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Here in Basingstoke cycle lanes have sprung up like weeds on a lawn. It is very rare to see a cyclist using on of them and the markings take up a fair percentage of road width which naturally puts oncoming traffic closer head to head....most cyclists here use the real cycle lane- known locally as the pavement.
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Cycle lanes that consist of nothing more than a strip of different coloured tarmac on the existing road are a danger. Any road debris ends up there, you usually find they are blocked by parked cars and God help you if a car has slowed to turn right as you can bet your bottom dollar that a following motorist will use the lane (and you) in their attempt to get round the turning car on the inside. The favourite trick is for the local authority to end these lanes at just the point where they would do most good, i.e. at dangerous junctions where the different colours on the road tend to highlight the junction to motorists.
Cycling on the pavement is NOT something I do, but I can understand why some people choose that option.
Cycle lanes on pavements are an absolute joke as pedestrians invariably ignore the cycle markings and meander back and forth in their own little display of brownian motion.
I personally prefer to ride on normal roads in the way people have ridden safely for years. I take personal responsibility for my own safety and use my ears as much as my eyes to keep myself upright.
Doesn't always work, as seen in another thread, but there's little you can do when someone overtakes and immediately turns across you.
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Don't know about Basingstoke but too many are put in just to ensure money allocated is spent. They're too narrow, too near the kerb, badly surfaced and or overlaid with yellow lines. Death traps and best avoided.
I'd rather take my chances on the road.
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Lots of the London ones are kitted out with kerbs to make them a separate "road", thereby reducing the vehicular road from two to one lane.
Must cost thousands to install.
And on most you are lucky to see a couple of bikes an hour.
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Or from a cyclist's point of view...
I'm happy to use the new cycle lanes which are clearly marked on the roads, however I'm not alone, some car driver like to use it too. On my 2.5 mile ride home from the railway station last night there were:
3 cars in the cycle lane because the drivers were trying to barge past the queue at a junction; 1 driver parked in the cycle lane talking on his phone (forcing me to pull into the motor traffic); 1 car who had pulled across the cycle lane from a minor road on the left forcing me to stop or go into the motor traffic lane.
This is not unusual, but yesterday I was spared the fun of being sideswiped or cut up as traffic turns across me to the left so I'm fairly lucky.
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You know, I was planning on using my old Kona Kilauea for commuting but the more I think about it, the more the full suspension Cannondale Prophet* I have on order appeals. At least with 5 inches of travel I can ride up kerbs at will to avoid motorists.....
(* Thank you Gordon Brown, for letting me buy a bike through my business and write it off against tax)
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>>with 5 inches of travel
Surely you'll catch your knees on the ground ?
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Ahaha. Ha.
Stop it, you're killing me. Oh my poor sides.
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After I ended up with a metal plate in my wrist caused in part by a car parked in a cycle lane, I now use the pavement. Bigger, roomier, and convenient bollards to protect it from insane drivers.
Interesting thing is, I've ridden past several police officers and numerous patrol cars and they've never brought it up with me.
An additional danger of cycle lanes is people stepping into them when traffic is stationary. I've nearly hit several people that way, but never even come close on the pavement.
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>>I've nearly hit several people that way, but never even come close on the pavement>>
You really aren't trying hard enough...:-)
Three points for a pedestrian, five for a policeman and 25 for a traffic warden...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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You know, I was planning on using my old Kona Kilauea for commuting but the more I think about it, the more the full suspension Cannondale Prophet* I have on order appeals. At least with 5 inches of travel I can ride up kerbs at will to avoid motorists.....
Is this the Chelsea tractor version of a bicycle? Is it a wasteful 4x4? Why, you people make me mad!!
;-)
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Is this the Chelsea tractor version of a bicycle? Is it a wasteful 4x4? Why, you people make me mad!! ;-)
No, that would be the Orange 5 Pro SE with 6 inches of travel that I was going to buy until I rode the 'dale Prophet 3000 SL. What a bike! Be aware, for it has jedi mind powers, not just in the almost telepathic steering ability but in the way it persuades you to write a cheque for over £3k when you set a budget of just over £2k......
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On a more general note, when does an electrically assisted bicycle become a motorcycle?
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On a more general note, when does an electrically assisted bicycle become a motorcycle?
I think it's when it can exceed a certain speed? Most electric bikes seem to do 18mph so I'd guess the cut-off point is that, or 30kph
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I shall always remember the time I cycled home from the City along the Mile End Road. Just past the j/w Grove Road, I was overtaken by a car which then promptly turned left in front of me. However, something was blocking the road he wanted to turn into and he stopped half in/half out of the junction. It was raining and as I slammed on my brakes.....all I could hear was the sssshshsshshshsshhhhhhhhhhhh as nothing gripped. I slammed into his rear end, buckled the front wheel and forks and landed upside down on his rear window. As I cursed and swore, out got the Vicar from the drivers side. He admonished me for not looking where I was going! Fortunately, what was blocking the junction was a police van just finishing with an incident there. They dealt with my accident and the Vicar found himself in court for driving w.o.d.c! The scallywag pleaded not guilty. 8< snip 8< I think the beak took exception to him turning up for court with his dog collar on to try and impress.
{References to Michael Jackson removed. DD}
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The drastic reduction in braking performance in the wet is a major disadvantage of rim brakes.
Surely some form of minimum standards should apply?
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The drastic reduction in braking performance in the wet is a major disadvantage of rim brakes. Surely some form of minimum standards should apply?
No, not more rules, please! Not until the ambulance chasers come along with "and my client would have been unharmed if the bike had stopped quicker"
As all* cyclists here have had plenty of practice at stopping in the wet I think they know how bad brakes can be. As a child cycling in Wales I have lots of experience of wet weather. Dry weather, however...
*obviously I made this up, but at least 'most'
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The drastic reduction in braking performance in the wet is a major disadvantage of rim brakes. Surely some form of minimum standards should apply?
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That doesn't really apply with aluminium rims, there is hardly any drop in braking performance. Steel rims however, fitted only to real cheapos nowdays are pretty awful in the wet.
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I would have thought that just about any brake should, on a clean but wet rim, be able to apply sufficient force to lock the wheel.
I have hydraulic disks though, and haven't used rim brakes in years.
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Having been involved with several cycling advocacy groups over the years, and having been part of campaigns to install proper cycle lanes where roads are congested and/or dangerous to non-motorized traffic I can tell you it is a huge struggle to persuade "County Hall" that cycling is a valid form of transport. Anyone who thinks "the powers that be" are anti-motorist should try campaigning for something transport related that is not going to benefit the motorist. It's not that people don't like cycling as such, it's just not on the radar. This struggle is what is behind the truly dangerous and downright daft cycle lanes we have in this country. Inevitably the cheapest options are chosen--the painted lines, the redesignation of existing footpaths alongside dual carriageways that nobody in their right mind would make a regular route on a bike and so on--so that the local authority can claim "we have X-thousand feet of cycleway" and the campaign groups will go away. The result is cyclists "misbehave," cycle lanes are unused, and everyone loses.
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They have sprung up overnight like mushrooms in Slough and Devon too. I think it is government guidelines c.f. road humps, speed cameras etc.
Anyway, I have started cycling a bit again, and I am not impressed with them. They mark out the area where the drains and other hazards are, and I worry that when I move out of the cycle lane, and onto the road proper, an aggressive driver might decide to 'teach me a lesson'. I have also noticed cyclists in the lanes but on the wrong side of the road. These lanes seem to have encouraged that habit.
We also have those areas marked out for cycles at junctions whereby cyclists are encouraged to place themselves in front of cars waiting for the lights to change to green. I could understand a motorist being well peeved.
And yes we have pavement cycle paths, with pedestrians providing an obstacle course. I don't like them as I am forced to go slow when crossing junctions unlike on the road where you go straight across on a green light.
Leif
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Unfortunately the provision of cycle lanes seems to be used as a weapon in the ongoing crusade against the car. Plus they are invariably done on the cheap. Result, very poorly thought out solutions, no one wins but the council can claim to be doing the right thing and to be toeing the political line.
Have a look at how they provide proper and planned cycleways in Scandinavia, but of course these cost money and they don't punish the motorist for daring to be in his / her car.
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