Warning sign near tram lines - new?

[Drago]

So where should the rails go instead then?

 

[snorri]

So where should the rails go instead then?

We're not engineers, we don't have to provide solutions, others earn a living resolving such issues.

 

[ColinJ]

What are the advantages of trams over trolleybuses?

Not only would cyclists not have to worry about tram tracks, but the cost of laying and maintaining them would be saved.

 

[mjr]

So where should the rails go instead then?

Fill them with rubber, like they do in other European countries http://www.fietsberaad.nl/index.cfm...in+rails+no+longer+cause+dangerous+situations

 

[classic33]

What are the advantages of trams over trolleybuses?

Not only would cyclists not have to worry about tram tracks, but the cost of laying and maintaining them would be saved.

Nowadays it'd be like the railways, cable theft. Harder to nick a tramline

 

[ColinJ]

Nowadays it'd be like the railways, cable theft. Harder to nick a tramline

Trams use similar overhead cables!

Fill them with rubber, like they do in other European countries http://www.fietsberaad.nl/index.cfm...in+rails+no+longer+cause+dangerous+situations

Great idea!! HERE is the manufacturer's website.

 

[classic33]

Trams use similar overhead cables!

True

 

[Drago]

Fill them with rubber, like they do in other European countries http://www.fietsberaad.nl/index.cfm...in+rails+no+longer+cause+dangerous+situations

Or just use your eyes and keep a watch for the several mile long bit of metal laying in the ground.

Why does it always have to be someone else's problem? Why can't a cyclist take some responsibility themselves for this sort of thing. Bicycles and trams have coexisted for over a century and this has never been a problem until recently.

Rubber in the slot? While we're at it we could fill in every cattle grid, fit anti skid material to every manhole cover, and roughen up the surface of every white line, just so you.Don have to pay attention when out for a spin.

 

[simon.r]

Or just use your eyes and keep a watch for the several mile long bit of metal laying in the ground.

Why does it always have to be someone else's problem? Why can't a cyclist take some responsibility themselves for this sort of thing. Bicycles and trams have coexisted for over a century and this has never been a problem until recently.

Rubber in the slot? While we're at it we could fill in every cattle grid, fit anti skid material to every manhole cover, and roughen up the surface of every white line, just so you.Don have to pay attention when out for a spin.

I've come off twice* in the last 10 years or so on tram lines. Both my fault and I take responsibility, but it'd be good to remove the hazard. Same goes for anti skid on manholes, white lines and over banding.

*Once on a small wheeled folder where I misjudged the wheel's ability to traverse the line at a bit of an angle and one absolute schoolboy error where I crossed the line at totally the wrong angle.

 

[mjr]

Why does it always have to be someone else's problem? Why can't a cyclist take some responsibility themselves for this sort of thing. Bicycles and trams have coexisted for over a century and this has never been a problem until recently.

They didn't coexist happily and in most places for most of that time in this country, they didn't coexist at all! From the 1920s onwards, tram systems were being dismantled; on 4th August 1938, the Midland Daily Telegraph reported "It will be good news to those cyclists, motor cyclist and light car owners, who, during the last few months, have muttered inprecations as they have swerved and bumped their way over the obsolete tramlines in Earlsdon, to learn that the metals are to be taken up"; from the 1960s to the 1990s, Blackpool was the only place in this country with trams; and in the 1990s, the new Sheffield tram network was involved in over 30 rider injury reports a year (over 50% seriously) with only quite a small network (An Investigation Into Cyclist Safety on the Supertram Network In Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Sheffield City Council, December 1998).

Across Europe, they've not been coexisting happily. Many places have sought to mitigate the problem by designing perpendicular crossings and other things that UK highway authorities don't do... but now there's an easier solution, which is being adopted.

Rubber in the slot? While we're at it we could fill in every cattle grid, fit anti skid material to every manhole cover, and roughen up the surface of every white line, just so you.Don have to pay attention when out for a spin.

If you lived a hundred-odd years ago, would you have been arguing against tarmac replacing the dirt, gravel and cobble roads? They were fine if you used your eyes, weren't they?

And anyway, around here, there often is anti-skid tape or tar+chips on many manhole covers, plus they don't seem to use the slippery white plastic road markings that North Somerset did (I don't know if this is a general improvement or something special here). They even fill potholes and grit busier roads when it freezes... probably they shouldn't do that either because people should just pay attention more!

No, we've got a history of removing sources of danger from the roads, especially when it's relatively easy, so let's fill the tram tracks where cycles are being routed along or across them.

 

[iggibizzle]

Or just use your eyes and keep a watch for the several mile long bit of metal laying in the ground.

Why does it always have to be someone else's problem? Why can't a cyclist take some responsibility themselves for this sort of thing. Bicycles and trams have coexisted for over a century and this has never been a problem until recently.

Rubber in the slot? While we're at it we could fill in every cattle grid, fit anti skid material to every manhole cover, and roughen up the surface of every white line, just so you.Don have to pay attention when out for a spin.

Agreed. And I've suffered broken bones due to tramtracks! Made me more observant

 

[Smokin Joe]

The point about tramlines is you need to cross them at quite a sharp angle to prevent your wheel dropping into one. That's not always possible when needing to change your road position while riding.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I would say replace the trams with monorails, but if you can't, as a cyclist, avoid other static obstacles, than the piers for a monorail system would be another thing to run into. Let us not forget that Velocchio stepped back to avoid a truck, and was then run over by a tram. Even the most experienced cyclists are prone to tram incidents, but the trams are necessary. Trolley bus not as good an option, IMO.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Why not fit buses with rubber tyres so they can run on the road, then try and invent some sort of independent steering system so they don't need to be guided? And the tram type vehicles could have special rails laid that are separate from other roads. These could be called "Railway lines" and no one else would be able to use them.

Just a thought.

 

[Pennine-Paul]

The point about tramlines is you need to cross them at quite a sharp angle to prevent your wheel dropping into one. That's not always possible when needing to change your road position while riding.

Yep that's what happened to me yesterday,had to negotiate the tramlines at an angle,whilst holding on to the bars with one hand as I glanced over my right shoulder and the tramlines grabbed the front wheel and down I went,grazed my knee and elbow but otherwise ok
The bike was undamaged