Pedestrian refuge islands

[Guyincognito76]

My local council have been building these along a wide main road where I live next to every bus stop.

I have now had two near misses near these bloody things in two days. I live in a seaside resort and the traffic this weekend has been very heavy. I will always take a primary position through these pinch-points but I found myself in a similar position both days:

Day One: There was a constant, unbroken line of cars overtaking me (there is plenty of room to pass without crossing the centre line) on the approach to one of the islands, I simply could not get far enough out into the road. The result was motorists blindly following the car in front and finally one slamming on his brakes to avoid hitting the bollard, but at least he didn't cut in.

Day Two: Different island. Again a constant line of traffic. Learning from the previous day I made sure I tried to get into primary much earlier. I checked behind me, saw a small gap, moved out, a car forced its way past, and I had to move back in. Bugger. Try again. Check behind. See gap. Move out. Assume primary position. So far so good. I was confident at this point that I was in a good position. The car behind me then performed a pass! Upon seeing the upcoming bollard he cut in, at speed, right in front of me. I was lucky that I was still 10 metres away from the island.

These things are great is my point.

 

[Drago]

Email the carncil and point out the danger they have created - if someone then gets hurt they can't claim they didn't know.

Also inform the CTC if youre a member.

Sounds like a nice wide carriageway and was probably quire reasonable beforehand. Fair play for wanting to make life safer for peds, but why endanger cyclists in order to do so?

 

[LonesomeWanderer]

Uggh unessessary pinch points - there's a road near me where they stuck them in a few years back but they weren't for pedestrians, they seem to be just to stick little keep left bollards on them - preumably in case you forget which side to drive on. Grrrrr.

 

[annedonnelly]

What about signalling right when you want to move into primary? That should mean whoever lets you out is sufficiently confused about your intentions that he/she doesn't try to overtake.

 

[mjr]

When emailing the council ask why they have ignored advice to make these things safe for cycling (usually by ensuring the lane width is still a safe one not the grey area that motorists seem to misjudge). I think there is even something in the poor LTN 2/08 that you could quote at them... or there is a better thing linked to the Active Travel Wales Act but I don't know it so well.

 

[Guyincognito76]

Also inform the CTC if youre a member.

I'm not a CTC member, I'm a member of British Cycling. One of the top fellas in CTC Cymru is actually from my neck of the woods. Unfortunately he's in his eighties so I don't think I'll be able to drop him a quick tweet.

 

[Guyincognito76]

Alright, I've sent the council a complaint on their website.

 

[Guyincognito76]

I had a closer look today at the island where the second incident happened: I took a picture too.

There are no road markings to signify a crossing island and no pedestrians road sign either. With all the older islands the central line splits in two and then there are diagonal lines up to the obstruction. Is this the new standard?!

Note: The araf slow marking was the there before, it's to warn of golfers crossing around the bend.

 

[Drago]

I guess a proper pedestrian crossing costs more, hence this half baked rubbish.

 

[mjr]

I guess a proper pedestrian crossing costs more, hence this half baked rubbish.

Pretty much. A standalone pushbutton crossing costs about £40k to install plus ongoing maintenance and electricity and replacement if it survives 20 years without motorists demolishing it IIRC from the last time I heard.

Ironically, zebras cost only slightly more than those useless islands (cost of installing the lights) and are cheaper to maintain (no moving parts or control logic) but highways departments seem terrified of installing them because of complaints from motorists who might have to consider stopping.

 

[Guyincognito76]

I'd start with a pot of paint for the road markings.

 

[mjr]

I'd start with a pot of paint for the road markings.

Is it Poundland that sells spray cans of white paint? Not that I advocate graffiti-ing the roads, you understand.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Seems to be a bit of a scourge at the moment, councils narrowing the road in some knock off traffic calming attempt without realising they are forcing a conflict between cyclists and motorists.

I would dig out the council's transport policy which will inevitably say they will be laying down palm leaves in front of cyclists and aim to have everyone in the county cycling within the next ten minutes. Then ask them how the islands fit in with this policy.

 

[Guyincognito76]

I would dig out the council's transport policy which will inevitably say they will be laying down palm leaves in front of cyclists and aim to have everyone in the county cycling within the next ten minutes. Then ask them how the islands fit in with this policy.

There is actually a shared cycle path I could take that would avoid this road completely. I took a photo of it last summer, it's less rideable in the winter months.

Please note: this is not a joke, that is genuinely the cycle path they built between the beach and the sand dunes. It's the NCR5.

 

[KnackeredBike]

There is actually a shared cycle path I could take that would avoid this road completely. I took a photo of it last summer, it's less rideable in the winter months.

View attachment 350483

Please note: this is not a joke, that is genuinely the cycle path they built between the beach and the sand dunes.

You are lucky to have such good surfaces, around here the cycle paths are surfaced with broken glass and dog crap.

On a serious note if you haven't already get onto the council about it, or better still report it on FixMyStreet so you are "shaming" them publically. I think part of the problem is that cyclists generally expect/put up with crap infrastructure and the council highways bods take advantage of that apathy by doing sod all maintenance.