Police Forcing Cyclists to Use Cycle Super Highways

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glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
in both cases the police / PCSO DID try to force cyclist to use the cycle superhighway. They failed because in both instances the cyclists knew their rights

Which is why I was asking on here if others had similar experiences.

A sensible person tries to understand the situation before raising complaints

It wouldn't matter to me if it had happened to others or not, the fact that I'd been sworn at and given erroneous instruction by a PCSO is enough to go straight to the police with a complaint. I'd ask on here later about similar incidents and supply supporting details if available.
 

mustang1

Legendary Member
Location
London, UK
I wouldn't make a complaint. Got no time for that. I'd you tube it and send a link to the tabloids.
 

subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
well on CS2 at greenway this morning you wouldn't have had any option but to ride in the road. some twunt in a Thames water van had parked in the lane and was lying avross the passenger setas playing on his phone.
 

byegad

Legendary Member
Location
NE England
I don't know the London cycling scene, but exclusive use cycle ways/paths are a recipe for disaster in my book. Unless they go everywhere I want to go, and there more chance of Donald Trump realising that he's an idiot than that ever being on the cards, I for one avoid them like the plague! They were always going to be used as a means to get us of the normal roads, you know, the ones they metalled to enable safer cycling back in the late 1800s!
 

mustang1

Legendary Member
Location
London, UK
I don't know the London cycling scene, but exclusive use cycle ways/paths are a recipe for disaster in my book. Unless they go everywhere I want to go, and there more chance of Donald Trump realising that he's an idiot than that ever being on the cards, I for one avoid them like the plague! They were always going to be used as a means to get us of the normal roads, you know, the ones they metalled to enable safer cycling back in the late 1800s!
Yeah agreed. There's a new bike path on Lea Bridge Road, London. While I welcome it, I realize I need to keep the speed low even though it's not as badly done as other paths (car drivers actually stop when entering and exiting the side roads, usually). Most cyclists still ride a bit too fast on it though; there are kids and families, people strolling onto the bike path when getting off the bus, but they're no where near as bad as on other similarly designed bike paths.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I don't know the London cycling scene, but exclusive use cycle ways/paths are a recipe for disaster in my book. Unless they go everywhere I want to go, and there more chance of Donald Trump realising that he's an idiot than that ever being on the cards, I for one avoid them like the plague! They were always going to be used as a means to get us of the normal roads, you know, the ones they metalled to enable safer cycling back in the late 1800s!
You clearly don't know the London cycling scene, where the implicit threat of multi-ton motor vehicles had been used as a means to get us off the normal roads like the A11. There are reasons not to use some of the cycleways, including needing to reach destinations not on them or using cycle types that don't fit well, or simply avoiding cycleway congestion when there's an underutilised carriageway, but I doubt we'd've seen quite such a sustained increase without them and stuff like London's Kidical Mass pretty much definitely wouldn't have happened without. Many of us posting on forums like this were cycling before, braving the bus lanes or weaving our ways through backstreets and cut-throughs, and we're acutely (sometimes painfully, especially with certain CS2/CS3 crap junctions in East London) aware of the mistakes made as TfL learnt on the job rather than learning from other countries, but I think overall the cycleways made cycling easier and more peaceful for many people. To keep on repeating the same motoring-centric vehicularist designs and expecting different results would be the disaster.

But there are reasons for some people not to use some of the cycleways, so it's wrong if the police are misdirecting and I hope it's stopped.
 

BoldonLad

Not part of the Elite
Location
South Tyneside
As far as I am aware, there is no law which says I cannot walk by the sea, in rough weather, with the attendant risk of being washed out to sea by a large wave.

If a Police Officer/PCSO were to suggest to me, that such action is dangerous, and best avoided, I would regard that as acceptable.

If a Police Officer/PCSO were to tell me I cannot do that, or, to attempt to restrain me from doing that, I would regard that as unacceptable.
 
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byegad

Legendary Member
Location
NE England
My pet hate is the way cycle farcilities are made so not only do you need to give way to every minor road but you also need a neck with the rotational abilities of an owl in order to keep an eye on traffic at these points.

There's one stretch of a couple of hundred yards near the Cottage Hospital in Sedgefield where you not only give way 6 times but also cross the main road twice. Using the road you negotiate two roundabouts giving way as necessary, up to twice if there's traffic and you only need to look a few degrees away from directly ahead.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
As far as I am aware, there is no law which says I cannot walk by the sea, in rough weather, with the attendant risk of being washed out to sea by a large wave.

If a Police Officer/PCSO were to suggest to me, that such action is dangerous, and best avoided, I would regard that as acceptable.

If a Police Officer/PCSO were to tell me I cannot do that, or, to attempt to restrain me from doing that, I would regard that as unacceptable.
I think that's a slightly different situation. As far as I know, the safety evidence is weak for cycleways in general and I doubt the CS are any better. I say they're easier in various ways and I find them less stressful because I don't enjoy being tailgated by a long stream of motorists, but I don't feel I can say they're necessarily safer - the devil is in the detail and sadly most UK authorities still stuff up junction details most of the time, including TfL on some CS2 junctions - I think if you search @subaqua's posting history, you'll see painful examples :sad:

My pet hate is the way cycle farcilities are made so not only do you need to give way to every minor road but you also need a neck with the rotational abilities of an owl in order to keep an eye on traffic at these points.

There's one stretch of a couple of hundred yards near the Cottage Hospital in Sedgefield where you not only give way 6 times but also cross the main road twice. Using the road you negotiate two roundabouts giving way as necessary, up to twice if there's traffic and you only need to look a few degrees away from directly ahead.
And was that stretch built to the current London Cycle Design Standards? Rubbish sightlines and loads of give-ways sounds like a relic from the past, but while councils aren't compelled to follow one of the better design manuals or standards, there's probably some toxic councils still building them... but bad councils build new roundabouts that are extremely hazardous for cycling too and we don't go overboard and start ranting about how that justifies avoiding all carriageways.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
[QUOTE 5133911, member: 45"]I'll use both. There's justification for both options. Which is why I don't believe we should submit to the "if we use them we'll be expected to" bullying, and stand up for what's better for everyone.

A bicycle is more than just a road vehicle.[/QUOTE]
There's also the "we've built it for you, use it".

I've one cycle that doesn't fit many of the local cycle lanes and parts of the local "super highway". Means I have to stay on the road.
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
The segregation of cyclists on "their own routes/roads" will lead to more calls for us(cyclists) to get off the roads.

I use a road vehicle, and I intend to carry on using them, legally.
In the past 100 years or so, people cycling have been squeezed out of road space because roads, towns and cities are being designed around the car. Bicycling doesn't get much, if any, consideration by planners. While riding along like you're a car is a valiant act of defiance, it isn't going to stop cycling as transport from flatlining.

If we want mass participation cycling, along with all the benefits that brings, then it has to be viable for children, elderly, and those with disabilities. Not everyone has the confidence (bloody-mindedness?) to continually mix with buses and lorries on a daily basis. If you discount segregated cycling, you are discounting the tens of thousands of people who want to ride but cannot in the current road system.

(Edit to correct typo)
 
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subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
I think that's a slightly different situation. As far as I know, the safety evidence is weak for cycleways in general and I doubt the CS are any better. I say they're easier in various ways and I find them less stressful because I don't enjoy being tailgated by a long stream of motorists, but I don't feel I can say they're necessarily safer - the devil is in the detail and sadly most UK authorities still stuff up junction details most of the time, including TfL on some CS2 junctions - I think if you search @subaqua's posting history, you'll see painful examples :sad:


And was that stretch built to the current London Cycle Design Standards? Rubbish sightlines and loads of give-ways sounds like a relic from the past, but while councils aren't compelled to follow one of the better design manuals or standards, there's probably some toxic councils still building them... but bad councils build new roundabouts that are extremely hazardous for cycling too and we don't go overboard and start ranting about how that justifies avoiding all carriageways.


indeed i have suffered paindfully since they were built .

and get the old bollix from drivers about " use that , thats YOURS "
 
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