Oh My God

[Ravenbait]

Cycle lanes get created in all kinds of stupid places just so that local authorities can boast they they've met their target and instated X miles of cycle lanes this year.

But the response was that they don't need them and have no plans for them. So how does this justify your opinion of public servants again?

Sam

 

[soulful dog]

I posted in P&L last month suggesting that local councils were the last refuge of the incompetent and got flamed for it by regular P&Lers. I still hold that belief and this post vindicates me.

I possibly have another example that proves you might have a point. I spotted some cycle leaflets on the Glasgow City Council website and sent them a short two line email to ask where I might be able to pick them up from, and that I was specifically interested in 2 leaflets 'Glasgow and Clyde Coast Cycle Routes' and 'Glasgow to Paisley'.

I received a quick reply asking for my address and they'd send them out to me. Brilliant I thought..... until a week later and a pile of leaflets dropped through my letterbox and (I should have know better shouldn't I) neither of the leaflets I requested was included.

Instead I got a bundle of different leaflets about why I should take up cycling, a Glasgow Colleges Cycle Route (for students), two on The Clyde Walkway, and the Glasgow to Loch Lomond Cycleway (which I already have). I've since sent them another email but they didn't bother replying to it!

 

[Mawsley]

Indeed.. don't forget full of glass, debris and crap. Usually pot holed to fek. Gives motor vehicle drivers an excuse to push cyclists into the gutter & drains. Peds not knowing that some cycle lanes are usually shared paths, which also usually have random street furniture plonked in them. Trees, signs, gates etc..

The work of the devil they are.
Begone with cycle lanes I say. Share the road not segregate.

...and the fact that most of them are simply redesignated footpaths. Then all anyone else sees are cyclists cycling on pavements while cyclists cease to be able to distinguish path from cycle lane.

The whole thing is nonsense unless done properly - but that would cost money and nobody is stumping up for that. A current example is Norbital, an absolute pig's ear of a project.

 

[Norm]

I just phoned Kent County Council asking about cycle lanes and if there were any plans to put in new cycle lanes and make the town of Maidstone a safer place to ride.

The operators reply was "Why?...Why would we need cycle lanes?, There aren't any plans for them"

Well done to KCC! Let's hope that they can educate other local authorities into the same thinking.

 

[Banjo]

Well done to KCC! Let's hope that they can educate other local authorities into the same thinking.

+1 Most are next to useless some are downright dangerous. There are a few that are good such as the one alongside the Wye Valley Link road from Chepstow to the Severn Bridge.It is wide smooth and completely seperate from the road.Most of the painted afterthoughts around towns are lethal.

 

[wmtlynx]

The only ones that are any good are the completely segregated ones like the Rea Valley Route in Brum. But even that is full of blind spots and road crossings, and littered with loose toddlers and dogs at weekends. Great if you are getting into cycling like myself and want somewhere to practise on, or if you're on a mountain bike with no intention of going above 10mph for any distance.

 

[Zoiders]

The cycle lanes in this city were improved no end by the city works section putting the drain covers in with the slots facing the wrong way. That's right, dinky, convoluted foot wide cycle lanes with inch and a half wide slots for your wheel to drop into.

 

[david k]

Cycle lanes get created in all kinds of stupid places just so that local authorities can boast they they've met their target and instated X miles of cycle lanes this year.

this is what affect the views of cycle lanes. are they there for cyclists or to meet some agenda?

i like cycle paths for pleasent social riding. are we to have cycle lanes at the side of roads or just educate people about cyclists on roads?

 

[Globalti]

The UK's roads are simply not suited to cycle lanes; we have a dense network or roads, many of which were originally narrow packhorse trails or turnpikes hemmed in by buildings, which was fine when only pack horses and carriages used them. Modern vehicles don't leave enough room for cycle lanes though, which is why you see so many on pavements.

Contrast this with the Netherlands where there's enough space and enough people riding bikes to make cycle lanes a matter to be taken seriously by planners.

 

[buddha]

I appreciate the lanes on fast, wide, rural A roads. Particularly near motorway junctions. As (I hope) they will give drivers coming off the motorway an indication that there may be cyclists around - as I said, at least I hope they do.

Though in urban areas, aren't they just free parking bays? A few months ago I saw a couple of PSCO's on bikes come close to being flattened by an HGV, from moving in and out of the cycle lane to avoid parked cars.

 

[Wind in my Air]

They are an excuse not to tackle bad driving. And they don't make it safer to cycle.

Agreed. They're a menace. The only off I've ever had on the roads was years ago, due in part to me using a badly thought out Kent cycle lane, so I'm glad they're not creating any more.

 

[Andy_R]

have to agree here...we teach yr5/6 kids to use cycle paths/lanes only if it is safe to do so. In most cases it isn't. How many cycle lanes have you seen that take people into door zones/in and out of traffic/onto footpaths? They tend to be designed to turn cyclists into pedestrians who use bikes. Use them if you must, but don't condone them! I have yet to see a cycle lane that is of a suitable width and that gives as much/equal priority to the user as any other tin box user. My favourit grumble are the quite stupid cycle paths that occur just before a r/bout that direct you onto the foot path, and the make you give way where the road comes off the r/bout. WTF is going on there? Am I not allowed to go around a r/bout on my bike. Sorry Mr/s Cycle path designer in your tin box, but I'm going to totally ignore that one!

 

[d87heaven]

My favourite is a lane next to the A14 where you cycle the opposite way to the lorries thundering along/cars going at 70mph+, whilst being sandblasted by road debris/rain/stones/wheel nuts (they make a lovely whizzing noise). Even more fun at night where you get blinded as well.

 

[abo]

My favourite is a lane next to the A14 where you cycle the opposite way to the lorries thundering along/cars going at 70mph+, whilst being sandblasted by road debris/rain/stones/wheel nuts (they make a lovely whizzing noise). Even more fun at night where you get blinded as well.

Sounds like a barrel of laughs!

 

[d87heaven]

Its also nicely decorated with bottles galore of drivers tizer.