Thoughtful cycling provision?

[User]

 

[Jaded]

Nice to see that you are encouraged to turn on a drain cover.

 

[Fnaar]

It's for people just starting out cycling ... break them in gently...

 

[Piemaster]

Seems to me that most cycle paths / lanes are not put in place for cyclists.
They are there to keep us out of the way and stop us holding up and
inconveniencing motorists.
Most of them seem to fail on both counts.

 

[walker]

theres a cycle path in Blackfen, that takes you off the road, through a pedestrian crossing, and I mean where one would stand to cross the road, then back onto the road again. and not only that but the pathway is widened suddenley for this change and if your not paying attention while driving you would go right up on the curb

 

[dodgy]

That looks like something the Warrington Cycle campaign would want to know about, unless it did come from there?

Dave.

 

[Arch]

Nice to see that you are encouraged to turn on a drain cover.

And I can't see from the photo, I assume there IS a dropped kerb?

 

[hubgearfreak]

this sort of thing, where you are req'd to ascent a dropkerb at an angle is a danger point for both inexperienced and old, leathery cyclists both.
i know two people who've been caught out by them, neither of them are the nervous beginner type.
presumably it is to spill cyclists into the path of cars, where the road is a bit narrower?

what a load of shite

 

[gavintc]

Last weekend I cycled out of Edinburgh using a different route. At Firrhill, I came across a faded cycle lane when I was headed downhill toward Tesco. The first traffic island was approaching and I noted that the cycle lane had the words 'end' printed on it. A few yards after the island, hey presto, cycle lane recommences. This continued a couple of times. So as soon as it gets narrow - cyclists disappear. Turn the corner at Tesco and now headed along the flat by the shops. Lovely cycle lane, but buried beneath resident car parking. I could guarantee that at no time will that cycle lane be anything other than a car park. Turn up the hill on Oxgangs Road, road narrows a bit and cycle lane gone. The 'cycle facilities' will have cost a fair amount and achieve nothing.

 

[redjedi]

theres a cycle path in Blackfen, that takes you off the road, through a pedestrian crossing, and I mean where one would stand to cross the road, then back onto the road again. and not only that but the pathway is widened suddenley for this change and if your not paying attention while driving you would go right up on the curb

I pass one of those in Brentford. I can only assume it is to help RLJers.

 

[Globalti]

FFS stop moaning about an unclear cycle lane! It's quite obvious that the dashed line is intended to denote the point where the cycle lane merely ceases to apply - do you honestly believe that any sane road engineer would try to direct cyclists off a kerb straight into traffic?

You sound like a bunch of miserable wheelchair users whining because the door to the out-patients has been moved five feet. This twisted kind of "world owes me a living" attitude is too prevalent on this forum. Be grateful that cyclists are considered as road users at all and not just a nuisance like wandering dogs, cattle and madmen as they are in most of the rest of the world.

 

[redjedi]

I don't think you've read the thread properly.

No-ones complaing about the end of the cycle path, it's the beggining of the path where you have to hop off the road onto the shared pavement, before being put back gently onto the road.

 

[hubgearfreak]

RR - have you been writing to the BEP

 

[Arch]

FFS stop moaning about an unclear cycle lane! It's quite obvious that the dashed line is intended to denote the point where the cycle lane merely ceases to apply - do you honestly believe that any sane road engineer would try to direct cyclists off a kerb straight into traffic?

You sound like a bunch of miserable wheelchair users whining because the door to the out-patients has been moved five feet. This twisted kind of "world owes me a living" attitude is too prevalent on this forum. Be grateful that cyclists are considered as road users at all and not just a nuisance like wandering dogs, cattle and madmen as they are in most of the rest of the world.

But they obviously aren't considered road users, as they are shunted OFF the road, and back, for no discernable reason. The dashed line (the sloping one at the start I assume you mean) can't merely mark where the lane ceases to apply, as it's the beginning. Unless you have ridden onto the lane from the other end, in which case you must have either been riding on the pavement or riding against the flow of traffic.

Road engineers frequently direct cyclists to do all sorts of crap. Have you never seen the Warrington Cycle Campaign site? It's because most road engineers have very rarely ridden a bike since they were 10 years old.

We 'whine' because someone somewhere will have taken the cost of that paint and chalked it up as spent on cycling facilities, in order to meet a target, when it could have been more usefully spent on a dozen other things to help cyclists.

 

[Globalti]

Oooh that BEP article is good, isn't it? I particularly like this paragraph:

And yet they're not treated as criminals - rather, they're elevated as warriors fighting against an irresponsible and polluted world, two-wheeled titans of a healthy and eco-conscious crusade and martyrs of an ethical and planet- saving battle that will one day have us all reading The Guardian and recycling our potato peelings.

Anyway back to the cycle lane in the picture - okay, I hadn't worked out that that's the start of the lane not the end of a section but my point still remains that British cyclists are too ready to whinge when they don't realise how lucky they are.

My interpretation of the picture is that the designers are simply saying: Here's where the bit starts where you have a right to ride. You don't have a right to ride outside the marked area.