Safe Speed Forums

Couple of weeks ago.. . the vice president of the Parliamentary All -Party Cycling Group wrote to CW (star letter)

He says he has written to BoJo to complain about the state of London's cycling lanes.. and pointed out that no one seemed to know who was responsible for their upkeep.

Bojo replied - stating that cyclists must raise complaints via the TfL website

If the TfL is responsible - it will deal. If not it will refer to the borough in question

website per the letter:


www/tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/reportastreetfault/934.aspx

Or phone 0845 305 1234


Bernard Jenkins (Vice president of the Parliamentary All-Party Cycling Group urges






Well I guess better than nothing then.

But do any of the London lycras use these lanes

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

From personal observation, I drive to west London every day, very few cyclists use the dedicated cycle lanes. Why? Overall the surface cannot be any worse than the first couple of feet out from the kerb with sunken drains, patch repairs etc. At least in a cycle lane, especially those seperated from moving traffic, you have more space which must be a good thing. Although I do not cycle as much as I would like to and not in London any more I would take the dedicated lane over the road every time.

They are often full of glass and other litter, are restrictive and lead you down routes you don't want to go.

I often see what I think is a similar effect on motorways, when joining the motorway sometimes you get a white line that seperates the leftmost joining lane from the lane next to it on the on ramp, sometimes this is a ghost island; surefire way to make many drivers make an urgent lane change across it, I figure because they feel trapped/are about to be led somewhere they do not want to go.

Often too where they cross side roads cyclist are forced to do ridiculous head twists to ensure nobody's turning into the road the are crossing from the main road (having to look back at a time when there's likely to be bollards etc... in front of them), easier to be on the road.

If the lane's well maintained and generally safer to use - then I use them. Normally though - I am "at one with the traffic" and in primary position

By the way weepy .. you should be seeing ahead and planning so that you change position safely to go where you want to go.

_________________
Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

From here in Derbyshire/Cheshire (sorry Cheshire East now ) I can't speak for London but I suspect that the reasons are similar.

Separated cycle lanes, in particular, tend to marginalise the cyclist. Usually you have to give way every time a side road crosses the cycle lane to join the main road and it is quite common at awkward junction to be given the command "cyclists dismount". Now, contrary to the planners thinking, cycling isn't always about a leisurely aesthetic experience. Many cyclists want to make fast progress and this is much easier on the main carriageway.

To the alert and trained cyclists motor vehicles do not present a great danger. Their movements are fairly predictable. Pedestrians and the less confident cyclists, both of whom you are likely to encounter on a separated cycle lane, are a much more serious problem with their unpredictable movements.

Un-separated lanes have a different problem with side roads. Whilst you don't have to give way it is very common to find that vehicles waiting to join the main road will block the cycle lane forcing you to stop. Moreover on road cycle lanes have a habit of vanishing where they are most needed, at junctions and roundabouts, forcing the cyclist to re-engage withe main traffic flow from the unsafe "low" position

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I agree that the lanes should continue at junctions and where practicable at roundabouts. Multi-laned gyratories are a different matter for all road users - and COAST becomes vital on these ..

_________________
Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

I would hate to cycle somewhere which had pictures of bicycles. It would feel wrong. I don't need pictures of bicycles in order to cycle! Arg!
Fortunatly there are no "cycle lanes" around here. And no problems, either.

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Andrew.

Yup, it's clear for some that a picture of a cycle on the road means "throw glass bottlle down here".

I know.

I would just love our PCSOs to do the rotters for litter .. but we seem to be in the wring place at the wrong time on the stuff which really matters

OK .. I am admitting we have a problem across the country on this one. I do not know how we can resolve it without going down the "retina recognition CCTV Big Bruv's Watchin' Ya" route which does actually appall me as a normal human being. As a police officer . I will concede that we may find this useful .. but would want all out there to be completely assured and easy minded that such technology would be used benignly .. and with professional judgement/full discretion.. and without intrusion to normal privacy. As we know . "safe" within a benign democracy. Most unsafe in a "dicatorship regime" - as I appreciate can be the case and will underpin fears.


Now as I am aware that most folk do not want this kind of constant surveillance foisted on them

SO OK.

No one wants intrusive "Big Brother" tracking. I admit I do not like the idea.

But .. .. how can we stop these morons smashing glass etc into the cycle lanes /roadways/pavements/looplines etc"

Can we do better with our auxiliary staff . PCSO to wardens? Can the public at large help? Or have we gone too far down the road of "pure callous rudeness fir the sake of it within say 20% hardcore out there?"

_________________
Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.