Campaign to ban cycling on the A50

[downfader]

http://www.uttoxeteradvertiser.co.uk/News/Dead-cyclists-father-in-bid-to-ban-bikes-on-A50.htm

So to summerise - the problem is drivers pulling out on all two wheelers, several large vehicles are being driven too fast around bends and across the roundabout, and a driver killed a cyclist whilst texting.

Seems logical to ban cycling.

However from the article this looks like a fast 70mph road. I could see a decent cyclepath with underpasses would benefit a few cyclists. Questions are, would it ever be done, and be done to a proper standard? Also how the hell would this help motorcyclists?

 

[661-Pete]

The usual stuff .... "the cyclists are the problem" - right?

I must admit there are few stretches of out-of-town D/C, without cycle track, that I ever get to cycle on. One which I often use, because literally there is no reasonable alternative, is a stretch of the A24 near Dial Post. It looks markedly similar to the stretch of the A50 referred to in the above link, but then don't all out-of-town D/Cs look pretty much alike?

Anyway I don't really feel unnerved or threatened on that particular D/C, although there's always a risk that a maniac texting at the wheel of a HGV could take me out.... just as there's a risk of a meteorite striking the Earth. You've got to accept some things. I admit that some cyclists may prefer to shy back from using such a road. Such is their choice - and a long detour in consequence!

Banning cyclists because there is a risk, then?

 

[summerdays]

I've not cycled on it ... and I wouldn't want to - its a very busy dual carriageway. I don't think I would want to ban cycling - as gradually you could see that argument being used on more and more roads. Surely the way to protect cyclists in this particular case would be to have far stiffer penalties for driving and using a mobile ... it could just as easily been on one of the non-dual carriageway roads he had driven on that day - it was the driver rather than the road which killed the man.

 

[darth vadar]

For what its worth, I haven't got a problem supporting such a campaign.

I don't, and never have enjoyed cycling on fast, busy, urban roads. It takes away all the pleasure.

Its dangerous, and I am not foolish enough to think that wearing a helmet (at all times) would save me either if I were involved in an accident.

After saying that, I am only a social cyclist, so I suppose the commuters or the purists will have a different view.

I just don't think the argument can be won so we'd be better campaigning for much better cycling facilities that would keep us out of harms way.

 

[Dan B]

If the argument is that "it's practically a motorway" it should be upgraded to motorway status with all the process and ceremony that entails and a proper provision for non-motorway traffic. If that's too expensive or impractical, then it remains a highway for all kinds of road user and whatever necessary measures should be taken to make sure it's suitable for all kinds of road user. But it has to be one or the other: they can't go round creating motorways on the cheap like this. Dangerous precedent

 

[a_n_t]

I did my 25 mile TT PB on there, didn't seem that dangerous to me tbh!

 

[frank9755]

If the argument is that "it's practically a motorway" it should be upgraded to motorway status with all the process and ceremony that entails and a proper provision for non-motorway traffic. If that's too expensive or impractical, then it remains a highway for all kinds of road user and whatever necessary measures should be taken to make sure it's suitable for all kinds of road user. But it has to be one or the other: they can't go round creating motorways on the cheap like this. Dangerous precedent

Exactly. It's either a motorway or it isn't.


I've not ridden on that particular road but it reminds me of when I was trying to get from High Wycombe to Hertford one Saturday afternoon last year. I started out using sustrans paths but navigating was impossible and I was getting nowhere slowly, so I flipped onto the A414 (dual carriageway) and made great progress while feeling reasonably safe doing so. Banning cyclists from these roads would be a serious curtailment of our ability to use a bike as a credible means of transport.

 

[marinyork]

It's infeasible to ban it, you'd have nightmare complicated rerouting as would some pedestrians. It's much better to leave things as they are with a bog standard cycle facility on one of the worst bits of the A50 and cyclists can use the normal road if they want. Really it's some of the other bits they should be looking at but they don't seem to be bright enough to have thought of that. There's very little you can do about upgrading the road or putting in bridges etc, which is why things are the way they are around Doveridge. The people who thought up this idea have just given zero thought as to why things are the way they are that's all. The sudbery roundabout isn't great but that's because people drive like pillocks. It's best to live with the current situation, splash in a few tweaks for cyclists and redesign a few features of the A50 and roundabouts and have SPECs cameras truvelos and other things. That said bits of it aren't any worse than n other A roads around the country.

 

[summerdays]

Its a couple of months since I was on that road (in a car) I don't remember seeing any camera's along that section - though as you say the Sudbury roundabout seems to be an area for bad driving where we have been hassled for being in the right hand lane approaching it but apparently not going fast enough!! Lots of vehicles take that roundabout at speeds too high.

If you were to turn it into a motorway it would eat up far too much land and form a barrier for people wanting to cross it.

 

[subaqua]

If the argument is that "it's practically a motorway" it should be upgraded to motorway status with all the process and ceremony that entails and a proper provision for non-motorway traffic. If that's too expensive or impractical, then it remains a highway for all kinds of road user and whatever necessary measures should be taken to make sure it's suitable for all kinds of road user. But it has to be one or the other: they can't go round creating motorways on the cheap like this. Dangerous precedent

it can't be classified as a motorway as it does not have grade separated junctions all the way along it .

this means it cannot become the A50 (M) without a significant spend and land take (grab) . one of the reasons it was built like that in the 1st place.
there is a viable cycle route , its called the Old A50 and its a very quiet route.

still, nothing like a knee jerk reaction from an MP

they couldn't make sections into an expressway A la A55 from J 23 (Llandulas) to J19 ( glan conwy corner) either as that still has grade separated junctions

 

[Paco de Bango]

I worked on the construction of this road back in the mid 90's

Not as a designer I might add, just counting the beans.

That said it is the Doveridge 'bypass' so the road leading into then out the other side of Doveridge is still open iirc.

I would've thought that would be quite a pleasant route to take instead now all the traffic is on the bypass. Or am I missing the point?

you're all correct thought: no thought regarding cyclists went into the design, It's all about letting the traffic flow as fast as possible

 

[dellzeqq]

the safety of fast dual carriageways has, in my personal view, a lot to do with lane width.

The A12 is no longer used for timetrialling because cyclists got killed timetrialling - the lanes are narrow, and if two trucks are travelling side by side then there is no option but for the truck in the left hand lane to slow rapidly, probably to the speed of the bike. On the other hand - cycles are not excluded.

By contrast the A130, a modern road, has wide lanes, and is a lot safer - but cycles are excluded (albeit not entirely effectively).

 

[Paco de Bango]

Just to add to the above.

I think banning cyclists would be a ridiculous move.

It's dangerous driving thats the problem, deal with that, not the cyclists

 

[CotterPin]

Can't we just ban drivers using hand held mobile phones?
















Oh - sorry we have.

 

[Hilldodger]

Just to add to the above.

I think banning cyclists would be a ridiculous move.

It's dangerous driving thats the problem, deal with that, not the cyclists

And the stupid, moronic cyclists. I've been down there at night in the pissing rain only to come across two time trialists riding with no rear lights!