Parking on cycle lanes.

[Darius_Jedburgh]

Hi all. I saw a report today that said motorists who park in cycle lanes can now be given a parking ticket.

Because of all the new cyclists on the road HMG have finally realised that swerving into traffic to avoid parked cars is not a good idea.

I wonder how many tickets will ge given out?

 

[PaulSB]

I very much agree with ticketing drivers parked in cycle lanes. I'd like to also say cyclists shouldn't be positioning themselves in such a way as to need to swerve out of a cycle lane.

 

[Milkfloat]

IIRC it is only mandatory lanes (solid lines) that are affected and it is the councils given the power to enforce the rule. I am not holding my breath.

 

[Brandane]

I wonder how many tickets will ge given out?

My guess is a big fat zero. There is absolutely no enforcement of parking restrictions of any kind in my local area at least. The result of taking enforcement away from the Police and giving it to local authorities.

 

[Slick]

No, me either. One particular short stretch of compulsory cycle lane on my commute is one of the worst examples I see. Probably because it was only installed to accommodate a derelict site being turned into a new house site which have fairly small single driveways, so a number of them park in the cycle path. It is a very old and very wide street, but it still comes to a pinch point and you still have to be careful drivers have seen you as it inevitably spits you back out onto the road at the narrowest point which is exacerbated by a junction opposite meaning as right turning vehicles can partially block the progress of other drivers who can easily miss a cyclist as their attention is focused upon the stationary car in their way. There is actually road works on there at the moment and rather than install traffic lights, they have detoured the traffic into the cycle lane which is beyond belief for me.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a compulsory cycle lane? I thought they were all optional, and given the detritus that usually lives in such lanes I'm always wary of using them. How do I recognise compulsory lanes?

 

[Slick]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a compulsory cycle lane? I thought they were all optional, and given the detritus that usually lives in such lanes I'm always wary of using them. How do I recognise compulsory lanes?

One that is marked with a solid white line.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

Ah. Thank you.

 

[Twilkes]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a compulsory cycle lane? I thought they were all optional, and given the detritus that usually lives in such lanes I'm always wary of using them. How do I recognise compulsory lanes?

The ones marked with a solid white line which mean that a car cannot enter them. If it's a dashed white line a car can enter them and presumably park in them as if it was a normal road. Neither are compulsory for a cyclist to ride in.

 

[Drago]

In Northampton cycle lane parking is an issue. On the one hand, the lanes are deadly and run through door zones etc, so only a loon would use them. On the other, the council employed parking Taliban never venture out of the town centre as that is where the money is made, so it's unlikely to ever get enforced.

you should not park in a cycle lane delineated by dashed lines unless it is unavoidable - the legislation does not make any differentiation between unavoidable and laziness.

 

[Mike_P]

The ones marked with a solid white line which mean that a car cannot enter them. If it's a dashed white line a car can enter them and presumably park in them as if it was a normal road.

Work related activity yesterday and looking for somewhere to park the car I noticed the dashed white line cycle lane had sections which had double yellows next to the kerb which clearly implied where it was okay to park blocking the cycle lane. Maybe for clarity the compulsory ones should have double yellows added.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I have a half mile of solid cycle lane near me, trouble is it's close to a railway station so Monday to Friday it's simply used as free parking by London commuters. It's literally pointless if you don't enforce it, and we know that nobody will.

Enforcement is something of a joke where I live anyway...
There's a mini roundabout in town where 4 roads meet, all double yellows as it's narrow and impassable if someone parks. Unfortunately there are 5 takeaways around the junction and we know how far British people can walk when they're picking up food or using a cashpoint. So Thursday to Saturday it's simply left to be impassable with tailbacks as it becomes "kebab cripple corner".

A dickhead neighbour of mine parks a big jeep thing right on a T junction at the end of my road. Not *close* to the junction, no, literally right on the give way markings making it impossible to see right when turning. I've regularly had near misses while trying to inch out. I wrote to the council with pictures and of course they did sod all.

Like Drago says, the parking enforcement people stick to the very central bit of town where they'll happily patrol the multi storey car parks all.day for otherwise safely parked cars whose tickets expired 5 minutes ago, because that's easy cash. They're not interested in areas where there are safety issues, especially if it's a 10 minutes walk from the lucrative multi storey.

 

[Slick]

Obviously it's like pi55ing in the wind but one group I'm part of issue parking notices that look exactly like a ticket to try and educate.

 

[Drago]

You can thank the Blair government (not getting political, just stating a fact) for decriminalising and deregulating parking and taking the powers from the police. Before this police traffic wardens would ruthlessly enforce such things and had the back up of uniformed officers immediately if there was a problem - their word was law. You got a ticket or got towed, no arguing matey. People bleated and moan, but they largely did as they were supposed to because there was always the likelihood the TW's would catch you.

Then the powers were devolved to Councils, who employ parking companies and they use it as a money making exercise. This is despite the legislation clearly stating that the money raised should only cover the cost of enforcement and not be used as an income stream, but it has never been challenged in Court so they carry on making money instead of keeping the streets usefully clear. Now society as a whole suffers because inconsiderate and lazy behaviour has been allowed to become widespread without challenge or likelihood of sanction.

 

[DaveReading]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a compulsory cycle lane? I thought they were all optional, and given the detritus that usually lives in such lanes I'm always wary of using them. How do I recognise compulsory lanes?

Strictly speaking, they are referred to as mandatory cycle lanes - though that term is equally misleading. As other posters have noted, the mandate/compulsion is in relation to motor vehicles keeping out of them, not to cyclists staying in them.