do the council consult?

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inaperfectworld

New Member
there is a long road near me i use regularly, very wide, more of a boulevard. it is 30mph but traffic goes about 40 and i understand that there is a higher rate of accidents. the council have just put a paint stipe separator in the middle of the road; whereas i liked the road because traffic gave you so much room(it is a good 4 cars wide) now the traffic is coming uncomfortably close. it never seems councils ever consult or consider cyclists when they make these changes, so that there are road narrowing extensions into the road which make a bike and a car a tight and dangerous squeeze, funny speed humps in the centre and the edges of the road so which bring bikes and cars into conflict and speed humps just prior to junctions, with cycle channel on the extreme left thus taking bikes into the blind spot of emerging drivers.and they hope that people are going to be encouraged to cycle.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
No they don't and the 'islands' are a nightmare !
 

girofan

New Member
Don't post, complain! If you can get some fellow cyclists on-board, so much the better.
Approach the local paper and see if they will do a piece on your concerns.
The papers like a story with photo of a sad looking cyclist/road user, even if they are a tad patronising it might make a difference.
 

DLB

Senior Member
i know how you feel as there are a few roads like that near me.

I find if i ride near the kerb i get less room from motorists than if i ride further away from the kerb. so i tend to ride where a cars nearside tyre would normally travel. Cars tend to slow down and give me more room now (but of course there are a few drivers who are exceptions to this)
 

frog

Guest
There was a poster called Howard on the old C+ site who put up a URL of something like advice to road planners on how to reduce the dangers on their roads. This central painted strip is the least expensive, and least recommended, tactic. It seems that directing the traffice towards the kerbs - and closer to cyclists - is a very well known result in planning circles.
 
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OP
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inaperfectworld

New Member
yep girofan i'm going to complain; i've got so0 many more grumbles to put in over such things as advance stop lines that you can't get to because the road lanes are too narrow and the left lane goes whilst the right hand lane is static , traffic light junctions that get blocked by right turning traffic held at lights and you can't get to the front, but if you wait at the back there can be 3 changes of lights. if you overtake on the opposite catrriageway and the right lane goes you are snookered (it's no surprise cyclists use the pavements here), that i think i need a day and a half to compose a letter.
last time i complained by letter i got some drivelling about the budget from central funding that they are spending and that they are supplememnting this and so on
not sure that local newspaper coverage works positively, grumbling cyclists are like a red rag to a bull
 

killiekosmos

Veteran
To be fair to the Roads guys, they are putting traffic-calming measures in place which slow cars down and this should make it a bit safer for us cyclists.

If you are complaining you could also ask for who was consulted, what recognised standards are etc, etc
 

Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
Agree that traffic calming measures - if properly implemented - should make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The chances of being killed if you are in a collision with a car travelling at 40mph are significantly greater than if they keep their speed down to 30mp (or better still 20mph in urban areas).

You don't say where you live, but many Council's have an officer in charge of cycling who you could talk to about putting in some cycling friendly measures along this stretch of road.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Friend of mine knows a local cycling officer and apparently on a recent new road build the engineers dept. consulted him and showed him a plan of a cycle lane and he Ok'd it, and then they built/painted something completely different. HE only knew when he started to get people moaning at him, and he went to look at the finished layout...
 

HJ

Cycling in Scotland
Location
Auld Reekie
Find out who your local Councilor is and write directly to them, also send a copy to the Convener of the Transport Committee (of your Council), point out the risks to cyclist and that cyclist are voters too.
 

jashburnham

New Member
It seems to me that most councils do consult, but like most public sector bodies they either consult with totally the wrong people, or conuslt the right people and then steadfastly ignore all their advice...
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
I dont know about consult inaperfect...but complaining definately does help.

We had a (good)cyclepath / bus lane resurfaced, then they reduced the paths width significantly with white lining. The result was a lane just wide enough for one cyclist, with oncoming cyclists leaving each other not knowing who had preference...and throw into the mix occasional oncoming buses...stupidity :biggrin:

I contacted the local council...reported and asked if they would re-instate to its full width...

Heres the answer...

Dear Colin,

Thank you for your recent e-mail concerning the above.

This was part of the carriageway resurfacing programme carried out in 2006.

The cycle lane was reinstated to the recommended width of 1.20 metres, however, following your correspondence the site has been resurveyed and as a result it has been decided to remark the cycleway to a width of 2.40 metres.

An order has been placed with our road marking contractor to remove the existing line and replace it as described above, hopefully this will be completed within four weeks weather permitting.

Thank you for your interest in this matter and if I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me on 01733 453545.

Yours sincerely

Alan Melton

Assistant Engineer

Highway Infrastructure Group.


Good on em at P'boro City Council :biggrin:
 
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