Met criticises cycle superhighways

[mr_cellophane]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24539584

PC Wickenden from the Met's traffic management unit said the Met had warned Transport for London which manages the cycle network, about the risks.
He said the cycle lanes were "ambiguous", "lead to confusion" and gave cyclists a "false sense of security".

 

[glenn forger]

Corporate manslaughter for TFL?

Look at it:

It's directing cyclists slap bang into danger.

 

[ComedyPilot]

When I read about UK infrastructure I get a little pissed off. The solution is simple, but planners/govt/councils just don't wanna listen.

 

[SW19cam]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24539584

PC Wickenden from the Met's traffic management unit said the Met had warned Transport for London which manages the cycle network, about the risks.
He said the cycle lanes were "ambiguous", "lead to confusion" and gave cyclists a "false sense of security".

It's a death trap / joke shop so good to see the reality published.

 

[ianrauk]

Most of them are rubbish and agree what the copper has to say about them.

 

[Davidc]

Who's going to buy some tickets on the Harwich to Hook ferry for road planners? Not just the ones in London either.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Who's going to buy some tickets on the Harwich to Hook ferry for road planners? Not just the ones in London either.

Can we make the UK planners cycle back from Harwich to London?

 

[ComedyPilot]

Can we make EVERY serving MP and Lord/Lady cycle London to Harwich and back, and fit a 2 day study tour in the NL......then maybe, just maybe someone will wake up and take note.

 

[booze and cake]

In the Parliamentary debate in the Commons on cycling in September, the MP's that did attend were tripping over themselves to say they'd been to Holland to observe the cycle infrastructure. It did however look more like political posturing rather than proffering advice on how the cycling network in the UK should develop.

The Bow junction is just badly designed, its clear there is more to designing a decent cycle lane than just painting a stretch of road blue.

There is a similarly bad section on CS7 near Oval where traffic coming up Kennington Park Road turning into Brixton road have to cut across the smurf road. There were complaints about it immediately, as there was at Bow, but still nothing has been done.

If these bad junctions are known about and money has be committed to improving them, why have'nt they changed them yet, what the hell is taking so long? They need to concentrate on making existing ones safer before they make new ones.

 

[ianrauk]

The UK needs to takes some American cities lead

..

 

[BentMikey]

No, the UK should not follow the US idea. The US is far worse than the UK for both real and perceived danger to cyclists, and has far lower cycling on average than the UK. We should follow the Netherlands. That place is 'king awesome to cycle in, even for fast road cyclists, those much faster than either of us.

 

[GrasB]

No, the UK should not follow the US idea. The US is far worse than the UK for both real and perceived danger to cyclists, and has far lower cycling on average than the UK. We should follow the Netherlands. That place is 'king awesome to cycle in, even for fast road cyclists, those much faster than either of us.

Photo showing a sign reminding motorists that cyclists are 100% entitled to use the entire lane & you come up with this

 

[mustang1]

I dont get it. What actually happened? The cyclist went through a red light. A truck went through the same red light behind the cyclist. The assumption (though I dont see it written down or in the video) is the truck driver hit the cyclist.
Next it says a woman was killed there a few weeks later. How? Did she also go through a red light? Or is the point being made that the junction is badly laid out?

I'm not saying it's not a badly designed roundabout, i went there only a handful of times and i can see it's crap. But the news article did not state what actually happened.

Some things that stick out:
The cyclist went through a red light.
A truck behind the cyclist also went through the red light.
The coroner said it was a death trap waiting to happen. The coroner is not a traffic management expert. If an airline pilot or professional skateboarder said the same thing, would it have the same credence?
The only real news I can get from this is the Traffic Management Police advised TFL that Cycle Superhighways is a bad idea.

Someone above said:
"Can we make the UK planners cycle back from Harwich to London?"
That, is a GOOD idea.

 

[Longshot]

The coroner said it was a death trap waiting to happen. The coroner is not a traffic management expert. If an airline pilot or professional skateboarder said the same thing, would it have the same credence?

To be fair, the Coroner no doubt was summising after having been provided evidence and expert advice from those more qualified than he (or her) to make that kind of statement.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

On a slightly political note, is there something of a little rebellion going on while Boris is in China? The police comments about the CSs would have been very brave had he been in the country. And now this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24545022