Show us your Daft, Pointless or plain hard to use cycle lanes.

[mjr]

If it's a local access road, gate it, with cycle/horse bypasses. Even if the gates are unlocked, that seems to stop most motorists who don't need to use it.

 

[MontyVeda]

Try to cross them at an angle on thin tyres and the front tyre can get snatched into line with the tramlines, throwing you off, or the back tyre can skid sideways along them, throwing you off, or the whole thing can railroad you into any obstruction too close in front of it, which is why they shouldn't be installed within 4m of a bend or barrier. Even with thicker tyres, it can make the handlebars skip around unpleasantly or subject the back wheel to buckling forces. And finally, the tiles almost never remain level with the adjacent tarmac. No cycle-friendly place would install them on cycle tracks IMO.

all that from a short series of tiny bumps... crickey

I guess i've just been lucky each time i cross them.

 

[benb]

There's a really nifty app instantstreetview.com where you can download streetview images or get the URLs to embed
Anyway, here's one near me. Lovely. It could be good. They have kerb separated it (at least in this section. Earlier on it's just a shared use pavement), but bottled it when it came to side road priority.

 

[benb]

And then there's this amazing one that is right in the door zone, and doesn't give enough space for a safe overtake anyway.

 

[benb]

When the cycle stencil has to be squashed up to fit it in the painted lane, you can safely assume the lane is too narrow.

 

[User482]

all that from a short series of tiny bumps... crickey

I guess i've just been lucky each time i cross them.

I watched what happened as my daughter fell over: as she turned her bars, the front tyre slid along the raised "rail" rather than gripping and riding over it, causing her to fall sideways. This was at walking pace.

 

[MontyVeda]

I watched what happened as my daughter fell over: as she turned her bars, the front tyre slid along the raised "rail" rather than gripping and riding over it, causing her to fall sideways. This was at walking pace.

The 'rails' on the ones round these parts are about 5mm high. The white line down the middle of the track is bigger 'obstacle', as are many small stones, pebbles and sticks. I can only assume that other parts of the country have bigger 'rails'.

 

[User482]

The 'rails' on the ones round these parts are about 5mm high. The white line down the middle of the track is bigger 'obstacle', as are many small stones, pebbles and sticks. I can only assume that other parts of the country have bigger 'rails'.

The rails aren't high, and she has never fallen off on any of the other obstacles you mention.

 

[mjr]

The 'rails' on the ones round these parts are about 5mm high. The white line down the middle of the track is bigger 'obstacle', as are many small stones, pebbles and sticks. I can only assume that other parts of the country have bigger 'rails'.

There is a related tile, the cordouroy tile, which is similar but with taller rails and rounded off at each end of each square tile and intended for a different application, but some councils do indeed install it on cycle tracks incorrectly. North Somerset Council did in a couple of places near the Locking Castle school/library centre IIRC.

But it really is quite possible to crash on tramline tiles that you've traversed safely hundreds of times before. It seems to be a function of the angle you hit it at, your actions while traversing it, tyre width/pressure/etc, any bump up/down to/from adjacent tarmac and just dumb luck on which bit of the tramlines you hit. It's even worse at the moment, with leaves covering some of them. They are an evil impediment which should be tarmacked over as soon as possible. It wouldn't cost that much and it would improve so many routes.

 

[MontyVeda]

forgive me if i can't believe that these paving blocks present the hazard you speak of...

...I hope the helmetless, no-handed cyclist is OK going over them.

 

[User482]

forgive me if i can't believe that these paving blocks present the hazard you speak of...

...I hope the helmetless, no-handed cyclist is OK going over them.

The rails are a little higher on the ones round here. Anyway, you'll forgive me if I rely on my direct experience rather than your opinion.

 

[mjr]

forgive me if i can't believe that these paving blocks present the hazard you speak of...

...I hope the helmetless, no-handed cyclist is OK going over them.

Yeah, those look like they've been sanded down, but I do note that they've been cunningly installed just off-parallel with the kerb to keep some element of danger! And they're not usually installed anywhere near that competently, in my experience.

 

[mangid]

Never seen it used by anybody ....

 

[MontyVeda]

Yeah, those look like they've been sanded down, but I do note that they've been cunningly installed just off-parallel with the kerb to keep some element of danger! And they're not usually installed anywhere near that competently, in my experience.

They look exactly like all the 'tramline' slabs i've seen on cycleways around here. Either you're exaggerating the danger (!) they pose, or the ones installed down south are very different.

 

[winjim]

Not the clearest of photos but here's a cycle path under construction with the tramline slabs positioned across the path. It's part of the "campus masterplan" and possibly on land owned by the university so I guess might not be subject to the usual regulations. It looks to me as if the tactile paving is intended to create a nudge style pedestrian crossing across the cycle path. Horrible tiny kerb at the edge of the path though.