PowerSwitch

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/g ... =354515426

Lots of lovely pics like this:

This is one of (local) favourites - now fixed by removing the cycle lane

Another one (no photo) has a lane leading off the road straight into a tree.


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pete.meg/w ... il2003.htm

I avoid cycle lanes like the plague. There are probably less than 10 in the entire country that are fit for purpose.

Really this kind of nonsense should have been stopped years ago, unfortunately targets are king today, and not quality.

Junkie wrote:I avoid cycle lanes like the plague. There are probably less than 10 in the entire country that are fit for purpose.

Really this kind of nonsense should have been stopped years ago, unfortunately targets are king today, and not quality.

A quick plug for Milton Keynes. There are red routes (MK cycle paths) all over the place here. Though there areas for improvement to do with:

1. Lack of thought about lines of sight at junctions (generally MK is too green with bushes/trees blocking lines of sight);

2. The need to continually stop / slow down as you cross the many roads in the place;

3. Poor signage.


You certainly notice the difference when you leave MK,


Peter.

P.S. facility of the month is brilliant.

One of the things I most appreciate about Bracknell is the cycle lane provision. Because many of them are separate from actual roads, there isn't so much of that stop/start thing one gets with some cycle lanes. My trip to the station is both speedy and quiet, and the local co-op is far quicker than ever it would be in a car. It's a great environment for kids to learn control of a bike.

Downsides? Quite poorly signed when you reach the town centre, but then the town centre is not particularly worth visiting so it doesn't seem like such a great loss. Ice in winter - I came a cropper back in February.

Most amusingly, the cycle lane out toward Ascot stops dead on the border of the borough, leaving cyclists who've made it that far to fend for themselves up a busy stretch of the A329 until the path starts again past the next roundabout.

Thankfully, some joined up thinking has been going on and this is going to be rectified soon, which will no doubt annoy the large man who deliberately stood in my way (on a very wide stretch of pavement) as I gently tested out the soon-to-be cycle path one Saturday evening recently (with lights and at a snail's pace, I might add).

It's weird how, despite following the rules 99.99% of the time when on my bike, if I do cautiously break them in the spirit of polite protest at poor cycle provision there is usually a large, middle aged man there ready to swear at me. If only I was an old granny or a young mother with a child...

Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest.

A late friend of mine, who was the local Friends of the Earth cycle campaigner, was one of the people mostly responsible for getting the cycle network in Bracknell.

Some of the cycle paths are like proper roads, with the footpath at a slightly higher level with proper kerbs. I could be riding along and still come across people walking on the cycle path, despite it being totally obvious where they should be walking! Bracknell was far better than Wokingham where at lived at the time though. Of course in the good old days, when I were a lad in Bracknell, it was safe to cycle on the roads, and my parents let me out on my own!

marknorthfield wrote:there is usually a large, middle aged man there ready to swear at me. If only I was an old granny or a young mother with a child...

I can assure you that even then there'd be a large middle-aged man ready to swear at you...and it'd be the same individual.

marknorthfield wrote:It's weird how, despite following the rules 99.99% of the time when on my bike,

...

There are rules?


Peter.

There are rules?

Ho ho ho.

There are some of us who don't cycle on pavements (except in rare cases as cited) because they're generally confident enough not to need to, who stop at red lights and zebra crossings as required, and who do everything possible to be seen in dim or dark conditions. I do wonder how the Kensington and Chelsea one way street experiment is coming along, but until that becomes legal countrywide it's just something else I'll avoid doing. Wherever other road vehicles are involved, safety has to come first.

And no, I've never had any formal cycle training, just many years of experience in all manner of rural and urban settings. If you're using the road, observe the Highway Code because it's good practice for keeping you alive. Never assume others have seen you unless you make eye contact. Wear reflective stuff. Proceed confidently. Signal clearly. And so on.

But then, I was lucky to grow up in a rural area (Norfolk) so learned gradually how to ride without much traffic around. I'd love to see Sustrans' Bike It scheme extended to every school in the country.

Some of the cycle paths are like proper roads, with the footpath at a slightly higher level with proper kerbs. I could be riding along and still come across people walking on the cycle path, despite it being totally obvious where they should be walking!

Yes, but I don't think getting confrontational helps. Most people don't like being told what to do, especially by a cyclist! A simple 'excuse me, please' works wonders, I find. Much better to be polite about things, which includes not whizzing by a hair's breadth from someone without warning. It's undoubtedly better than riding in Wokingham, as you say, but Wokingham has decent pubs and restaurants. Grrrr! Luckily, 4 miles isn't so very far.

When I lived in London, I used to cycle up the contraflow cycle lane along King St in Hammersmith. Being a busy shopping street with an adjacent pavement, you could almost guarantee that someone would step in front of you at some point. But funnily enough, if you keep your speed down, you very rarely hit them. A bit like driving, really.

Away from roads, which have strict rules for good reason, there are plenty who are obsessed (in SE England at least) with denying rights of way to people - the 'you shouldn't be doing that here' attitude - because the law has no flexibility to it and encourages this kind of thinking. And of course there's a lack of empathy for cyclists who are trying to avoid busy roads.

Some pavements are very wide, especially through parks, but you're not supposed to cycle on them. Some are relatively narrow, with driveway openings aplenty, but are made into shared paths regardless. This lack of consistency is frustrating. Likewise, the status of many bridleways and footpaths seems entirely arbitrary as to their suitability for a bike and a pedestrian to pass one another without difficulty. Allowing for common sense and civility to prevail is simply off the agenda, sadly. I wish it were not so.