Are we tackling cycle lanes wrong?

Rroff said:
What it needs is a big scale, radical, approach - but the amount of land owners, etc. that would impact would be a huge problem. IMO we should be investing in a light weight, not just cycle, alternative to roads - a lot of journeys could be done in a more efficient vehicle sitting somewhere between car and bicycle - maybe not quite Sinclair C5 but as an illustration of the point.
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Another start is to make hybrid wfh a thing for jobs that can be done at home
 
Rroff said:
What it needs is a big scale, radical, approach - but the amount of land owners, etc. that would impact would be a huge problem. IMO we should be investing in a light weight, not just cycle, alternative to roads - a lot of journeys could be done in a more efficient vehicle sitting somewhere between car and bicycle - maybe not quite Sinclair C5 but as an illustration of the point.
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Perhaps Japan could be a useful example for the UK to consider. There are some key similarities - high population density in urban areas and insufficient space to rebuild everything for cycling even if the money and political will was there. The kei car system has been somewhat successful in reducing some of the problems and electric kei cars exist. Kei cars could be described as "a more efficient vehicle sitting somewhere between car and bicycle", albeit closer to the car end. Further towards the cycle end of the spectrum could be vehicles based on enclosed mobility scooters. Or the Sinclair C10, which was scrapped after the abject failure of the C5.

I don't think we should be doing what ebike advocates want and allowing powered vehicles on the roads or pavements with no safety measures and no required training.
 
I have seen some mental things with bikes and scooters, I even hit one, lucky I had my camera install, it showed he jumped a red light and my light was green for 10 secs before he hit me.
Scooters and bikes need to have number plates and insurance.

London cannot host bike lanes in many areas, the streets are not wide enough. The speed limit has dropped to 20 miles, slowing down the cars and causing major traffic.
I now travel 15 miles an hour in London, the bus drivers get pretty annoyed and keep beeping, tough luck if your going to be late, blame the mayor for that one.
 
In Leicester, we have these pop up cycle lanes which have been in place for 2 1/4 years. I have seen not a single cyclist using them.

In a couple of areas of Leicester, the pop up cycle lanes have removed the free parking bays (up to 1-2 hours) and shops are losing trade - with some might have closed.

People are using their cars more as buses have dropped services - buses from home to city centre have dropped from 7 an hour to 4. Or if need a certain bus as one bus goes around the Infirmary and the other past train station - these are 2 an hour.
 
Mrwong said:
I have seen some mental things with bikes and scooters, I even hit one, lucky I had my camera install, it showed he jumped a red light and my light was green for 10 secs before he hit me.
Scooters and bikes need to have number plates and insurance.

London cannot host bike lanes in many areas, the streets are not wide enough. The speed limit has dropped to 20 miles, slowing down the cars and causing major traffic.
I now travel 15 miles an hour in London, the bus drivers get pretty annoyed and keep beeping, tough luck if your going to be late, blame the mayor for that one.
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In London they have recently been closing access to many side roads forcing all the cars to be on main roads and causing massive congestion. They done it at the start of the pandemic.
 
jonneymendoza said:
In London they have recently been closing access to many side roads forcing all the cars to be on main roads and causing massive congestion. They done it at the start of the pandemic.
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They have done that up north too in places where I barely ever saw cars going.

one is a small estate where it's surounded by fast flowing roads anyway, in the estate they basically cut it into 2 halves now, the only people who drove through were the ones who lived there anyway, its one of those uber quiet areas where all the driver instructors teach people how to drive. they still go there anyway so the only people it must annoy are the ones who live there.
 
The UK whilst good a many things, is useless at the rest cycle lanes and paths being one of them. Look a places like France where are whole swathes of cycle routes and networks. You can cycle around large parts of it without having to go on a road at all.

The UK only likes to spend money on short term issues. Large infrastructure projects are usually vanity projects with MPs buddies getting contracts. Then there is the general public, which often can't see beyond their own immediate interests.

jonneymendoza said:
In London they have recently been closing access to many side roads forcing all the cars to be on main roads and causing massive congestion. They done it at the start of the pandemic.
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In Mexico City (which has plenty of cycle lanes usually separated by a kerb but also paths away from the road), they close off a number of main avenues every Sunday to allow cycling. I've also noticed it in Alicante where the large streets are closed off to traffic on Sundays.
 
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Cycle lanes in the UK are a nightmare and half the time they are so crap and unusable that all it does it give idiots in cars an excuse to shout at and hate cyclists. The classic "use the cycle path". You mean the one where I have to go on and off the pavement 5 times every mile, joining traffic each time. The one where pedestrians walk in the middle of it so you can use it easily. The one that I have to stop every hundred metres because there is a dropped curb into a drive or some other building.

Then we have the cycle lanes which make **** all difference as well. Unsurprisingly a metre wide strip of road that is in the most dirty, crap ridden and broken up part of the road isn't great. Cars go into it anyway and again, it stops and starts constantly and you quite often find cars parked in it.

If they want more cycling they need to build better infrastructure and prosecute dangerous drivers more. Currently its ridiculously dangerous to cycle on many of our roads and even when given evidence of dangerous driving the police in many areas don't care. Unfortunately we don't have the space in many locations to do this so it would be a case of banning cars or ignoring the issues.

Only saving grace is that we aren't the US where it sounds like its a complete hell hole for cyclists in a lot of areas.
 
ColdAsIce said:
Almost finished my holiday to Poland. I’ve been to 3 major cities so far plus a smaller town where my gf is from.

cycle lanes are part of the pavement network. Bikes are not on the roads. Warsaw and Wrocław the whole city is pretty much a full cycle lane network for bikes/e-scooters etc.

It just works. You don’t have drivers interacting with cyclists and pedestrians are separated also.

I feel the installation of cycle lanes in the UK are disruptive and dangerous to the road network.

Thoughts?
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Poland's roads are also empty and the congestion is not even on the same scale as here. The road network is also absolutely dire outside the major cities so you really need a car. Not much cycling around. The country is also massive and you have room for these projects. The UK isn't. The Government focusing everything on London makes it even worse.
 
A personal favourite is this absolute monstrosity on an overcrowded, busy 50mph road going left into a 70mph dual carriageway, who thought having bikes just cross across the traffic would be a good idea?!

The red cycle lane starts on the edge of the road in the left hand lane and just suddenly veers into the middle of the road and ends?


angry emojis
 
Uhtred said:
The first thing that should be done is to make drivers automatically at fault if there's an accident involving a vulnerable road user. Most drivers are absolutely fine of course but I can't go for a lazy bike ride at 7am on a sunday morning in the countryside without a good chance someone is going to try to end my life. It's insane.
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you cant seriously believe this? I live just outside of Cambridge so have a lot of experience of cyclists...... Most are fine so dont think this is a pop at all of them but this is a list of things i have either seen with my own eyes or sometimes worse, have friends who do it.
1) cycling the wrong way on 1 way street
2) ignoring traffic lights
3) out at night with no lights or reflective gear or helmet.
4) drunk out of their skulls on a bike on the road (seen police turn a blind eye)
5) randomly pulling out on junctions
6) dangerous weaving in and out between cars.

and you would seriously have a carte blanche rule that the car is always at fault?.

Oh and my pet hate (bear in mind Cambridge has a very good cycle lane system in many parts) is when cyclists refuse to use the cycle lane even when it is in good nick. I am aware some are better than others (though that said car drivers cant go in cycle lanes if there are pot holes in the road) so IF a cyclist could show the area where a copper pulled them over on a road next to a cycle path was dangerous then i would let them off ;)

I am all for improveing cycle lanes but if there is one and it is shown to be in good condition i believe it should be an offence to be on the road and not using it.

as an aside they are so cheap now, if i cycled a lot i would use a go pro possibly front and rear to legally cover my back in an accident. I know i have put a camera in my car for the same reason
 
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The only way to fix the issue is to do what the Netherlands are doing and make cars 3rd class citizens. There's a video on the channel that was linked earlier showing how the traffic lights use sensors and prioritise buses, pedestrians and bicycles.

They would need to have enough cycle infrastructure to make it feasible for someone to comfortably use it as their primary day-to-day. They also need to build safe bicycle storage facilities.
 
Mesai said:
The only way to fix the issue is to do what the Netherlands are doing and make cars 3rd class citizens. There's a video on the channel that was linked earlier showing how the traffic lights use sensors and prioritise buses, pedestrians and bicycles.

They would need to have enough cycle infrastructure to make it feasible for someone to comfortably use it as their primary day-to-day. They also need to build safe bicycle storage facilities.
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Got a multi storey bike park opposite the Central Station.

One thing that puzzles me in Amsterdam is how do people know it’s their bike? As 98% look identical!
 
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