Cycle lanes: they're crap (It's official)

[christonabike]

This ^^^^ twats indeed

Why do the cunts bother?

 

[roryer]

No. Worst idea ever. And you shouldn't have been undertaking a moving lorry.

Thanks Christonabike, yes it was stationary traffic, and the cyclist in front decided to stop leaving me stranded.

As for segregated cycle lanes, I just came back from a week cycling in different cities and between cities in Holland, and although it is by no means exclusively segregated, there appears to be the a strict hierachy of street design which is very safe for cyclists which I outline below.

Other things to note is that there was no obvious demographic for cycling in that women, the old and young, all seemed to cycle in equal numbers, and in that some cities have 60% of trips made by bicycle, compared to the UK average of under 2% we can assume that their system works.

Dutch Cycling Hierarchy

1. Cty Centre Streets - shared use; pedestrians, cycles, PTWs, buses, lorries and cars all share the same space. Due to large number of pedestrians all traffic goes slow. About 3mph average.

2. Residential and suburban streets - mostly shared use but with pedestrian segregation (narrow pavements). Very well designed traffic calming, regukar humps, narrow lanes, chicanes, and short sight lines, all streets built with red brick to look same colour as pavements, and the exit of suburban streets have a very steep curb to climb over the pavement, to show that pedestrians and cyclists have priority. Average traffic speeds appear to be about 10mph.

3. Suburban ring roads, arterial roads.

3.1 If a smaller road width, then often it is just a roadway which is shared between bicycles and motor vehicles, and a pavement, Often with painted cycle lanes and Advanced stop lines. Similar to England, but much less traffic, and still moves much more slowly about average of 15 - 20mph.

3.2 Larger ring roads - clearly segregated traffic. Cycle lanes, pavements, bus lanes and lane for cars and trucks. Average speeds 30mph and up.

4. Intercity routes - clearly segregated traffic.
Often shared use lane segrated from main duel carriageway or even fast moving single carriageway.
Otherwise there will be a shared pedestrian cycle path, or segreated cycle path, pavement and motorised carriageway.

 

[nino_savatte]

I made a TV show about this fairly recently and no fucker listened to me and now it's all over the news. A lot of the lanes we mesureed were not even as wide as our bikes handlebars.

Being a lazy sod I spent a day in Croydon (where I live) to get GVs of shit cycle lanes. I ended up staying there all day and still not filming them all. There were fucking hundreds of them, some of them so insane I just couldn't believe it. My favorite is one that starts in the middle of the road coming out of an island bollard (so you can't get to it) it then runs for three meters and turns right into a one way street the wrong way and stops. Even worse, they had to did up a load of pavement etc and add all sorts of signs so that you could ride into the one way street without being hit. Then it just fucking stops anyway.

That stupid piece of shit roundabout by Vauxhall bridge won an award don't you know. Well it was an award from the council to themselves. Twats.

The ones that I like are where you find just bicycle icons painted onto the road. Like that's supposed to help cyclists.

 

[Jazzz]

That video gets well trippy toward the end...presume that's the anti-shake thing attempting to correct for movement on the bike?

yeah! I felt I was having an acid flashback. Be a bit scared to go on the bike now after watching that

 

[Cid]

Let's get this right. You decide to undertake a truck at red lights, but it's the cyclist in front who's stupid for stopping at the red?

How about next time, you don't undertake unless you can see the line is clear?

Yep, the absolute, basic rule of self preservation... Never undertake a vehicle turning left, never undertake a truck full stop. A rule I obviously break from time to time, some trucks are quite small etc, but one that should be drilled into the head of everyone who wants to used their bike on the road.

 

[Orang Utan]

I always stay behind trucks where I can see them

 

[Orang Utan]

That stupid piece of shit roundabout by Vauxhall bridge won an award don't you know. Well it was an award from the council to themselves. Twats.

Which bit do you mean?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Which bit do you mean?

Whoops I think I mean Westminster Bridge.

 

[Orang Utan]

Whoops I think I mean Westminster Bridge.

Ah right, yes, that roundabout is horrific.
Is Upper Thames Street from the OP the one that comes off that roundabout and goes to Waterloo?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Whoops I think I mean Westminster Bridge.

No I don't, I mean Lambeth Bridge (now that I have checked in Google Maps).


See that green bit. It won an award.

 

[Brainaddict]

A pet hate of mine is a shitty cycle lane on my daily commute. Next to the cycle lane is a cycle / bus lane. I'll generally stick in the bus lane, but then about once a week I get a bus / taxi driver shouting abuse / driving aggressively as I'm not using the shitty cycle lane. Grr - Most of the time I wish they didn't bother with cycle lanes

check this site for some truly awful cycle facilities:

http://www.warringtoncyclecampaign.co.uk/facility-of-the-month

I love that site

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Ah right, yes, that roundabout is horrific.
Is Upper Thames Street from the OP the one that comes off that roundabout and goes to Waterloo?

I don't really mind westminster bridge road roundabout (I should know what all these damn places are called, I go every bloody day).

 

[Orang Utan]

Oh right, I was thinking of that roundabout that used to have a building in the middle of it

 

[Brainaddict]

Do it right or don't bother

Yup. I think these city planners must go to bodgit & scarper academy for town planning and killing cyclists or something.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Here is that other one I was talking about.



It starts at that bollard in the middle of the road goes south a couple of meters then you turn right into the modified pavement (not very clear in this pic but it's just on the left by the one way street), you then get led a couple of yards down a one way street and then the lane stops and you have to get off and go back the way you came.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Oh right, I was thinking of that roundabout that used to have a building in the middle of it

I don't have much of a problem with that because the traffic is always pretty much static.

 

[Boycey]

what street is that ATOMIC SUPLEX?

 

[cybertect]

We desperately need proper segregated lanes for cyclists.

While I can see WHY they're attractive, I'm not totally convinced they're necessarily the way to go.

Once you start physically segregating cyclists from other traffic, it risks undermining their entitlement to be on the 'ordinary' road. See what went on with the proposed changes to the Highway Code last year (though that was reworded for the final version after strong objections from the CTC).

This makes interesting reading too. It seems far from conclusive that cycle lanes/paths really make for a significant improvement in safety, even in countries that have acknowledged good provision of cycle lanes.

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/research.html

 

[Orang Utan]

The only thing that will increase safety for cyclists significantly is for all road users and pedestrians to change their thinking - I was in Berlin in the summer and, though there were many more off-road cycle paths, the most striking difference was the attitude towards cyclists from motorists and pedestrians and the lack of reckless cyclists. Everyone was just more conscious of all road-users and used their common sense more.

 

[steve1971]

A lot of motorists labour under the assumption that cyclists must use cycle lanes and not the road. I often get abuse as I'm cycling up one particular road that has a shared pavement on one side.

I got beeped at by some retard taxi driver because I was not in the cycle lane - said lane being a contraflow lane for cyclist coming the other way one a one way street - pitfield street if any one knows it

 

[nino_savatte]

I got beeped at by some retard taxi driver because I was not in the cycle lane - said lane being a contraflow lane for cyclist coming the other way one a one way street - pitfield street if any one knows it

I know it. You're not supposed to cycle the wrong way down a contra flow cycle lane; you're supposed to cycle on the road. I often get the feeling that a lot of motorists have forgotten their Highway Code.

 

[kyser_soze]

Is Upper Thames Street from the OP the one that comes off that roundabout and goes to Waterloo?

Nah, UTS is the long road that runs from the Tower of London to Embankment as a semi-underpass in places.

 

[Crispy]

Nah, UTS is the long road that runs from the Tower of London to Embankment as a semi-underpass in places.

Yuck. Horrible road to ride on that. Only did it once, by accident and nearly choked to death on fumes in the tunnel bit.

 

[kyser_soze]

I know there's the whole 'should be able to ride anywhere' principle, but UTS is one of those roads I simply wouldn't ride on, partly because there's a fair more aesthetically pleasing route that takes you through Blackfriars to Tower Hill, but also because it's a fucking horrible road to be on full stop, even if you're driving a car!!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

what street is that ATOMIC SUPLEX?

I don't know it's name (but I can check later), it's the one following the tram lines south past forbidden planet in Croydon. It comes just after another mental fuck up of a set dangerous looking bike lanes.

 

[nino_savatte]

I found this one near the Hogarth Roundabout.

 

[gentlegreen]

By all accounts it's too dangerous.

http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=conroad154.htm

 

[nino_savatte]

Apparently it was built by TfL, who didn't bother to consult cyclists (plus ca change). What a waste of money.

I approached from the subway and it isn't clear what you're supposed to do. There's a puffin crossing 5m away from there but no signage.

 

[KeeperofDragons]

I always stay behind trucks where I can see them

Me too & buses, some of them have seriously wide turning circles

 

[KeeperofDragons]

The only thing that will increase safety for cyclists significantly is for all road users and pedestrians to change their thinking - I was in Berlin in the summer and, though there were many more off-road cycle paths, the most striking difference was the attitude towards cyclists from motorists and pedestrians and the lack of reckless cyclists. Everyone was just more conscious of all road-users and used their common sense more.

I noticed when I was there that some of the traffic lights had a separate light or bikes to go first