Just realised that cycle lanes..

[gbb]

Just watching Marblers first video...(nice quality BTW)

Watching it, bearing in mind that he's travelling at 20 mph, i usually travel at 16mph in a cycle lane..although 20 mph in the right conditions isnt unusual...the first thing i thought was...was his pass that close.
Yes, it was too close, but, is the existence of relatively narrow cycle lanes (such as i use regularly) actually encouraging drivers to pass close.
I'm constantly overtaken what would be considerd 'too close', but ive got used to it in cycle lanes. They're within their section of road, not impeding into my cycle lane, but passing closer than i would like. Its so regular ive come to not even be bothered by it...which is wrong of course.
The big difference is, marblers pass was probably doing 40mph, mine are more like 20 to 30. That makes a huge difference to how i percieve the danger.

But anyway, the point is, i dont think a driver being in his lane actually thinks he's doing anything wrong, however close that brings him to another moving object.
its a classic case of drivers not realising how vulnerable cyclists are (or feel)...and its road designers that are to blame. But even then, they're between a rock and a hard place. The road was only ever X wide. The cycle lane that was painted in afterwards, giving cyclists some 'relief'...
But has it come at a cost, that drivers become used to passing close at low'ish speed, then forget the dangers higher speed close passes bring.
Ultimately you've got two problems...the existence of cycle lanes actually encourages drivers to pass too close...and idiot drivers who then think thats normal...whatever their speed.

FWIW, i like cycle lanes (the ones i use), but you slowly realise, they may come at a cost to our safety overall.

 

[400bhp]

There shouldn't be any need for any road markings on the road.

And you are right, for the reason above.

 

[ohnovino]

There's a road by me that used to be nice and wide, and I never had a problem on it. Then the council added cycle lanes and now buses drive about an inch outside the lane markings, and make no shift to their position whatsoever when there's a cyclist about. Given the potholes and debris in the cycle lanes it's only a matter of time before a rider moves a tiny bit onto the "car" lane and gets squashed.

But still, it means the council can brag about adding x miles of cycle lane and how wonderful and considerate they are

 

[HLaB]

Check out Parkin 2010 et. al. he does quite a good article on the phenomena; although from his tests it was only proven in his two rural sites and not his urban one but I'd agree with his theory cyclelanes delineate the carriageway and hence doesn't think about things. I feel the reason perhaps that it wasn't proven in a urban case there's too much going but it will happen on occasions and just because its not statistically relevant its still relevant IMO.

 

[dondare]

Cycle lanes don't have a good side. They're bad in principle and bad in practice.

 

[HLaB]

Cycle lanes don't have a good side. They're bad in principle and bad in practice.

They have a 'false' good side, folk incorrectly perceive they will make their journey safer by encouraging these people to cycle perhaps they have a good side.

 

[Origamist]

The speed of the passing vehicle, the size of the passing vehicle, and passing distance are the three main factors (there are of course others) that affect how we feel about an overtake (cycle lane or no cycle lane).

In Marbler's vid it is not actually a cycle lane (i.e on road provision) and like him, I will not use the path going down Priory Lane as it's downhill with a number of junctions. If you adopt this approach you will receive close overtakes, from time to time.

Oxford are keen on narrow cycle lanes, but generally guidance in the UK suggests 1.5m as the minimum width for a cycle lane (narrower in certain circumstances). What is important to consider is not only the width of the cycle lane, but the width of the traffic lane parallel to the cycle lane (and overall carraigeway size/use and traffic volume).

Watch this vid as the cycle lane has been removed (there are two narrow moving traffic lanes and CS square cycling logos in the road) and it's not much fun as you have to take primary as road users seem to continue to drive as if the cycle lane is still in situ, so much so, that the driver in the 4x4 told me I should be using a non-existent cycle lane:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgK_YVBAvmQ