each town must have xxx-km\'s of cycle lanes as a sop to doing something for the environment.
Someone forgot to tell them about the hills, rain, carp design, darkness (in winter) and, more importantly, the wind.
The planners must think that by laying down endless cycle lanes on already narrow roads (already reduced from nice wide carriageways to single lane, over-marked corridors..... but that\'s another matter !), it will encourage hundreds of people to take to their bikes.
What a load of tosh ! Our area is hilly, windy and tough to do proper sport cycling with a club, never mind trying to battle the elements to get to work/shops/whatever.
The fact is you NEVER see any people commuting on bikes despite the many thousands of pounds that must have been spent.
This says it all in my opinion but still they insist on laying down more and more lanes for the non-existent cyclists.
Oooh, it gets my goat it does.......
Now don\'t mention road markings
JD
|
Tis a well known fact that there is a european surplus of red, white and green road paint, and every now and then, the head of your local highways committee tosses a coin
one side says 'pointless cycle lanes' and the other says 'equally pointless mini roundabouts'....
is it not so ?
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
|
|
Only place I know where it works is Milton Keynes, the cycle paths (red ways) are completely seperate from the roads. Very pleasant.
|
York, Nottingham, and Bristol are pretty good too. And people use them a lot. The difference between "quota" cycle tracks and properly designed and implemented ones is enormous. The evidence is that when they are done properly people will use them. But my own council, keen to keep up the quota, has laid miles of cycle track alongside busy A-roads. Keeps their mileage up, but who would want to use them with the buffeting, road spray and straight up and down hill route the road takes? Not me and I'm a very keen cyclist already. This might be a European quota but on the continent they do it properly.
Chris
|
|
|
Generally true, but I've also had most of my 'near misses/scrapes' when using the Redway system. Far too much overgrown shrubbery located @ 'blind' bends, broken glass and people walking dogs on those 50' length leads for it to be comfortable commuting territory.
Latest fad in CMK is for 100-metre length sections of bus only lanes which makes traversing through the city centre closely akin to slalom-skiing. Oh to live in Piddletrenthide again...
|
|
|
|
|
What is the point of laying down cycle routes which few people bother to use and those who do must find highly irritating if not dangerous ?
V - The answers can be found in the paper by the \"UK Commission for Integrated Transport\"\'s report at:
www.cfit.gov.uk/reports/la/final/
Two paras from it say:
\"2.23 A significant proportion of LTP funds are focused on improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, however, local authorities have little confidence that this will actually lead to greater use of non-motorised modes.
2.24 Only about half of respondents expect walking and cycling levels to be higher in 10 years time and about 40% say that they will be the same as now.\"
So you see, they know it is a waste of money. It helps keep people employed, including the report\'s authors and the Commision itself.
Further down, it says:
\"The 10 Year Plan includes targets to:
reduce road congestion on the inter-urban network and in large urban areas in England below current levels by 2010
increase rail use in Great Britain (measured in passenger kilometres) from 2000 levels by 50% by 2010
increase bus use in England (measured by the number of passenger journeys) from 2000 levels by 10% by 2010
improve air quality by meeting our National Air Quality Strategy targets for carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particles, sulphur dioxide, benzene and 1-3 butadiene
reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in Great Britain in road accidents by 40% by 2010
triple the number of cycling trips by 2010, compared with a 2000 base. \"
You all can make a difference to get things changed for the better. If you believe something silly is going on, get involved (IIRC, Volvoman does indeed take these matters up with the authorities). I know we can make a difference - because words that I drafted in one of my campaigns have actually ended up in one particular Act of Parliament.
|
Very interesting MB. I will take this up with the local council and see what they have to say.
Make no mistake, if they were able to create separate cycle paths in appropriate places I'd be very much in favour - cyclists and motorists don't mix well IMO.
|
|
There's an estate close to my house with a perimeter road that was far too wide for a busy housing area, so the council have built a concrete barrier about a foot high to make a separate cycle path and to narrow the road a bit. It is used by cycles and horses and feels so much safer than riding on a painted part of the road. So congratulations to Wirral council for a win/win solution that doesn't involve paint and speed bumps.
|
|
|
|
what happened to that survey to find Britain's shortest most pointless cycle lane? At last count the shortest was 10 foot.
Hang on isn't that Chris R way up ahead.
Toot Toot!
(only joking!)
|
Same here in East Berks. Green coloured road surface and white lines. Totally and utterly pointless. It encourages cars to drive too close to cyclists (the green lane is too narrow), and gives no extra rights or protection whatsoever to cyclists. So what *is* the point then? But it probably makes some councillors feel all warm inside.
The hard parts for cyclists are junctions and roundabouts, and these markings help you there diddly squat.
|
|
|
www.weirdcyclelanes.co.uk/
I think Brighton has a good collection of useless lanes, and the idea of turning a two lane one-way street to a one lane one-way street with a splodge of red paint down one side as a cycle counterflow.
|
mrmole
What a great site !
A true classic - made me cry with laughter, particularly the section "Short cycle lanes"
What ARE these planners thinking about at all ?!?
JD
|
Fantastic site. I especially liked the story about the traffic wardens who refused to do anything about the parked cars in the cycle lane because it was technically a cycle path. But the cars were also parked on double yellow lines. Duh.
There's is/was a lane in Canterbury on a purpose built sanctuary in a busy road but the lane is not long enough for a standard bicycle to stop on it. You have to get off and turn the bike sideways to avoid getting sideswiped by passing cars.
Chris
|
|
|
|
Brilliant Site!
I now plan to spend my weekend looking for examples in Blackpool - I hope I\'m disappointed.
Anyone visiting Blackpool should bring a bike just for the ride along the cliffs from Gynn Square to Anchorsholme - superb views, smooth tarmac, a few hills and bends to make it interesting (but still pedestrians walking their dogs on the wrong side).
But if you choose to go on the lower promenade only go Southbound, \'cos there\'s a no cycling sign coming the other way and you\'ll get nicked :-)
|
|
|
|
We have some round here that literally start and finish at the beginning and end of a speed bump. Not sure how long speed bumps are, but I'm sure these ones are not as much as 10 feet!
HF
|
|
I'll add a couple of moans even though I think that cycle lanes, when done properly, are an excellent idea since they reduce the danger to cyclists and remove a potential "hazard" for drivers. The first is the fact that round us, cycle lanes are only placed where it requires no real "planning" On wide roads, or where there are wide footpaths/grass verges there are cycle lanes but they always come to an end on narrow twisty bits of roads where cyclists are in the most danger. In other words they serve no useful purpose in increasing safety of cyclists. Secondly, the council seem to think that cyclists need a separate set of signs so that there are little blue ones for the cyclists next to the huge green ones for motorists. Daft, especially since the cyclists are usually locals cycling to work who know the way! Another moan while I'm in the swing. I usually go to work 5 miles along quiet country roads but on Monday joined the locals going to the local town (dental appt!) The local by-pass (dual carriageway) goes down to one lane for a bus lane (pointless since the buses use the village road not the by - pass!, people don't live on a by-pass and the by-pass isn't a bus route!). During the half hour I was queuing, not one cyclist went along the (very good) cycle lane and not one bus went along the bus lane, this at 8.30 am. I suspect the buses were stuck on the village road which hasn't a bus lane.
|
Some excellent posts here, and a remarkable amount of common ground with the urban cyclist's newsgroup!.
From this driver/cyclists perspective there are separate issues with on road lanes and paralell tracks. The former are all too often ill thought out and badly/dangerously placed. Half a metre from the kerb you are in casualty corner; neither motorists nor pedestrians incorporate you in their visual sweep, and the gutter is full of grit and debris as well as dangerous drains. covering the high grip green tarmac with no-grip yellow lines is the cherry on the top. Ignore them, ride high and integrate with the traffic
Paralell tracks add to the danger at junctions as they tend to transfer all observational and yielding responsibilty to the cyclist, not just at junctions but across driveways as well!
|
What seems even more pointless are the large green boxes marked out on roads at traffic lights with an image of a squashed cyclist on them.
I can only guess what they are for. In many years of daily commuting I have NEVER seen a cyclist in theses boxes.
Those who are involved in producing green bike lanes obviously drive a desk as no attempt is made to make the lanes truly useable i.e. sorting out sunken drain covers etc so that cyclists can stay in the lanes rather than having to swing out into lane one.
|
henry k wroteWhat seems even more pointless are the large green boxes marked out on roads at traffic lights with an image of a squashed cyclist on them. I can only guess what they are for
They are Advanced Stop Lines (ASL's) and are an attempt to tackle the nearside blind spot problem to which I alluded in my previous post. Ahead of the motorists the cyclist is in the centre of their visual field and his vulnerability, particularly to left turners/trucks when the lights go green, is much reduced . IMHO these are actually a real safety benefit and in Central London are well used, though often infringed by cars and motorcyclists including police.
|
|
|
|
|
I am all for well designed cycle routes and making it safer for cyclists as I cycle at weekends myself (I do this on the Thames cycle path from Weybridge to Hampton Court). But I think that the ill-thought out, badly designed, badly laid out lanes that are popping up are dangerous for both cyclists and motorists.
An example of planning gone wrong is the one HJ wrote about here a few months ago. It is the conversion of the 500m or so of dual-carriageway bypass around Upper Halliford to a single carriageway just to convert one lane to a cycle-lane. As HJ said, I agree - I have never yet seen a cyclclist using that lane. To compound their error, the council have now put in traffic lights on in the middle of this section so that some traffic can turn right without having to go to the end of the road to use a roundabout that had been used quite safely for the last 20 or more years.
|
|
|
|
Its a question of enforcement. Would the cycle lane be useful if it was not blocked by parked cars. Where I live in Bath there was a bus lane for 2 hours per day at rush hour but again it was blocked by parked cars 24/7 . Instead of enforcing the parking restictions after a year or two they removed the bus lane. What a total waste of time and taxpayers money.
|
|
|
