Stupid road narrowing structures .

[Banjo]

These menaces are popping up all over the place. They dont slow down the traffic as intended , just makes them negotiate the narrow gap at speed with sod all care for cyclists / pedestrians who may be around.

I know the answer is to take primary position early to stop some clown overtaking you on the narrow bit but in nose to tail traffic this isnt allways as easy as it sounds .

I cant be alone in thinking they are pointless ,dangerous and ineffective wastes of public money.

After thinking I Was in a sufficiently primary position on one recently a small car actually rubbed his wheels against the curb on the right to squeeze past me .Unbelievably he then pulled off and parked only 200 meters up the road outside his own house .Not sure if he fully appreciated my analysis of his intelligence /driving skills but it made me feel better. Not often they have to answer for their crimes face to face.

(PS I really dont recommend confrontations with strangers but my blood was up too far to care)

 

[davefb]

ahh, but they certainly slow traffic down though..

theres one i cycle and drive down, it's a suburban cut thru and frankly until it was 'remodelled' i did like everyone does and flew down at an apalling 40-50.. (long straight road, over a mile long, playing fields on one side, estate on other..)

in went, the narrowings, humps , the works..

traffic is now 30 and less. ( so the ijiots on vespas or no helmeted trials bikes try to overtake down the right across the chevrons... yay)

not saying the traffic isnt stupid, but it IS slower..

theres a road i used to walk down to school, it used to be a main commuter road, cars would go for two lanes either way .. it was reworked to parking bays and one lane.... apparently before the reworking they had a major incident every year ( ie fatality or nearly), in 6 years they then had none ( this was an article 6 years after this was done)..

these things are perfect , but they *should* slow the traffic down

 

[Globalti]

Our narrow, pre-industrial road makes a cut-through to avoid traffic lights on the main road so sometimes we get drivers racing through to beat the lights. Speeds up to 70 mph have been measured by LCC. However we will never get traffic calming measures because we are at the bottom of Lancashire's league of dangerous streets with only 1 accident involving a pedestrian in the last 10 years. Some streets have over 20 accidents in the last 10 years - guess where they are? The scummy chav areas of course. So we are the victims of our own success in keeping our kids off the street.

 

[MacB]

I'm not convinced by them though I accept that they've worked, I just feel there could be better methods used. Or at least some consistency with the chicanes. There're a lot around my way and some have a cycle lane through each side others nothing. If you do use the cycle lane option then it takes you out of the traffic flow and the usual parked cars mean you have to negotiate back in. Near the schools the cars park so close that it's not possible to use the cycle part of the chicane at all. Though the very same drivers that park and block them somehow seem to think you should.

Drivers seem to have the idea that a cyclist shouldn't come through the middle of a chicane at any time and I've had a few agressive moments with them. At times I've had to bail out as I wasn't convinced I wouldn't be hit. This isn't so bad as they're coming towards you so you can clearly see your options. However I've had some of my closest passes, even necessitating evasive action, from cars rushing to get through a chicane, or pinch point, ahead of me.

From a pedestrian aspect, especially around schools, I have concerns that these sorts of calming methods reduce driver awareness of what's happening around them. Yes they may be going slower but I worry that they're less likely to see someone stepping out or anticipate things from the pavement. I'm sure someone will be along to argue that they increase driver concentration, I just worry that it is too narrowly focused and creates a sort of tunnel vision. A good example is when a driver is so focused on getting past a cyclist that they hit the raised kerb of a calming island.

 

[Eddie]

These menaces are popping up all over the place. They dont slow down the traffic as intended , just makes them negotiate the narrow gap at speed with sod all care for cyclists / pedestrians who may be around.

I know the answer is to take primary position early to stop some clown overtaking you on the narrow bit but in nose to tail traffic this isnt allways as easy as it sounds .

I cant be alone in thinking they are pointless ,dangerous and ineffective wastes of public money.

After thinking I Was in a sufficiently primary position on one recently a small car actually rubbed his wheels against the curb on the right to squeeze past me .Unbelievably he then pulled off and parked only 200 meters up the road outside his own house .Not sure if he fully appreciated my analysis of his intelligence /driving skills but it made me feel better. Not often they have to answer for their crimes face to face.

(PS I really dont recommend confrontations with strangers but my blood was up too far to care)

The ones around here have a cycle lane, between the pavement and the part that sticks out into he road

 

[andy_wrx]

...which is usually full of broken glass, leaves, branches, gawd knows what so you end-up riding in the roadway....

 

[CopperBrompton]

...which is usually full of broken glass, leaves, branches, gawd knows what so you end-up riding in the roadway....

Yep, and drivers don't understand why, so you have the added danger of cyclists taking an unexpected path.

These stupid chicanes not only don't work, they actually make things worse by creating squeeze-points and encouraging last-second overtakes into them. When I'm world dictator, I'm having every last one of 'em ripped out.

 

[ian turner]

Local council put traffic calming measures in to protect a school on a mainish road. Then they gave planning permission for a small estate and built a mini roundabout just before the start of the traffic calming but left the first narrow point in even though it is no loinger necessary and just makes the road system even more of a mess.

 

[killiekosmos]

There are two 'pinch points' just outside the entrance to my work and I find them useful. I need to turn right into office and by taking primary position on approach to the narrow pinch point I can signal right at the narrow pijnt and be (relatively )sure no one will try to overtake.

 

[HLaB]

Its a difficult one pinch points certainly slow down traffic within an area making it a more pleasant but the transition point ! I don't think the narrowing itself is rather stupid in fact they are quite effective, its just some users and I don't know what we do about that.

 

[summerdays]

Some are better than others - but I've never analysed what makes a good one vs a bad one. Though off the top of my head here are a couple I photographed earlier this year all on one road (luckily not near me):

In these junctions how would you turn right into the side road if there was traffic coming the opposite direction.

 

[HJ]

Welcome to "the Big Society"! Cyclists are now human traffic calming, far cheaper that using the Police, and they are expendable...

 

[HLaB]

Welcome to "the Big Society"! Cyclists are now human traffic calming, far cheaper that using the Police, and they are expendable...

From TRL 549 (2002)

highway designs that deliberately require cyclists to​

obstruct traffic in order to produce a traffic calming​

effect should be avoided as they are likely to cause​

particular frustration to drivers;

Unfortunately I don't think a lot of road engineers have read it

 

[Chrisc]

These menaces are popping up all over the place. They dont slow down the traffic as intended , just makes them negotiate the narrow gap at speed with sod all care for cyclists / pedestrians who may be around.

I know the answer is to take primary position early to stop some clown overtaking you on the narrow bit but in nose to tail traffic this isnt allways as easy as it sounds .

I cant be alone in thinking they are pointless ,dangerous and ineffective wastes of public money.

After thinking I Was in a sufficiently primary position on one recently a small car actually rubbed his wheels against the curb on the right to squeeze past me .Unbelievably he then pulled off and parked only 200 meters up the road outside his own house .Not sure if he fully appreciated my analysis of his intelligence /driving skills but it made me feel better. Not often they have to answer for their crimes face to face.

(PS I really dont recommend confrontations with strangers but my blood was up too far to care)

Had exactly the same experience a week ago. She squeezed by then immediately stopped to turn right. First time I've hit a car, slapped the back window hard and spoke to her in what used to be called Pit Language. Iwas spitting feathers... she was shocked to say the least but in no doubt about what I thought. The queue at the bus stop opposite were also aware that I wasn't happy.